- law dawg
- 55 Comments
- 4262 Views
It’s almost time to drop the curtain on 2024 and start anew in 2025. Before we do, here’s our annual look back at the top stories that affected the Las Vegas legal community this year. Before we do that, thanks again for reading, commenting, and offering your input because without you, the blog is dead. As always, we’re open to your suggestions on how we can improve the blog, so if you have any comments, criticisms, ideas, gossip, or want to volunteer to write a guest post, let us know. Here’s wishing you a happy 2025! We’ll see you again next year!
Our top ten Las Vegas related legal stories of 2024, in no particular order, are:
- AG Aaron Ford charged six “fake electors” again after the first charges were dismissed in Clark County.
- State public defender Patty Cafferata resigns after being scrutinized in public meeting.
- A couple were arrested for the death of Reba the bulldog.
- Justin Jones is facing discipline for deleting text messages.
- Judge Erika Ballou faced a complaint from the Nevada Commission on Judicial Discipline alleging some of her social media posts violated the judicial code of conduct.
- Joey Gilbert is no longer working for Douglas County.
- Michele Fiore was convicted of wire fraud.
- A defendant dove over the bench to attack Judge Mary Kay Holthus–he was later convicted of attempted murder for his actions.
- After he failed to compel a jury his with testimony about chicken fried rice recipes, Robert Telles was convicted of the murder of Jeff German.
- Dennis Prince and his wife Ashley were murdered at a deposition by Joe Houston, who then turned the gun on himself.
- RIP Chris Anthony, Kerry Skaggs, Judge Larry Hicks, and all of our other colleagues, friends, and family we lost this year.
What do you think? What did we miss? Any reflections on those events that shaped our year? What do you think will be the big stories next year? Will Uber succeed in getting attorney’s fees capped? Is the Legislature going to pass some other law that will upend the practice of law in Nevada? Any wild predictions about 2025? Stay tuned….
This morning, my thoughts and prayers are with the Houston/Prince minor children, the. The evidentiary hearing regarding custody begins at 9:00 a.m. This tragedy has had the biggest impact on me this year.
To me, this tragedy and its ongoing aftermath surpasses everything else that took place this year.
Then you must not have been paying attention to “everything else that took place this year.”
The biggest story this year that has resulted in the most harm to the most people, yes even over the murders, is the harm to children from the divorce industry cabal. It has resulted in countless children abused, harmed, and separated. This is known by the players yet they continue. All other members of the bar stand by, turn their heads, and allow the OBC, family court judges, etc to continue. And no I’m not a family lawyer, never been disciplined, etc but I know these things to be true.
Agreed. You would think the murders would have caused some sober reflection about the role the family court and the cabal played in the events leading up to that terrible day, but you’d be wrong. The family court listserv was buzzing with discussion about additional litigation. Six children left without parents and family court most certainly bears a portion of the blame. The damage is unfathomable – to those children and all the rest of the children sucked into that system.
In family law cases Zoom depositions should be the norm and the parties should need good cause to have in person depositions.
It is in family law cases that parties murder each as well as the opposing counsel and at least attempt to murder the judge. That these are very dangerous matters should be obvious, and threats should be taken seriously. When a party says he wants to see his spouse in a coffin, believe him.
None of that happened. Opposing counsel was not even present. The judge was not present.
As far as the text message quotes – those were put out by members of the family of one of the victims who now have a personal and financial interest in the custody of at least three of the children. There is no context and no one knows what was said before or after those comments. Not that I think those comments are acceptable, but if you think that’s bad, you clearly do not practice family law. I’ve seen much, much worse.
What we do know is that the actual parties to the litigation had a long history of bad behavior on both sides. None of that excuses or justifies what happened, but also consider that neither of the parties was the perpetrator of the murders. You cannot blame Dylan for what his father did. He was cleared by the police and that’s the end of the story there.
This press to vilify Dylan is pretty sick. He’s not going to be put up for citizen of the year anytime soon, but fuck. His mother was in the room. His father was the perpetrator. He’s lost his father and no matter what stupid things he put in those text messages, he lost the mother of his children and a person that he once loved enough to marry and have children with. He’s going through hell. Give him a fucking bit of grace.
“There is no context and no one knows what was said before or after those comments.”
Horseshit. There is no “context” in which those texts are defensible.
11:38 here. I’m not trying to enrage you or start an exchange of insults. My point is that we don’t know if this was him being outrageous or if they were both exchanging equally offensive messages. We don’t know what she said to him. It could have been equally bad or not. We simply do not know.
There are cases where one party is the abuser and there are cases where the parties make the litigation and the conflict their entire personalities. When two people want to tear each other apart, it’s not a one man operation and you can’t look at a single text in a vacuum.
There is no scenario where it’s ok to tell another human being, much less the mother of your children, that you are going to shit down her throat and hope she ends up in a coffin.
I don’t care what the other party in the texts said. I feel like I’m arguing with my kids right now when one tries to justify their inappropriate behavior by pointing out the inappropriate behavior of the sibling. You’re an adult and understand the problem with that, right?
Or maybe you’re not. Maybe my 10 year old is on this blog using the same specious reasoning that drives me bat shit crazy when they fight with their sibling.
Dylan Houston’s texts are abhorrent regardless of the “context” and he should feel deep shame for sending them.
I feel like you’re intentionally missing the point. Nowhere did I say the text messages were okay. What I am saying is that in family court we see this kind of behavior all the time. Stupid things like nasty messages, social media posts, friends and family getting involved, etc. My point is if one party sends and text and says I want to see you in a coffin and the other party sends a text saying I want to see you get run over by a bus is either party blameless? No they are not. They are both engaging in bad behavior that does a huge disservice to their children. In this case we have only heard a few select text messages presented by interested third parties. This is not a black and white situation and neither of us has all the facts.
I am certain that Dylan feels a lot of terrible feelings about everything right now. I genuinely hope he gets some help and I hope he is able to do right as a father. We for sure know that the blameless parties are those children.
If I’m missing the point, it isn’t intentional, it’s because you aren’t being clear about the point you are trying to make. Are you saying that if Ashley had said something terrible (which is pure speculation), that somehow Dylan’s texts aren’t as bad? That they are understandable? Relatable? Justified?
Look, I am no angel. I have said some awful things to people during my lifetime, for which I am genuinely ashamed. Things I wish I could take back. I get that. But have I ever said anything close to “I’m going to shit down your throat” or my wish for someone to die? Never. I hope you’re getting my point- there’s nothing that anyone could have said or done to DH which would have made those texts understandable, relatable or justified. Period.
Ok. You’re intentionally missing the point. You’re probably somehow involved or knew the victims or something. That’s fine. I get it. It’s hard to separate his texts from the murders, but they are separate. I’m genuinely sorry for your loss and how this has obviously impacted you. I’m speaking from my experience dealing with highly contentious litigation in family court.
You can also go online and look up the criminal history of the parties. I supposed you feel just as strongly about domestic violence as you do about bad words in a text message, right? Violence against your co-parent is never justified, right? There is no context in which violence against your co-parent would ever be understandable, relatable, or justified. Period. Right?
I’ll ask again, what exactly is your point?
Your statement that “in family court we see this kind of behavior all the time” is absurd. I practiced in family court for 2 decades and I never read such statements. A husband once told the mother of his six children that she looked “like a beached whale.” We thought that was bad.
I’ve been in family court 8+ years and seen worse on a monthly basis.
Although one cannot divide it demographically there is some validity that it depends on the type of clients one has. For example, much more likely to get this with meth addicts than say professionals. Not always of course but there is some correlation imho.
I have seen the worst type of verbal and emotional abuse from the educated professional. Even moreso than the proverbial “meth head”.
I don’t know enough to comment on the case you’re all referring to, but as a 20+ year divorce lawyer I’ve routinely seen texts that bad and a few times even worse. Texts memorialize humans at their absolute worst when fighting for their children in the midst of emotions. Not excusing just observing.
There was not a single text, there were many. And I practiced family law for years. These texts and threats were absolutely outrageous.
Did you see the entire conversation? Have you checked the criminal record?
Dennis Prince was the opposing counsel who was present at the deposition and was murdered. I am giving grace to those poor children who are the only innocents in this tragedy.
Jones was opposing counsel, not Dennis Prince.
Bullshit. It’s exactly what he wanted
Good riddance, 2024!
Perhaps a sounding board, but these Wednesday holidays were really difficult, especially with kids. There seemed to be an extraordinary amount of demand of work in and around the M,T, Thu, Friday dates these last two weeks and even, ‘taking the time off’ work was a pretty incessant creep.
I generally like my job but the holidays i feel kind of resentful. I used to be in the casino biz, so i always understood work during holidays was important and necessary. (and i appreciated the double time). But I do not feel that same way towards legal practice and find the incessant treating of holiday weeks like any other to be a bit of a struggle. This seems to have compounded by having quick turnarounds on both my Thanksgiving and Christams breaks with Counsel that weren’t willing to stipulate and a Court (RJC) that wouldn’t vacate a 12/26 hearing.
Planning WELL in advance will alleviate some of these hiccups. I simple, I am unavailable these weeks on a preplanned – pre-paid for vacation. In advance I am talking September/October at the latest. When a department sets a hearing without checking, get on it (or your staff) IMMEDIATELY with the same response.
Although its much worse this last few years with OCs being dicks, an early and firm response will help you have the time you need during the holidays. But I am with 1020 Eff that guy! Name him!
Yes, planning is the key. It’s important to us to allow our employees to have an extended break at Christmas. We block out the following weeks for no hearings/depositions: Christmas, New Years and the week following New Years. We start this in late September/early October.
I also go out of my way to email opposing counsel and say, “Hey, your discovery is due to me on January 3, but if you’d like until January 10 so you can spend time witt your family, please take it.”
I predict that the Uber initiative will easily pass after a surprisingly lackluster and impotent fight from NJA. I predict that it will harm countless Nevadans, but will never be undone. It will be a prime example of “Leopards at My Face.” I predict we will see corporations take a more direct and forceful role in law and government. The power of government will continue to descend, the power of corporations will continue to rise.
Really? As an aside i thought their social media campaign asking people if they were screwed over by attorneys and contingency fees to be quite feckless. But agreed on the NJA response
What’s with this Spring Trip to The Hague nonsense? This is CLE? Because Nevada is such a hotbed for International Law issues? Right. This is freakin’ Study Abroad for Attorneys. How stupid. Who the hell would actually do this? Waste of funds, if you ask me.
Look closer. CLE-Abroad is a travel agency. Now, why is the SBN shilling for it? From CLE-Abroad’s website: “In every CLE Abroad™ partnership program, a minimum commission/donation fee is built into the cost of travel. At the discretion of Bar Association leadership, additional contributions can be added such as ‘for credit’ CLE fees. This can result in several thousands of dollars of non-dues revenue for your Bar Association generated by each travel program.”
Cha-ching!
The Nevada Attorney General has faced criticism for awarding a no-bid contract worth hundreds of millions of dollars to a small, Las Vegas law firm. This money could have been used for essential public services like education, opioid treatment, or rehabilitation programs for ex-convicts. Critics argue that the legal work contracted out could have easily been handled internally by the AG’s office, saving taxpayer money.
It’s unclear whether similar practices are widespread in other states. However, Nevada’s unique political climate and oversight mechanisms may contribute to a tolerance for such practices.
It was the former law firm of the AG and his political and financial backer. Yep this is Nevada!!!
What contract are we talking about?
Nevada is tiny. Does this amount of absolute horror happen in other jurisdictions or are we special?
It’s Nevada.
Forget our inert state AG, who is Lord Trump going to annoint to the USAG for Nevada?
Wtf is the USAG? Are you referring to the US Attorney?
Adam Laxalt
Nevada could benefit from stronger institutions, such as more attuned law schools, special commissions, and professional boards, to address issues of corruption, violence, and accountability for prominent figures. For as much as we criticize on anonymous blogs, few people want to criticize institutions and prominent people in public, even when such criticism is desperately needed for the sake of the institutions and leaders.
The dental board and the school board have had years-long issues, but no one cares enough to investigate the root causes of their dysfunction or offer the public a clear explanation of what’s wrong.
Maybe the dental board should stop hiring grifters?
Not to mention METRO. You can have a crime that is clear as day, have all the evidence in a row for metro, and they wont do a thing about it. If its not a murder or in the news, they don’t care. If law enforcement can’t be bothered to prosecute easy, slam dunk cases, how can anything else function?!
“If its not a murder or in the news, they don’t care.” This is it. The indifference towards elder exploitation in this town is shameful.
Prosecutions for sexual assault, rape, human trafficking. and domestic violence are equally lacking and woefully inadequate.
Welcome to Las Vegas, you will get a harsher sentence for a theft crime than you will for committing SA
There are often many problems with SA cases and the DA’s have to work within that framework
Yeah, and the DA’s office is most aware and has the “clout” to make changes, yet here we are.
You clearly don’t practice criminal law. The problem is the evidence in those types of cases -DA’s office cannot fabricate evidence regardless of its clout !
Obviously, you’re not a golfer!
Metro’s most used phrase: “It’s a civil matter.”
Citizens hate this one simple trick to get out of doing actual police work!
Here’s to you, Pahrump. As the entire world celebrates your weird little county tonight, enjoy your legal cookers and booze.