- Quickdraw McLaw
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As the end of 2013 rapidly approaches and we enter the least productive week of the year, it’s time to reflect on the year gone by. Before we do, we just want to say thanks for reading, commenting, and offering your input. Like we have said before, we make the effort to keep the blog going because we think it provides an important venue to the Las Vegas legal community where you can hear about what’s going on, ask questions, compare bonuse, get advice, etc. As always, we’re open to your suggestions on how we can better fill that role, so if you have any comments, criticisms, ideas, gossip, or want to volunteer to write a guest post, let us know. We wish you all warm holidays and a properous new year! (We’ll be back next week/next year!)
After the jump, we take a look at the top ten Las Vegas-related legal stories of 2013…
10. The Benchslapping of Judge Doug Smith by the Supreme Court of Nevada– The Supreme Court found that Judge Smith had manifestly abused his discretion when he remanded a defendant back into custody after the gentleman said “thank you.” The story blew up and got national attention when video of the incident was released
9. Justice for Turk- In another story that really got national headlines, Berkeley law student Justin Texeira was sentenced to six months of boot camp for his role in the death of Turk the bird.
8. RIP, David Schubert– The former prosecutor who prosecuted Paris Hilton and Bruno Mars and then had the tables turned on him when he was convicted for his own drug crimes, was found dead in his home.
7. $500 Million in Punitive Damages- Enough said, call Robert Eglet!
6. The HOA Scandal– True, this story is years old now, but it continued to have legs in 2013, including indictments for attorneys Keith Gregory and Barry Levinson and suspicions about one of the several deaths related to the scandal.
5. Bye-bye BAM– In what seemed like a year of musical benches, we had several retirements and/or announcements of retirement (Riegle, Markell, Vega, Earl), new judges take the bench (Laurel Davis, Jennifer Dorsey, and Andrew Gordon), while others, unfortunately withdrew from consideration (Cadish).
4. The Sentencing of Gerry Zobrist– Although not that remarkable of a story–a Nevada lawyer being sentenced for a federal crime–it generated a lot of attention because a lot of people know and like Zobrist, which created a natural curiousity about the outcome of his case. Zobrist was sentenced to a little over 7 years in prison, 5 years of supervised release, and $31 million in restitution. Zobrist will report to prison sometime early next year.
3. The District Attorney’s Office– You win some and you lose some, but people mostly remember the ones where you look silly. Between the great sidewalk chalk conspiracy and getting caught paying witnesses without properly disclosing and documenting, the DA’s office definitely looked silly in 2013.
2. Judge Steven Jones- Suspended with pay; hearing by the Nevada Commission on Judicial Discipline; federal indictments; running for re-election; and a girlfriend who appears to believe there is no such thing as bad publicity.
1. Family Court Drama– This has not been a good year for the family court. Between the disciplinary hearing for Judge Jones and national attention over the actions of certain marshals, family court can’t stay out of the news.
Honorable mentions: Dr. Dipak Desai was found guilty and sentenced to life in prison; OJ Simpson’s bid for a retrial was denied; CityCenter and the fate of the Harmon hotel; and the US Supreme Court’s ruling on DOMA and Prop 8.
What do you think? Did we miss anything? What do you think will be the big stories next year? We’ll go ahead and predict that a few of the big stories of 2014 will be: the intermediate appellate court, the judicial election, and another yet-to-be-determined scandal for the DA’s office.
Did anyone see the story about the Eagles cheerleader turned soldier?
http://www.cnn.com/2013/12/22/us/cheerleader-turned-soldier-honored/index.html?hpt=hp_c3
She is bad ass (and hot). I mean seriously, how could the Taliban want to shoot her?
You do realize that the cheerleader is a man, right? He was one of the dude cheerleaders that throws the chicks in the air. The story is misleading because there is a hot chick standing next to him.
You must be gay or something. You should move to Utah.
Wrong. I saw the news story. She is an attractive young lady Mr. Homophobe. Does the NFL have any male cheerleaders?
Sure. We call them "Centers."
or "Power-bottoms".
Well amigos, I'm off to Utah where I can finally marry all 4 of my gay lovers. Wish me luck!
You can only legally be married to one of them. You can have a religious ceremony and live in sin with the other 3. I guess it really isn't sin if your religious institution has blessed the relationships.
Good point. As long as I can't get prosecuted for my gay polygamy, I'm golden.
Jones liable on 8 of 12 alleged judicial violations: http://www.reviewjournal.com/news/commission-judge-s-relationship-prosecutor-was-misconduct
Wow. Why didn't the Commission hit him on the counts for banning the deputies from the courtroom and failing to recuse himself form their cases when they found him liable on the interference counts?
Am I the only one who thinks that Willardson must be drunk or on something stronger when she makes comments on the RJ website?
I have a hard time believing it's actually her. If actually by her, some of the comments kill her credibility.
E.g., some commenter states "Make [Jones] pay back the $200k immediately……….!!"
Willardson commenter replies "How am I supposed to fund my campaign if he does that?"
The Willardson commenter also says “What a sham!! We will continue to fight. When I am elected Judge I will make my first order of business to issue a ruling that Judge Jones is freakin' hot!. Vote Willardson!!”
RJ reporting that Willardson died last night.
only in Vegas…very very sad
Found by Jones slumped over the toilet. Suicide by OD is my guess. Holy hell.
So….Zobrist was supposed to report to prison Dec. 6, but spends Christmas in Disneyland with his family instead. Wonder if the people he defrauded out of $30 million could afford any of that? "Reporting early this year"? What does that mean????
All that hate's gonna burn you up, kid.
Yep. You are obviously obsessed with this guy – you made three different posts about him on two separate threads within a matter of minutes. Please tell us – were you directly affected by this guy or are you just an asshole?
You should be more concerned with Paul Wommer. He was convicted at federal trial a long time ago and as of last month, he seemed to be still practicing.
Wommer asked to be on released pending his appeal. That was shot down, and he was ordered to surrender on Dec. 23. He's currently sitting in Butner Medium I FCI in North Carolina. He was temporarily suspended as a member of the bar on Dec. 17, according to Case No. 64253. Now the Southern panel gets to decide whether they are going to disbar him.
Zob should be more careful about who he is FaceBook friends with. Personally, I know that he took a last hurrah with his kids rather than shop for Christmas gifts the receipt of which would feel hollow to his kids. Attend family and friend parties with this tragedy staring his family in the face? I can see why he said "No thanks" and took his family to DLAND. Go Zob! We will see you soon!
M-I-C, see you in 7-10, K-E-Y- why, because you're a crook, M-O-U-S-E.
3:34…. known to his friends to be a Keyboard Coward of anonymity
…says the anonymous guy at 3:54.
Way to teach kids personal responsibility. TRAGEDY? Please. Only cause he got caught. The tragedy is that he was in a position of trust and people actually TRUSTED him. WOW. No hate, just thinking this is a perfect example of why people hate lawyers. LOL
And why people post on multiple old threads 9 minutes apart on the exact same subject saying the same thing. Grind that axe.