Talks Too Much

  • Law

  • Judge Bill Kephart faces ethics charges for giving tv interview. [RJ]
  • Justice of the Peace Amy Chelini found Bishop Gorman football coach, Kenny Sanchez, not guilty of domestic violence. [RJ]
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Anonymous
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Anonymous
May 31, 2017 4:10 pm

Team Almase is getting the word and the vote out, with a strong showing of the 4 or so votes they have garnered so far, and they all keep posting the same thing on the legal blog.

Anonymous
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Anonymous
May 31, 2017 4:15 pm
Reply to  Anonymous

What??? @9:10 am

Anonymous
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Anonymous
May 31, 2017 4:17 pm

Are you, who are you kidding, the supporters of Almase are coming out in droves? You are crazy!

Anonymous
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Anonymous
May 31, 2017 4:20 pm
Reply to  Anonymous

Where can I get a Almase button?

Anonymous
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Anonymous
May 31, 2017 4:39 pm

Not that I'm taking up for Judge Kephart, but the situation is a bit different than Judge Bill Potter contacting the press.

Judge Potter apparently contacted the press to offer his views on an active case being litigated in his department,as well as his unflattering views of one of the attorneys involved.

Kephart is discussing a case not assigned to his court, but in which he served as one of the prosecutors years earlier.

I was wondering if that distinction makes a difference.

Anonymous
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Anonymous
May 31, 2017 7:19 pm
Reply to  Anonymous

I was thinking along similar lines.

Anonymous
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Anonymous
May 31, 2017 6:12 pm

Case was twice tried years ago…he did nothing wrong.

Anonymous
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Anonymous
May 31, 2017 6:21 pm
Reply to  Anonymous

….other than put an innocent girl on trial.

Anonymous
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Anonymous
May 31, 2017 6:55 pm

9:39 here again.

If an innocent girl was put on trial that is obviously an extremely serious matter to be dealt with in the appropriate forum, but that is not the narrow ethical dilemma he is facing.

So, for the immediate purposes, the issue is not whether he was an over zealous prosecutor, or whether he did anything improper as a prosecutor. As mentioned, that will, presumably, be dealt with in the fashion it should.

The issue he currently faces with the Commission is that he, as a sitting judge, is publicly commenting on that case that he once served as a prosecutor.

If a judge comments on such a case, and the case is long dormant and nothing the judge says could make any difference, it is a less serious matter. But if the case, for whatever reason, is returning to court, and the Defendant has a shot at some substantive relief, a sitting judge, who was once a prosecutor on the case, should not be commenting. To make such public pronouncements can influence and taint matters(at least in theory).

Anonymous
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Anonymous
May 31, 2017 8:19 pm
Reply to  Anonymous

Entirely inappropriate (which is why Bill Terry's defense is not that he did nothing wrong but that this is a blip on an otherwise unblemished judicial career). I would take it a step further than even you 11:55. "But if the case, for whatever reason, is returning to court, and the Defendant has a shot at some substantive relief, a sitting judge, REGARDLESS OF WHETHER HE OR SHE was once a prosecutor on the case, should not be commenting." Period. Judges should not make public pronouncements and commentaries on cases. Period. No equivocation. No explanation. Kephart wants to be a witness or a legal commentator, he needs to the leave the Bench. Kephart wants to defend his name; he needs to leave the Bench.

Anonymous
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Anonymous
May 31, 2017 8:59 pm
Reply to  Anonymous

Rule 2.10. (A) A judge shall not make any public statement that might reasonably be expected to affect the outcome or impair the fairness of a matter pending or impending in any court, or make any nonpublic statement that might substantially interfere with a fair trial or hearing.

He's a sitting judge in District Court, where an evidentiary hearing will be heard in another District Court department for a case he prosecuted, and says "I stand behind what we did. I have no qualms about what happened and how we prosecuted this matter. I believe it was completely justice done."

Sorry, but that statement "might reasonably" affect the outcome of the hearing, especially since the statement comes from a colleague down the hall.

anonymous
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anonymous
May 31, 2017 10:21 pm
Reply to  Anonymous

I think it is borderline in terms of "expected to affect the outcome", but discretion is the better part of valor. Keep your mouth shut.

Anonymous
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Anonymous
May 31, 2017 10:34 pm
Reply to  Anonymous

"Might reasonably" makes it very broad, though.

Anonymous
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Anonymous
May 31, 2017 10:43 pm
Reply to  Anonymous

With all the cases in which the DA has been found to have hidden evidence, not once, as far as I know, has the State Bar disciplined a prosecutor for that offense.

Anonymous
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Anonymous
May 31, 2017 11:06 pm
Reply to  Anonymous

Or an Attorney General. Or an AUSA (at least those who actually get licensed in this state). Prosecutorial Teflon.

Anonymous
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Anonymous
May 31, 2017 7:08 pm

I think they are selling the Almase buttons for $15 a piece. If she sells just 6,000 buttons she will have raised close to the amount that Campbell has raised. Who wants a button? Buttons here!

Anonymous
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Anonymous
May 31, 2017 7:52 pm
Reply to  Anonymous

And yet A's still gonna win. Mo' money mo' problems.

Anonymous
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Anonymous
May 31, 2017 7:11 pm

Where is early voting in Las Vegas today?

Anonymous
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Anonymous
May 31, 2017 8:02 pm
Reply to  Anonymous

City Hall *(until 5:30), Meadows Mall *(until 6), Farm & Durango Albertsons *(until 5), Veterans Memorial (until 6).

Anonymous
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Anonymous
May 31, 2017 9:29 pm
Reply to  Anonymous

Thank you!

Anonymous
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Anonymous
May 31, 2017 9:50 pm

Why in the hell did they try Sanchez for domestic abuse when his ex-fiancé, the woman he supposedly abused, recanted her testimony and actually testified in favor of Sanchez? What a colossal waste of taxpayer money. Who green lit that prosecution? Am I missing something?

Anonymous
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Anonymous
May 31, 2017 9:56 pm
Reply to  Anonymous

Probably because genuine victims of domestic violence regularly recant and refuse to cooperate.

anonymous
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anonymous
May 31, 2017 10:23 pm
Reply to  Anonymous

True, although it sounds like the physical evidence was lacking as well, as opposed to being one of those "I threw myself down the stairs" deals.

Anonymous
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Anonymous
June 1, 2017 12:13 am
Reply to  Anonymous

i think they prosecuted this case before victims of domestic violence started to recant.

Anonymous
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Anonymous
June 1, 2017 1:34 am
Anonymous
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Anonymous
June 1, 2017 2:04 am
Reply to  Anonymous

That is an expensive tit rub.

Anonymous
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Anonymous
June 1, 2017 2:25 am
Reply to  Anonymous

Are they allowed to record visits from counsel?

Anonymous
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Anonymous
June 1, 2017 2:27 am
Reply to  Anonymous

There was no audio, so they can

Anonymous
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Anonymous
June 1, 2017 2:52 am
Reply to  Anonymous

Ew. Just ew.

anonymous
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anonymous
June 1, 2017 3:33 am
Reply to  Anonymous

Throw away your career because you can't keep your hands off some lowlife gangbanger. Nice.

Anonymous
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Anonymous
June 1, 2017 4:13 am
Reply to  Anonymous

Did Langford forget to tell Alexis to shut the hell up again?

Anonymous
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Anonymous
June 1, 2017 1:55 pm
Reply to  Anonymous

Alexis, you might not want to post pictures of your co-defendant kissing you on your law firm's Facebook page. Little bit of free legal advice since your attorney clearly forgot to mention that.

Anonymous
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Anonymous
June 1, 2017 2:17 pm
Reply to  Anonymous

Playing out the professional conduct question – if they had a preexisting relationship I am guessing that is the point of her Facebook post…? But it undermines any claim that the phone use was case related. Ultimately, if I believed there was a prison "witch hunt" (her words, not mine), I'd presume big brother was always watching.

Anonymous
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Anonymous
June 1, 2017 2:31 pm
Reply to  Anonymous

Trainwreck.

Anonymous
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Anonymous
June 1, 2017 2:35 pm
Reply to  Anonymous

Maybe we're just jealous of true love. That blessed arrangement. That dream within a dream.

NewlyMintedAttorney
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NewlyMintedAttorney
June 1, 2017 3:46 pm
Reply to  Anonymous

Inconvefeable!

Anonymous
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Anonymous
June 1, 2017 2:44 am

Ew. Ew. Eeewwwwwwww.

Anonymous
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Anonymous
June 1, 2017 2:53 am

I'm voting for Campbell because Josh is just dreamy.

Anonymous
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Anonymous
June 1, 2017 3:06 pm
Reply to  Anonymous

Hi Josh!

Anonymous
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Anonymous
June 1, 2017 3:18 pm
Reply to  Anonymous

Pretty sure @7:53 was being sarcastic.