If the judge offered a bribe to someone to implicate a pimp in a murder he supposedly had no involvement in, a few things are interesting.
This supposedly happened in 2017, yet with all the controversy that has been surrounding the judge, this is 10,000 more serious than anything else she has yet been accused of, and yet it only arises now? I'm not insisting there is a conspiracy or pile on, but this does raise questions.
It would be like bringing a judge before the Commission on charges of ex parte communications, and then saying, by the way the charges should now be amended to include that the judge was involved in murders back in 2013 and 2014 on behalf of the Columbian Drug Cartel. I know that's an extreme example, but sometimes an extreme example is necessary to demonstrate the absurdity and the disturbing timing, and seemingly miss-placed priorities of matters. The far more serious actions should not be alleged as an afterthought.
Now all that being said, neither local law enforcement, nor the Judicial Commission, appear to be pursuing such matter, at least not yet. But it does smack of opportunistic timing by someone. If she was involved in something so heinous no one saw fit to raise the matter until she is facing accusations as to other matters? It takes two years? And why is it reported first in some on line Baltimore "news" website? It does not appear there is anything yet in the Nevada media on this matter.
None of this is to suggest I am a supporter of the judge. In fact, I am concerned by the charges concerning the personal degree that she may be immersing herself in as to certain law enforcement matters and investigations. We will have to wait and see as to whether her actions were justified, or at least mitigated, by legitimate concerns to protect her daughter and other youngsters from criminal exploitation.
Also, she seems to advance theories concerning Metro conspiracies and wrong doing. We will need to wait to see what that is all about, if anything.
The fact that the story is reported upon by an out of area media outlet instead of a local one does not surprise me in the least. Las Vegas has a long history of media bias wherein the "anointed" are protected from poor press, (unless a story grows to such proportions that it can not be buried)and the "disfavored" are continuously hit with stories containing half-truths and matters taken out of context.
While I have no ax to grind with Justice of the Peace Melanie Andress-Tobiasson, if my memory serves me correctly she comes from an established (and wealthy) Las Vegas family which owns the Harley-Davidson franchise in town. I'm not saying anything untoward has occurred in this instance, however, it could explain a lack of interest in looking under every rock by the media.
Guest
Anonymous
February 19, 2019 6:32 pm
Any official news or even rumors re: the search for Magistrate Judges? A post the other day suggested Brenda Weksler had been appointed to replace MJ Leen. I have not been able to verify this. Who else is rumored?
Maybe Steve Myrhe because he can claim vindication by getting out of the OUSA, and no one violates all constitutional rights like that Black Hat.
Guest
Anonymous
February 19, 2019 10:14 pm
Any official news or even rumors regarding replacing the Discovery Commissioner? Is the Court going to have an open application process or are they going to do a closed door selection? Are they even going to replace the Discovery Commissioner? I haven't heard anything.
I am sure there will be some kind of application process. I have heard that Erin Truman probably has the inside track, which I can't confirm, but it would come as no surprise.
Unless there's a salary boost of course, why would someone move from the cushy ADR commissioner job where their tasks consist of administration of arbitrator selection lists, enforcing the 9month & 1 year deadlines, and sending 30-day 'nobody did a trial de novo' letters to move over to the thankless job of dealing with attorneys bitching at each other back and forth about not wanting to let their client answer question #4 out of 172 questions?
Guest
Anonymous
February 19, 2019 11:20 pm
Sisolak needs to hire new help. WAJ.
Guest
Anonymous
February 20, 2019 12:45 am
As an aside – Nadin Cutter is smoking hot!! Saw her in Bar magazine and googled. Very nice.
Guest
Anonymous
February 20, 2019 1:42 am
I would like to second the WAJ sentiment to Abbi Silver. Abbi, thank you for not doing your job.
Guest
Anonymous
February 20, 2019 2:14 am
Judge Tobiasson needs to not say another word to anyone about this case that does not come from Bill Terry.
Guest
Anonymous
February 20, 2019 2:18 am
Bill Terry should go after Judicial Discipline once this is over. They have it in for her and Jerry Tao.
With Tobiasson, a lot of this(not all, but a lot of it)may be largely excusable, or at least serious mitigation, as her actions(although at times perhaps a bit emotional and impulsive) appear to have been sincerely motivated by the extreme and unremitting stress she was enduring one she perceived her daughter, and other youngsters, were being criminally exploited and victimized. The fact that during such crisis she may have reached out to high ranking Metro officials that an average member of the public may not have generally had access to if their family was undergoing a similar crisis, in no way constitutes a judge using their positon to gain favoritism and preferential treatment of the nature that the judicial canons were intended to address. Now there may be other actions she took that are somewhat more problematic. She held a case, where she should have recused based on pretty clear conflict. Her explanation is that she did not preside over anything contested, but merely accepted a plea deal. We will see what happens as to that particular matter, as it seems kind of unclear.
Also,no doubt she is ruffling some fathers with her conspiracy theories and allegations against Metro, so she may be creating some influential foes, which does her no good.
But putting it all in the blender, and having great faith in Bill Terry, I don't think she is facing career ending sanctions. Since it is all unsettled as to what actually did and did not happen, I'm not even certain she committed any serious violations.
I actually think Tao has a much more evident, and clearly documented problem, and he did himself no good by speaking to the media, nor were any favors done for him when his swipe card info. was released. This went way, way beyond a situation where a judge indicates that on days they don't have court they work more productively from home(which is problematic in itself). This is a situation where it seems he is in the building far less than 20% of work hours. Makes the whole judicial system look bad. Good luck getting new judges approved when there is this kind of evidence of highly placed justices working like the equivalent of a day per week, while most people bust their butt just to eke by.
Guest
Anonymous
February 20, 2019 3:36 am
It sickens me that Nevada has joined the meritless claim against our lawfully elected President. How low will we go?
What about U.S. Constitution, Art. 2, Sec. 9 which provides: "No money shall be drawn from the treasury, but in consequence of appropriations made by law; and a regular statement and account of receipts and expenditures of all public money shall be published from time to time."?
The last time I looked, not only did Congress not provide the $5.7B for the wall within its appropriations bill it specifically refused to do so after considering the issue at length.
@10;28; While I was certainly no fan of President Obama, you are comparing apples and oranges. President Trump is attempting to use executive powers to appropriate and spend treasury funds without congressional authorization, whereas, President Obama's executive order dealt with the exercise of executive authority in exercising law enforcement discretion.
President Obama did not "change" the law concerning individuals that were present in the U.S. in violation of our immigration laws but rather decided that except for in limited circumstances it wasn't worth the time, expense and burden of enforcing the laws against them compared to other law enforcement priorities. It is within the Chief Executive Officer's discretion to determine (in the absence of specific legislative directions) the priority to be given to the enforcement of competing punitive statutes using the funds authorized for that purpose. A more accurate analogy is a police chief deciding that the limited resources of the police department would be better allocated to enforcing laws against crimes of violence than traffic violations. Both types of behavior remain illegal despite the exercise of discretion but one is enforced while the other is overlooked.
Guest
Anonymous
February 20, 2019 4:07 pm
I looked up the Baltimore Post-Examiner. It doesn't appear to be anything but an on-line news feed and is categorized as 'tabloid'. We have at least one digital rag in Clark county, the Tribune, which is the worst kind of garbage available IMO. So kind of wonder about the nature of the whole article frankly.
Here it is: Confidential? Maybe they do not want to ruin his reputation?
State of Nevada vs. GAMAGE, WILLIAM H §
§04/09/2019 Future Court Date Stands
05/15/19 at 8am
04/09/2019 Minute Order – Department 02
05/15/2019 Negotiations (8:00 AM) (Judicial Officer Sciscento, Joseph S.)
O/R
Result: Bench Warrant Issued
05/15/2019 Bench Warrant Ordered Issued – Defendant Failed to Appear
$00/00
If the judge offered a bribe to someone to implicate a pimp in a murder he supposedly had no involvement in, a few things are interesting.
This supposedly happened in 2017, yet with all the controversy that has been surrounding the judge, this is 10,000 more serious than anything else she has yet been accused of, and yet it only arises now? I'm not insisting there is a conspiracy or pile on, but this does raise questions.
It would be like bringing a judge before the Commission on charges of ex parte communications, and then saying, by the way the charges should now be amended to include that the judge was involved in murders back in 2013 and 2014 on behalf of the Columbian Drug Cartel. I know that's an extreme example, but sometimes an extreme example is necessary to demonstrate the absurdity and the disturbing timing, and seemingly miss-placed priorities of matters. The far more serious actions should not be alleged as an afterthought.
Now all that being said, neither local law enforcement, nor the Judicial Commission, appear to be pursuing such matter, at least not yet. But it does smack of opportunistic timing by someone. If she was involved in something so heinous no one saw fit to raise the matter until she is facing accusations as to other matters? It takes two years? And why is it reported first in some on line Baltimore "news" website? It does not appear there is anything yet in the Nevada media on this matter.
None of this is to suggest I am a supporter of the judge. In fact, I am concerned by the charges concerning the personal degree that she may be immersing herself in as to certain law enforcement matters and investigations. We will have to wait and see as to whether her actions were justified, or at least mitigated, by legitimate concerns to protect her daughter and other youngsters from criminal exploitation.
Also, she seems to advance theories concerning Metro conspiracies and wrong doing. We will need to wait to see what that is all about, if anything.
The fact that the story is reported upon by an out of area media outlet instead of a local one does not surprise me in the least. Las Vegas has a long history of media bias wherein the "anointed" are protected from poor press, (unless a story grows to such proportions that it can not be buried)and the "disfavored" are continuously hit with stories containing half-truths and matters taken out of context.
While I have no ax to grind with Justice of the Peace Melanie Andress-Tobiasson, if my memory serves me correctly she comes from an established (and wealthy) Las Vegas family which owns the Harley-Davidson franchise in town. I'm not saying anything untoward has occurred in this instance, however, it could explain a lack of interest in looking under every rock by the media.
Any official news or even rumors re: the search for Magistrate Judges? A post the other day suggested Brenda Weksler had been appointed to replace MJ Leen. I have not been able to verify this. Who else is rumored?
Probably a bunch of AUSAs who don't know squat about civil practice.
Maybe Steve Myrhe because he can claim vindication by getting out of the OUSA, and no one violates all constitutional rights like that Black Hat.
Any official news or even rumors regarding replacing the Discovery Commissioner? Is the Court going to have an open application process or are they going to do a closed door selection? Are they even going to replace the Discovery Commissioner? I haven't heard anything.
I am sure there will be some kind of application process. I have heard that Erin Truman probably has the inside track, which I can't confirm, but it would come as no surprise.
Unless there's a salary boost of course, why would someone move from the cushy ADR commissioner job where their tasks consist of administration of arbitrator selection lists, enforcing the 9month & 1 year deadlines, and sending 30-day 'nobody did a trial de novo' letters to move over to the thankless job of dealing with attorneys bitching at each other back and forth about not wanting to let their client answer question #4 out of 172 questions?
Sisolak needs to hire new help. WAJ.
As an aside – Nadin Cutter is smoking hot!! Saw her in Bar magazine and googled. Very nice.
I would like to second the WAJ sentiment to Abbi Silver. Abbi, thank you for not doing your job.
Judge Tobiasson needs to not say another word to anyone about this case that does not come from Bill Terry.
Bill Terry should go after Judicial Discipline once this is over. They have it in for her and Jerry Tao.
With Tobiasson, a lot of this(not all, but a lot of it)may be largely excusable, or at least serious mitigation, as her actions(although at times perhaps a bit emotional and impulsive) appear to have been sincerely motivated by the extreme and unremitting stress she was enduring one she perceived her daughter, and other youngsters, were being criminally exploited and victimized. The fact that during such crisis she may have reached out to high ranking Metro officials that an average member of the public may not have generally had access to if their family was undergoing a similar crisis, in no way constitutes a judge using their positon to gain favoritism and preferential treatment of the nature that the judicial canons were intended to address. Now there may be other actions she took that are somewhat more problematic. She held a case, where she should have recused based on pretty clear conflict. Her explanation is that she did not preside over anything contested, but merely accepted a plea deal. We will see what happens as to that particular matter, as it seems kind of unclear.
Also,no doubt she is ruffling some fathers with her conspiracy theories and allegations against Metro, so she may be creating some influential foes, which does her no good.
But putting it all in the blender, and having great faith in Bill Terry, I don't think she is facing career ending sanctions. Since it is all unsettled as to what actually did and did not happen, I'm not even certain she committed any serious violations.
I actually think Tao has a much more evident, and clearly documented problem, and he did himself no good by speaking to the media, nor were any favors done for him when his swipe card info. was released. This went way, way beyond a situation where a judge indicates that on days they don't have court they work more productively from home(which is problematic in itself). This is a situation where it seems he is in the building far less than 20% of work hours. Makes the whole judicial system look bad. Good luck getting new judges approved when there is this kind of evidence of highly placed justices working like the equivalent of a day per week, while most people bust their butt just to eke by.
It sickens me that Nevada has joined the meritless claim against our lawfully elected President. How low will we go?
What about U.S. Constitution, Art. 2, Sec. 9 which provides: "No money shall be drawn from the treasury, but in consequence of appropriations made by law; and a regular statement and account of receipts and expenditures of all public money shall be published from time to time."?
The last time I looked, not only did Congress not provide the $5.7B for the wall within its appropriations bill it specifically refused to do so after considering the issue at length.
Yeah, there’s that Constitution thing, but our president was lawfully elected…… how dare he be sued. WITCH HUNT
Not so sure about the lawfully elected part either there komrade.
1:08pm…did you write the same rhetoric when Obama issued his Executive Order?
@10;28; While I was certainly no fan of President Obama, you are comparing apples and oranges. President Trump is attempting to use executive powers to appropriate and spend treasury funds without congressional authorization, whereas, President Obama's executive order dealt with the exercise of executive authority in exercising law enforcement discretion.
President Obama did not "change" the law concerning individuals that were present in the U.S. in violation of our immigration laws but rather decided that except for in limited circumstances it wasn't worth the time, expense and burden of enforcing the laws against them compared to other law enforcement priorities. It is within the Chief Executive Officer's discretion to determine (in the absence of specific legislative directions) the priority to be given to the enforcement of competing punitive statutes using the funds authorized for that purpose. A more accurate analogy is a police chief deciding that the limited resources of the police department would be better allocated to enforcing laws against crimes of violence than traffic violations. Both types of behavior remain illegal despite the exercise of discretion but one is enforced while the other is overlooked.
I looked up the Baltimore Post-Examiner. It doesn't appear to be anything but an on-line news feed and is categorized as 'tabloid'. We have at least one digital rag in Clark county, the Tribune, which is the worst kind of garbage available IMO. So kind of wonder about the nature of the whole article frankly.
I wonder why they have a "confidential" bench warrant on Bill Gamage? The murder case he was linked to was plea bargained down to nothing and the guy bailed out. https://lvjcpa.clarkcountynv.gov/Anonymous/CaseDetail.aspx?CaseID=12611885
Here it is: Confidential? Maybe they do not want to ruin his reputation?
State of Nevada vs. GAMAGE, WILLIAM H §
§04/09/2019 Future Court Date Stands
05/15/19 at 8am
04/09/2019 Minute Order – Department 02
05/15/2019 Negotiations (8:00 AM) (Judicial Officer Sciscento, Joseph S.)
O/R
Result: Bench Warrant Issued
05/15/2019 Bench Warrant Ordered Issued – Defendant Failed to Appear
$00/00
05/15/2019 Warrant Issued
05/15/2019 Bench Warrant – Face Sheet
05/15/2019 Bench Warrant Confidential