High-powered Chicago attorney Blake Horowitz held a press conference in September 2006 by video with reporters in Las Vegas, about the filing of a lawsuit against the Nye County Sheriff's Department for using a Taser on Robert Smith.

Smith had thoughts of a multi-million dollar settlement. But he ended up being offered a $100,000 settlement two and a half years later by Tom Beko, attorney for the county's insurance carrier. Smith said he won't sign the offer. But Beko said Smith had agreed to the settlement offer in federal court but now wants to back out of it.

"I know he's really unhappy about it. This case was settled to resolve unbelievable legal costs in litigating this case," Beko said.

A motion has been filed to compel Smith to comply with the agreement, Beko said. Smith said the agreement, approved March 4 behind closed doors in federal court with Judge Brian Sandoval presiding, was only verbal.

"All the time I kept telling the judge what I wanted and he kept telling me there's only $100,000," Smith said. "They had me coerced into it."

Smith claimed the 9-1-1 tape used in the investigation was altered. Smith said he has three compressed vertebrae in the neck, experiences back pain and has difficulty walking.

"There was a point about Tasering him on Feb. 13, 2006. After reviewing the entire incident very carefully the county concluded that the two officers together were proper in Tasering Mr. Smith but the problem was they Tasered him multiple times and they didn't give him sufficient time to react to his Tasering," Beko said.

The lawsuit called the deputies actions "unreasonable and unnecessary."

Under the settlement, Smith would agree to release Joe Casey and John Bergstrom, the first two officers arriving at the scene on Valentine's Day 2006, who Smith claims shot a Taser at him five times, from any claims. It also absolves officers Dan Thomassian, Rob Clark and Nye County Sheriff's Department Captain Bill Becht as well as Nye County of any liability. Thomassian and Becht were on the scene, but weren't involved in using the Taser, Smith said.

"This release is executed as compromise of a dispute claims and that said, payment for release is not to be construed as an admission of liability," the agreement states. It adds, "Smith specifically recognizes and accepts the risk of the possible existence of presently unknown and unanticipated injury, damage or loss resulting from this incident which may be discovered after the execution of this release."

The agreement states Medicare or Medicaid could have an interest in recovering Smith's medical expenses related to the Taser incident.

The settlement states Smith and his attorneys will hold the defendants harmless from any attempts at reimbursement by any agency of the government for medical expenses, Medicare or Medicaid, any health care provider, hospital, disability insurer, the Social Security Administration or workers compensation carrier.

Smith had claimed his 14th Amendment rights were violated. An internal affairs investigation of the case had determined there were no civil rights violations. Horowitz called that a typical "code of silence approach" during the press conference. The suit claims officers falsified reports and worked with each other to cover up the incident.

Horowitz said his client was exposed to electrical shock from the Taser gun for at least 20 seconds which caused severe arrhythmia, nearly resulting in his death.

"The Taser caused extreme amounts of electricity to pass through the plaintiff's body for more than 20 seconds," the lawsuit stated. "This caused deadly damage to plaintiff's heart, requiring emergency medical treatment and intervention which was provided by paramedics."

The incident all began when Smith's wife, Jeanette Smith, who has rheumatoid arthritis, fell in the bathtub and Robert Smith called 9-1-1. He became frustrated waiting on the phone and went to a neighbor's home, who helped him get his wife out of the tub.

When deputies Bergstrom and Casey arrived on the scene Robert Smith told them to leave the property. Later four other deputies showed up.

"They told me I was under arrest, to put my hands up. I put my hands up and thought this isn't going to happen because I haven't done anything wrong," Smith alleged in a first-person account included in his petition. Smith said he was then hit with a Taser gun after which "I hit the ground like a ton of bricks."

Casey ended up being terminated and Bergstrom sanctioned by the sheriff's department for policy violations in connection with that incident, Sheriff Tony DeMeo said.

DeMeo said the Federal Bureau of Investigation cleared the sheriff's department of any violation of constitutional rights. The settlement was offered by attorneys for the county's insurance company, he said.

"If these things were as egregious and we had committed, as they claim, all these violations of civil rights and corruption they would be settling for a lot more than the insurance settlement," the sheriff said.

Smith said he wants $2.5 million and lifetime medical coverage.

"Blake Horowitz asked where I want the money. I said I don't want the money," Smith said.

The Smith home was the subject of a nuisance complaint filed in 2006. Smith said it's now been cleaned up.

Jeanette Smith ran for sheriff but gathered only 170 votes in the August 2006 primary, finishing last. Jeanette Smith later was one of three people signing a motion of intent to recall Peter Liakopoulos in December 2007.

Robert Smith said he's now taking out papers to start a recall petition against Nye County officials including District Attorney Bob Beckett, Sheriff Tony DeMeo and County Clerk Sam Merlino.