- Quickdraw McLaw
- 2020 Judicial Primary
- 31 Comments
- 246 Views
With primary ballots set to start arriving in mailboxes next week, it’s time to talk about some of the contested judicial primary races featured on that ballot. We welcome your comments on the qualifications of the candidates as well as any information you can offer to help voters make an educated decision. Just remember to keep your comments appropriate and try to avoid defamation.
For District Court Judge, Department 19, the candidates are:
- Crystal Eller
- William “Bill” Kephart (incumbent)
- Fikisha Liki Miller
What are your thoughts on the race in this department?
https://www.propublica.org/article/las-vegas-judge-bill-kephart-history-of-prosecutorial-misconduct
https://www.propublica.org/article/alford-pleas-fred-steese-conviction-without-admitting-guilt
I've litigated a few cases against Crystal Eller. Pleasant enough to deal with, but she struggles with even the most basic procedural concepts.
I have to agree. She is a decent person, but really struggles with the rules which she simply dismisses as technicalities.
Kephart is running for judge, not for district attorney. I like that you always know where you stand with him. He DECIDES rather than putting decisions on ice for interminably long periods of time the way too many of his colleagues do. Plus he calls attorneys and parties out when he believes they are full of B.S.
"Kephart is running for judge, not for district attorney."
What does this even mean?!?!?
Can Dave Thomas stop trying to cash in on Fred Steese's misfortune? It makes Ozzie Dumont look like a douche.
Fumo
Cash in on misfortune? I am not a fan of Dave or his wife but come on man! You do not think the story is relevant to whether Kephart is qualified to administer justice?
All of this absurd talk about "justice" and "integrity" overlooks what really matters- Kephart has the $$$$$$$$$$$$$$ and his opponents don't. Kephart wins the primary by a landslide, defeats both of his opponents and stays on the bench for many, many years to come.
Mindy? She is country hot.
I think the Stees case is disqualifying for Kephart. I wish there were better alternatives in this race though. Someone will get my protest vote here.
Kephart is decent and likely to get my vote.
Agreed. I'm tired of hearing about Fred Stees. The justice system isn't perfect. It got corrected. Kephart is a good guy and a good judge and that's what matters. Are we really going to have to talk about Fred Stees every time Kephart's name gets brought up forever? It's honestly annoying and exhausting.
It got corrected after two decades of this guy's life being destroyed. This is not a case of mistaken identity; there was active efforts to cover up and misconduct. Kephart thinks that is just how the game was played because who cares– he was not the one going to prison and Steese was just another faceless head on his wall.
Yeah, but that's the point. It was two decades ago. People change and from what I see Bill Kephart TODAY is a great judge. Who wants to be judged by the kind of person they were 20 years ago? Plus, there's nothing conclusive that Kephart engaged in a deliberate cover up. Evidence is imperfect, the system is imperfect. All you Kephart haters need to get over it and move on. Most people don't share your exhausting indignation.
Who wants to be judged by who they were 20 years ago? Fred Steese. He wanted to be judged not only by who he was but where he was. Kephart intentionally suppressed evidence. If Kephart was apologetic and did anything to right the wrongs, we could talk. If Kephart said that as a judge he truly has an issue with an innocent man going to prison, we could talk. But his JUDICIAL philosophy is that he could not care less if the innocent go to prison.
I don't hate Kephart. I like him fine as a person and actually think our results are better than average in front of him. However I cannot overlook a man who actively participated in a miscarriage of justice without any remorse being allowed to hold peoples' fates in his hand.
I view Herndon and Kephart differently regarding Steese. Herndon is apologetic and has admitted his shortcomings on Steese – plus he came in late and it was really Kephart's case. Kephart, on the other hand, has dug in hard, refuses to acknowledge that he was wrong and that he wrongfully deprived this innocent man of his liberty for decades. There is no humility, no apologetic tone, and continued misrepresentations about what happened. And Steese was not the only case. Kephart's record of prosecutorial misconduct is legendary. And now there is the Reberger case, where he again lied, blatantly and on the record, as both a prosecutor and very recently as a sitting judge. Federal district court judges do not grant habeas corpus petitions often, but the decision against Kephart is shocking.
Kephart is just as awful today as he was 20 years ago. Here is some more recent bad behavior to add to the list:
https://www.reviewjournal.com/crime/courts/nevada-supreme-court-says-judge-retaliated-at-sentencing-2037091/
Fikisha Miller 100%
Kephart has a lot more money.
As people suggests, Kephart has some real issues, but they will not significantly hurt him even if they should.
With his name recognition, money and connections, he would probably destroy any opponents–even more so this time as he has two female opponents who will split the Pro-Female vote. And that Pro-Female vote is the only Hail Mary chance either of them would have if it was just one of them vs. Kephart. But by two females running, it hands it to him big. He probably wins it in the Primary with over 50%.
And as far as Fred Steese, it should be a big issue, but won't be. It's really only been extensively covered by smaller internet news sources. The RJ and local news stations have not given it much attention, and won't.
And seeing how hard right the RJ's editorial policy is, don't expect them to shed too many tears over an isolated wrongful conviction. Kephart's over zealous(or worse) prosecutorial approach in Steese is something easily over-looked and forgiven by voters who love to be thrown raw meat "tough on crime" rhetoric, which is devoured not only by republicans, but many moderate democrats as well.
And if the Steese matter did get some traction, I would not be shocked if Kephart turned it into a positive for him–that, as a prosecutor, he so relentlessly protected our rights and safety to the extent that occasional errors are the expected collateral damage, and when that rare event occurs the person is more than adequately compensated, etc.(which is often false, of course, but this could be an approach we see).
And when these stories are in fact reported by more conservative news outlets, there is an insidious subliminal tone and undercurrent designed to lead the reader or listener to conclude "well even if that guy was wrongfully convicted this one time, sure looks like he was scum who committed lot of prior crimes he got away with"
So, although people still insist Steese will be a big issue, there are many reasons why it will not be. Likewise, for the above reasons and others, Fumo should not make it any part of his central attack on Herndon.
It would just position Herndon as the law-and-order prosecutor while positioning Ossie as the champion for the criminal defendant, which will be easy for the Herndon camp to accomplish based on Ossie's career as a defense attorney(and a real good one, by the way, IMO).
I'm tired of prosecutors getting away with their bad behavior. Kefart is vile. He should've been sent to prison to serve the same amount of time Stees served. Kefart should have been disbarred for what he did. Kefart's lack of remorse is truly sickening. He's not fit for the bench…
10:47's anger and moral indignation can be largely validated.
But, 10:29 is right. There will never be any consequences for any of this, and he will easily be re-elected. To my knowledge there was never even any ethical complaint filed. If it were to happen it would have happened years ago.
It may be worth noting that the public's blood lust for red meat is decreasing. There is an increasing awareness of prosecutor misconduct and other failings of the justice system. Kamala Harris' hypocritical about-face in the Democratic Primary is anecdotal evidence of this. When convenient, she was a ruthless prosecutor throwing out red meat. Now, the climate is changing and she is a fearless reformer, or so she wanted us to think. That said, I'm not sure that the shifting attitudes are yet significant enough to hold a guy like Bill Kephart accountable. Maybe in 5 or 10 years, but not today.
Though Bill is a nice guy and very smart, I definitely won't be voting for him.
I'm about as conservative as one can get, but if I was on a jury I would have a hard time believing anything the prosecutors ask me to take on anything less than substantial evidence. They lie for a living.
And the Michael Flynn revelations have me fuming. Incredible prosecutorial misconduct. Each and every FBI agent and prosecutor involved should be held accountable. Grotesque.
I know I'm gonna regret asking this. What prosecutorial misconduct?
Kephart and Herndon intentionally hid evidence that showed that Fred Steese was innocent. The jury convicted Steese of murder and Steese spent about 20 years in prison as a result. (It may be 15, or 17, or 18 years: not certain). Ultimately, Steese was exonerated, and subsequent investigations revealed that Kephart and Herndon were aware of the exonerating evidence and they hid it. They did not disclose it to the defense. In an ethical jurisdiction, something should have happened to these two prosecutors, both of whom went on to be judges. But this is Nevada.
Regretted twice, thanks Fumo.
Kephart was an unethical prosecutor, and he should have been disbarred for his conduct. He was not punished because Stu Bell had a lot of influence with the State Bar and Stu went to bat for both Kephart and Herndon. What Kephart and Herndon did was unethical and outrageous. They hid evidence to convict an innocent man. Having said that, Kephart will win re-election because most people don't care about misconduct by prosecutors and Kephart is well-known and he has a lot of money. He's fortunate to have Fikisha Miller as an opponent. Miller is a below-average attorney and she does not have the temperament to be a judge. As for Crystal Eller, I've never heard of her and I don't know a thing about her. I predict a big win for Kephart, the unethical prosecutor who got away with it.
Crystal Eller, From on or around 2015 to 2016, was involved with a company called Prodigy Fulfillment Center, a mortgage rescue service, that illegally and fraudulently induced people that were in foreclosure to buy "securitization Audits" for 6,000 to 8,000. Prodigy promised these desperate people they could get their homes for free via quiet title if the title / paper trail showed anomalies in the title such as the deed separate from the note, which occurred alot since the crash of 2008 due to the asset backed securities and MERS/Robosigning.
However courts have overturned any quiet titles granted since 2009 to present because basically as the banks appealed and argued if the title is compromised the homeowner does not have standing and cannot get the house for free. Prodigy was able to get the upfront fees from the victims because they circumvented the law and sold this audit under the loophole "legal services" which is exempt from the restriction of obtaining upfront fees. This is fraud and illegal according the Dodd Frank MARS rule. Prodigy sold as part of this illegal package "legal review" of the audits. Crystal Eller was the "Legal Review". Crystal knew this was fraud and the people were victims and even elderly people were defrauded. She allowed her legal services to be sold by non attorneys and because these securitization audits were fraud they had no evidentiary value nor served any evidentiary or remedial purpose in a court or the existing homeowner/victim's foreclosure. So Crystal gave the victims BS story that the courts allowed the foreclosing lender to "cure" any defects in this fraudulent securitization audit. Crystal then directly solicited to the victims her services for loan mods and asked for money! Prodigy Fulfillment was then contracted Crystal Eller Law as the "paralegals" to facilitate the loan mods and Crystal split the fees. This is all documented and was given to the attorney general in 2016 but the amount of fraud / damages was small in comparison to other large consumer fraud cases the AG deals with and many of the victims were from other states. The attorney general cannot take every case which comes to them. There may be a bar complaint. Crystal Eller is no way qualified to be a judge.
The only one that would care this much about a loan modification Crystal did from 2015 is Kephart so I wonder who wrote this. "Maybe" there is a bar complaint? Nope. It was "almost" prosecuted but they were BUSY? Nice Try. Let's focus on the verifiable facts. Kephart is the one with the ethical violations as a judge and has public reprimands. He was just in the LV Journal again for misconduct about a month ago (not 20 years ago). Let's not be afraid to get rid of this guy.