Legal Ethics
Las Vegas Judge Denies Misconduct Allegations, Cites ADA
Posted Jan 30, 2008, 08:59 am CDT
By Debra Cassens Weiss
Suspended Las Vegas Judge Elizabeth Halverson, accused of mistreating staff and sleeping during trials, denies misconduct allegations in a formal response filed yesterday.
Halverson claims the Nevada Judicial Discipline Commission fails to identify sufficient grounds of judicial misconduct, and does not point to a judicial canon or state law that she violated, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reports. The commission’s formal statement of charges “contains hortatory text which shall not be used to impose discipline,” says the response (PDF posted by LasVegasNow.com).
The conduct alleged “was not willful misconduct, does not involve willful or persistent failure to perform the duties of office, or habitual intemperance,” the response says.
Halverson, who uses a scooter and breathes from an oxygen tank, also claims she is protected by the American With Disabilities Act, reports LasVegasNow.com. She also cites her First Amendment right to free speech and her 14th Amendment right to due process.
Halverson has filed a separate petition that claims the discipline commission violated her due process rights by taking too long to file a complaint against her.
The complaint against Halverson contends she fell asleep on the bench three times, had improper conversations with deliberating jurors, made comments to the media that could have affected a pending case, tried to hack into a computer system to access other employees’ e-mails, and created a hostile work environment for court employees.
The complaint claimed Halverson required her bailiff to heat her meals, keep her water pitcher filled with ice, pick up objects she had deliberately thrown on the floor, and massage her feet and shoulders.
Halverson’s lawyer, Dominic Gentile, won a case in the U.S. Supreme Court that struck down limits on lawyers speaking to the press about a pending case.
Related Stories
- Kansas High Court Asked to Decide: Can Judges Fill Out Questionnaires?
Sep 5, 2008, 04:14 pm CDT - Retired N.Y. Judge Pleads in Federal Prostitution Case
Sep 5, 2008, 03:52 pm CDT - Embattled Nev. Judge Hospitalized, Husband Charged With Attempted Murder
Sep 5, 2008, 02:37 pm CDT - Opponent ‘Bought’ Privileged Docs, Used Them to Seek More
Sep 5, 2008, 01:46 pm CDT
Related Topics
Commenting has expired on this post.
Comments
Posted by IworkattheRJC - 7 months, 1 week, 23 hours, 58 minutes ago
I hope Judge Elizabeth Halverson is vindicated.
The charges brought against her are outrageous. Las Vegas has crooked Judges, Judges on the take, Judges who allow ticket fixing in their offices and they want to remove Halverson for basically being mean to her staff?? Yet, everyone seems to forget, the staff they were replaced with worked for her the same amount of time as the staff Halverson inheirted. The staff that worked with her before she was suspended ALL said she was professional, kind, respectful. NONE had any complaints as the alleged complaint the former staff had.
Of course Ileen Spoor of the former staff was angry that she could no longer go home early, fix tickets for friends, dismiss friends from jury duty. All these things she was able to do with her former boss Judge Micahel Cherry. Once Halverson expected her to do her job, Spoor went nuts and the office was turned upsidedown.
Hang in there Judge Halverson. Some of us know what really is going on here.
Posted by Stephen from Calif. - 7 months, 1 week, 4 hours, 25 minutes ago
OMG its true. Las Vegas is SO different from the rest of the US that Halverson might actually be reelected.
What CAN you do do disqualify your self for judicial election in Las Vegas?
Halverson married an ex-prision felon (burglary, drugs, guns) while he was on parole, has an unpaid $40,000 judgment against her and admitted to dining with sitting jurors in two crimininal cases.
In response to sleeping on the bench, she first claimed that it was her medication, then changed her story and asserted she was not sleeping at all but was in a diabetic’s hypoglycemic coma.
I personally watched an on camera statement by Halverson that she was being assaulted by court administrator Chuck Short when she barricaded herself in her office with two “body guards” because he was about to assault her--but the administrator video taped the incident (which tape I also saw—there was nothing controversal) and the woman is a loon.
Has IworkattheRJC even read the Halverson articles available on this site?
Judge Halverson is the laughingstock of the entire nation and has turned the Las Vegas bench into a 500 pound joke. And Las Vegas will be an even bigger joke if she is reelected AFTER all of her various foibles have come to light.