Steven Min appeared in a Las Vegas courtroom Thursday morning sitting in a wheelchair and wearing an electronic monitoring bracelet apparently meant for an ankle on his right wrist.
The 51-year-old’s left hand and legs were amputated years ago as a result of sepsis contracted while in city jail custody, according to his attorney.
It’s in dispute whether Min’s lack of natural ankles — he uses prosthetic legs — stymied his release from jail onto house arrest in multiple trespassing cases.
Defense attorney Joseph Reiff has said the Clark County Detention Center deemed Min unqualified for house arrest “due to a physical inability to wear a mandatory electronic ankle monitor.”
Michael Dickerson, an attorney for the Metropolitan Police Department, which runs the detention center and house arrest program, said in court that Metro did not withhold house arrest because of Min’s disability. He indicated that the problem with Min’s release stemmed from one or more active warrants and said after court that there was also confusion due to his multiple cases, while denying that “anything was delayed” for Min.
Min is a frequent flyer in the Las Vegas Justice Court, with at least 196 cases filed against him since 2008. In most, he has been accused of trespassing and in many he has not been convicted. Min said in an interview that all of his trespassing cases stem from casinos.
Though Min’s situation is different, the debate in his case comes as a larger dispute unfolds over electronic monitoring and Metro’s refusal to release some defendants onto the monitoring program, despite court orders telling the department to do so.
Min appeared in court out of custody; Reiff said Min was released from jail Wednesday night.
In an email Reiff submitted to the court, Metro wrote about the problems in Min’s case.
“Our program uses an ankle monitor for its GPS tracking,” Metro staff wrote on March 3. “This is the only authorized and available equipment for Electronic Monitoring and GPS tracking. Unfortunately, Mr. Min does not have the capability for our Officers to apply our device.”
Reiff told Las Vegas Justice of the Peace Rebecca Saxe that the decision to put the monitor on Min’s wrist was “appalling” and said it should be removed.
“He’s only got one limb, judge,” he said. “They’re going to make sure that he doesn’t have any. This is made for a person’s ankle and everybody knows a person’s legs are two or three times stronger.”
Dickerson said Reiff’s arguments were “ridiculous.”
“There’s nothing inhumane about monitoring Mr. Min by putting the bracelet on his arm,” he told the judge. “People wear bracelets and watches every day. This is no different.”
Min has other medical problems that make incarceration difficult.
He has been diagnosed with end-stage renal disease, according to his attorney. Min said he also has end-stage kidney disease.
He requires dialysis four times a week, but Metro is only equipped to provide the treatment three times a week, according to Reiff. He has been hospitalized twice since January, the attorney said in court documents.
Dickerson disputed that Min was denied dialysis treatments.
The Metro attorney said in an interview that Min is someone who “needs corridor court,” a Las Vegas Justice Court program that involved one judge overseeing most criminal cases originating from the Strip. The program was disbanded in late 2024.
“He is somebody who needs a single judge with all of his cases that can see and understand what’s going on with him and why he will follow never the law under the system as it currently exists, unless there’s a better supervision by the court” and treatment, said Dickerson.
Back in jail
Min’s cases are now in front of multiple judges.
In 98 percent of his prior cases, Min has been accused of a misdemeanor offense. About 188 of the cases have involved a trespassing charge, but of those 124 have been dropped or dismissed.
“That’s as de minimis a crime as there can possibly be and you’re looking at somebody who’s paying dearly for those transgressions,” said Reiff.
Dickerson said most of Min’s cases come from trespassing in hotels on the Strip.
Min said in an interview that he has been involved in the gaming world since he was in his 20s and previously worked as a casino host. He educates gamblers on table games and then receives a tip, he said.
By Thursday evening, he was back in jail. Online records showed he was still in custody Friday.
A spokesperson for Metro said in an email that he “was returned to the Clark County Detention Center after a compliance check revealed he was in violation of the conditions of his electronic monitoring program.”
Reiff said he did not know why his client was taken back into custody. Metro did not explain the specific violation the department alleges he committed.
Contact Noble Brigham at nbrigham@reviewjournal.com. Review-Journal investigative reporter Katelyn Newberg contributed to this report.
