Las Vegas police Lt.’s trial nears as lawyers clash over home surveillance footage

About a week before a Metro lieutenant was set to stand trial for allegedly strangling his wife during a dispute over laundry, attorneys sparred over whether all the surveillance footage from Brian Boxler’s home must be produced in discovery.

In court last week, Deputy District Attorney James Puccinelli said prosecutors recently learned that defense attorneys had not shared in full videos from the Boxler family’s Nest camera system.

“So, to our understanding, there was no footage from those types of cameras in this case. However, on Dec. 14, an associate of the defense counsel’s firm emailed over one of the videos,” Puccinelli said. He added that prosecutors had received what appeared to be an excerpt of a recording and asked defense attorneys to preserve the surveillance footage.

According to Puccinelli, the clip lasted three minutes and 47 seconds. Attorneys said it captured the front exterior of the home on the afternoon of the alleged Oct. 12, 2024, strangulation and showed Stephanie Boxler getting into a vehicle and driving away.

Dominic Gentile, Boxler’s attorney, refused the prosecutor’s request.

“The state is defending that somehow we have an obligation to give them this Nest footage,” he said. “We don’t.”

Gentile argued that, because the defense does not intend to use any additional footage at trial, such footage is not relevant.

Gentile also said that Stephanie Boxler, Brian Boxler’s wife, was “more of our witness than the state’s.” He gestured toward the gallery, where the woman sat at the edge of the front bench. Before the case was called, she sat with Brian Boxler, holding his arm and leaning into his chest.

Police have said that on the night of Oct. 12, 2024, Brian Boxler attacked his wife after finding “clothes in the washer and dryer.” Officers said she had red marks on her neck and reported that he grabbed her throat and pushed her against a wall.

Court transcripts show that she has since told authorities she cannot remember what she said that night — and now denies that her husband physically assaulted her.

Boxler’s attorneys previously tried to block prosecutors from using prior testimony from a nurse who performed all strangulation exams in Clark County and recently died. District Judge Maria Gall later ruled that prosecutors may use the late nurse’s testimony, allowing the replacement expert, Dr. Rachell Ekroos, to testify only about her own findings and opinions, not those of the deceased nurse.

During the Monday hearing, Puccinelli also asked to continue the trial at least 30 days.

Stephanie Boxler glanced up at the ceiling and shook her head.

Gentile argued that his client should not be harmed by what he called the state’s “dilatory tactics.”​ To keep the Jan. 5 trial date, he said he would proceed without using the Nest video that had been initially turned over as evidence.

Senior Judge Michael Villani said another judge would decide the motions on Monday.

“I’m not kicking the can down the road,” Villani said. “I just want to cover everything.”

Contact Akiya Dillon at adillon@reviewjournal.com.