Judge Elizabeth Halverson Faces Nevada Judicial Discipline Commission

Last year, the chief judge of the Nevada Supreme Court ordered Judge Elizabeth Halverson to be prohibited from entering the courthouse.  The Nevada Supreme Court ruled that the chief judge exceeded her authority in banning Judge Halverson, but was correct in removing her from the criminal docket.  Judge Halverson had a number of complaints lodged against her, including:

• Bailiff complains judge makes him massage her feet and back
• Judge would put staff members under oath and ask them questions
• Judge put her husband under oath to ask if the house was clean
• Judge’s mother asked if the bailiff was her “servant”
• Judge fell asleep during her first criminal trial
• Judge spoke to criminal juries, outside the presence of accused and counsel for both parties
• berated lawyers for not contributing to her election fund (she dismisses this on the basis that no lawyers contributed so she could not be discriminating against any individuals)
• Judge would call staffer “the evil one,” “bitch,” “the elf,” and “the Antichrist”
• Judge fired her assistant Ileen Spooner, which resulted in a defamation suit against the judge

The current proceeding against Judge Halverson will determine if she is to be removed from the bench.  During the first day of the hearing, the bailiff testified,

“It made me feel very bad,” said Bailiff Jonny Jordan.

He says he did everything to keep his composure during his testimony, but it was not enough.

“I was robbed of my rights, my dignity, my dignity was taken, my dignity was taken, how would you feel if it happened to you,” said Jordan.

Chief Judge Kathy Hardcastle then took the stand,

“I reached the point where I had judges refusing to attend meetings if she was going to be there because she was so disparaging to everyone and to the other judges,”

There will assuredly be more to come in this case.

yojoe out