- Quickdraw McLaw
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- Today is the second major deadline day in the Nevada Legislature. [TNI]
- Inmate fighting execution seeks firing squad option. [Las Vegas Sun]
- Nevada is the third most marijuana friendly state. [Fox5Vegas]
- Boulder City offers the City Attorney job to the current acting City Attorney Brittany Walker. [BCR]
- Clark County Commissioners are voting today on a reopening plan. [KTNV]
Perfect Example Of Non-News News: Boulder City offers City Attorney job to Acting City Attorney.
Now I can return to my sleep.
Well the other candidates pretty much burned their bridges by calling out the Mayor and City Council for previously indicating their support, this is not a huge surprise.
9:39–And these situations involve a gross waste of money and resources when they conduct nation-wide searches only to settle on choosing the Acting City Attorney to fill the City Attorney post. They did the exact same thing the prior time.
I realize they need to post the job opening, and have a period where they accept applications, but they are under no obligation to conduct an expensive nation-wide search–particularly considering their small-town budget and the fact such nation-wide search winds up as a farce along the lines of–just like last time, we conducted a nation-wide search only to discover that the best person was already in the job as the Acting City Attorney.
My comment has nothing to do with Ms. Walker, who does appear quite qualified. My comments concern a pointless, expensive, un-necessary, non-required process(nation-wide search) with utterly predictable results.
If it's all a self-fulfilling prophecy, just post it, forget the utterly pointless nation-wide search and use the money elsewhere, and simply inform Ms. Walker she is no longer just keeping the seat warm but that the job is hers.
The article said the search was state-wide, so it wasn't like they were casting an enormous net.
What did the search firm do, anyway? Post a job opening on the SBN's site, Boyd's employment resources, and the wall of the City Attorney's office?
There's another piece on it that says they spent $47,000 on this.
Well, I guess throw $47k into the pile of dumb decisions made by the BC Council.
Let's review: Steve Morris gets shit-canned, and Ms. Walker, a 3-year attorney, happens to be the guest of the mayor in that same meeting. The Mayor "reached out" to someone he trusts, looking for recommendations, and the 3-year attorney's name somehow came up. She gets hired as interim city attorney at $170k.
BC hires a search firm and pays the firm $47k. The job, according to recruiting materials, pays $120k – $145k. I mean, maybe our local Shark Pimp can opine on the recruiting costs when you're talking about an in-state search, but it strikes me as pretty damn expensive for that salary. And at the end of the day, she was one of the three best attorneys they could find? Really? For $47k?
I did find another article that said BS was looking for a search firm for both City Manager and City Attorney. The City Manager position, at least, appears to have been a nationwide search. So perhaps they dropped like $3k on the in-state search for the City Attorney, and the rest for the City Manager. That might be more reasonable, and more commensurate with the delivered people.
9:55-Agree with everything except I'm not certain that she is highly qualified as you suggest. She's only a three-year attorney.
But that said, she's young, and apparently bright and hard-working, and has been in the position on an acting basis(and it's not like this is nuclear physics, so presumably she has a grip on it by now).
But regardless of just how qualified she is, she appears to have been juiced in to some extent, in my view(and in the view of many others.
Now, people get juiced into government positions everyday, but then please don't compound things by adopting the pretense, and going to the expense, to insult people's intelligence by telling them that other applicants are being seriously considered.
The hand-writing was on the wall since she was appointed as Acting City Attorney. So, just post it and then choose her out of the applicants who apply. But to spend money to conduct formal search committees and the like to attract yet even more applicants who will never be even remotely considered(which often involves hiring independent agencies)is preposterous.
4th year lawyer! How old is she, 23?
6:18–if you were a lawyer you would understand the process and realize it is impossible to practice four years and only be 23, unless she's some hyper-advanced child prodigy or something.
Undergrad is at four years, and Law School is three years.
So, presumably she's at least 30ish–which is still quite young, but she's can't be 23.
April 20, 2021 at 12:31 PM – 47K is high but not egregiously so. When I was still recruiting full time I charged a lower rate of 20% for in-house jobs. That being said, I would be curious as to how much of the 47K was a retainer (I would have required 10K in retainers) and how much was was contingency. Most importantly, the newspaper said the city retained an executive search firm, which I feel was a serious error. Executive search is very different from legal search and the city would have done better to hire a firm that specializes in attorney recruitment. My experience is that executive firms are focused on managers and that the nature of the legal industry is not something they generally have much familiarity with.
9:39–Boulder City, despite a small town budget, is not immune to poor financial decisions and wasting of funds.
I'm not merely referring to that whole golf course debacle, but that one was huge.
Another one just came to mind–those asinine appeals about that guy got ticketed(and beat the ticket) for walking through the cross walk, and Boulder kept fighting it.
Its nonsense like that they led us to forego moving to Boulder City. When we first moved to Southern Nevada I thought Boulder City would be ideal Smallish town, walkable neighborhoods, has that old time feel, unique homes etc. But then I saw this type of nonsense and thought better of it. Incestuous politics, wastes of time and money. Why in the world would anyone think a three year attorney was a qualified acting attorney? I knew that at the time she was placed that she would be a shoe in for the job, assuming she didn't get arrested for selling hard drugs out of her office. The council and the mayor want an attorney they can control and dictate, and she seems the person for that job. Best of luck to Ms. Walker, and hope she can stand up to the inane inclinations of the city counsel.
If you stayed out of the politics, I doubt this nonsense would undermine quality of life in Boulder City. Still, that place is just wacky. Low stakes, vicious petty fights. It's embarrassing just to watch them battle.
DETR issues, telling me EUC benefits are exhausted when they are not . Waiting a year to be paid full benefits owed.
Does anybody know this Brittany Walker the new Boulder City Attorney. Is she related to any of the Walkers in goverment? 2018 Boyd grad. She looks very very young.
High salary, inexperienced lawyer and reportedly otherwise unqualified. Follow your innate common sense. These puzzling appointments are sometimes explained by family influence (ex. Reid) or sex (ex. Kamala Harris and Willie Brown).
Heard Mark Solomon died over the weekend. RIP.
Sad news; I worked with him a little bit years ago.
I practiced law with him at Lionel Sawyer years ago. He was a good man and I am so sorry to read this. RIP.
Have any of you even worked with Brittany Walker ever? If not, I'd suggest not talking down on someone. Seems to be bad form. Just makes me wonder, if you commentators have not met her, why you feel so sure of your opinion. I would never open my mouth about someone's ability but for knowing so from personal experience.
1:00–On which post was anyone really trashing her?
In fact, the general tone of the comments, as a whole, were far more about the selection process than about Ms. walker's qualifications or experience.
The comments about her generally were that she only has about 3 or 4 years as a licensed attorney, but that she appears bright and hard-working, and apparently already has a good grip on the job as she was performing the job for some time before the "acting" part was removed from her title.
So, I did not see any real trashing of her as you suggest. Quite the contrary.
But that being said, it is appropriate to criticize a process whereby they go through the pretense of not only having an open process, but even casting the net much further with an expensive outside search, only to settle on a candidate the powers-that-be had seemingly decided on all along.
"High salary, inexperienced lawyer and reportedly otherwise unqualified. Follow your innate common sense. These puzzling appointments are sometimes explained by family influence (ex. Reid) or sex (ex. Kamala Harris and Willie Brown)."
Good enough to answer your point? Also, I said talking down on, not "trashing." Kinda infers that it can't be that she's qualified and goes down a bad bath.
3:18–Still seems that most of the remarks are more concerned about the process than her or her qualifications.
If the worst someone says about an attorney is that she is young, and not yet sufficiently experienced for a post, that is far from trashing. In fact, that's not even harsh criticism.
Don't protect or insulate her, or any young attorney, too much. Most attorneys , and most judges, are criticized far more harshly than that from certain other practitioners at some points during their career. Takes a pretty thick skin to practice law(I assume you agree with that, 3:18), and we should not bristle too much at criticism–particularly when it seems real mild.
Whatever happened to those ludicrous appeals Boulder City kept pursuing(as 10:01 mentions)concerning Boulder not accepting that some guys' citation was revered concerning him walking in a cross-walk?
Now, it does seem to me that guy apparently tried to bait them in a public manner by returning to said crosswalk(post-citation) to walk in the crosswalk even when he apparently had no destination or reason for being there. But so what? If he wishes to spend his time that way, and he did not impede or endanger traffic, so what?
And that's what crosswalks are for anyway–for pedestrians to walk in. But Bolder decided to define, and enforce it otherwise.
Priorities, Boulder Government. Remember priorities and remember proportion. Don't pick utterly pointless, expensive fights.
Reduced to a parking ticket and resolved.
3:17. Really? Surprised Boulder is still not fighting it.
Someone at Boulder must have had at least half-a-brain and finally took such absurdity to a close.
Well they got rid of that City Attorney and replaced him. See above.
I think Chauvin is as guilty as sin but I also think Joe Biden and Maxine Waters should have the brains to keep their mouths shut during a high profile, highly controversial jury trial. As the trial court said, they are just handing Chauvin appeal issues.
I'm not sure about guilt. I go back and forth on it. But I agree that Biden and Waters need to stay out of it. The state made its case. The jury heard the evidence. Let the judicial process play out. The Biden/Waters comments will only stoke outrage in people that didn't follow the case or hear the defense's evidence.
Yes, super pissed that Biden and Waters weighed in. They did not sit on the jury. I doubt they watched the entire trial. Guilty or innocent, Chauvin was entitled to a fair trial by an impartial jury not subject to influence by anyone especially the President.
They were sequestered when he made his remarks. Take the time to learn some facts.
At 2:50 – Doesn't make any difference. Biden should've shut his pie hole. If the verdict had been not guilty, we was basically giving a license to the mob to riot. P.S. I am a Biden supporter. Take some time to engage in critical thinking.
Really? Biden shut his pie hole? Then we wouldn't have heard him say "This needs to be fixed. It's a national embarrassment!" after the Indianapolis shootings . . .
My concern about the BC hiring process is not that they hired a 2017 grad (who, by all accounts if you take the article at face value is well qualified, and I don't have any reason to believe she is not), is that only 2 of 6 candidates vying for the job were Nevada residents.
Remember when President Richard Nixon, second in his class at Duke Law School, announced that Charles Manson was guilty of murder, DURING the Manson trial? How stupid can these politicians be??
Derek Chauvin responds to verdict – read it here – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDHjeiys3a0
Justice. Good. Send him away for decades.
Damn. So the political climate is such that a white guy can't control a drug fueled large man fighting with them, hold him down, and call an ambulance. Damn. It really is an overcorrection culturally for the sins of the past and individuals get swallowed up in it. For all the bad police, the cultural swing back to don't even look at a person of color will take down some good people. Next stop: Googling how to donate to Chauvin's appellate fund.
You can look at citizens. You cannot choke them to death over an allegedly counterfeit $20 bill.
Question: Never done a criminal case in my life but I thought lesser included offenses were like subsumed or taken into account in the biggest charge – how can it be murder AND manslaughter? Please explain to business lawyer. Thanks.
Murder of George. Manslaughter of Floyd.
3:03 again – sorry if I sound dumb – I do Dry Cleaner franchising business law so no idea here – if someone breaks into a house and commits a robbery they don't charge them with trespass, assault, battery, theft of a TV, etc.?? I thought it was always the biggest thing – am I just very confused?
Same way us civil lawyers get remittur or additur to clean up inconsistent verdicts. We let the jury answer the questions (all of the questions) and then thank them, dismiss them and then we clean it up.
Blockburger. If all the elements of Crime 2 are a subset of all the elements of Crime 1, then Crime 2 is subsumed in Crime 1, then the defendant cannot be charged with both.
9:14 PM–Agree but the jury did something inconsistent here. They found himm guilty of all three crimes when there is only one. So is it the lowest or the highest? Can the verdict be impeached and a new trial ordered because the jury did not pick. Ths was multiple choice prosecution. Never have seen anything like it. Very odd.
9:14. He is only sentenced on the greater offense. And yes it's odd and allows the jury to make inconsistent factual findings, which raises questions about whether the State proved its case beyond a reasonable doubt.
Chauvin case. Guilty on all counts. How can that be. One murder. Double jeopardy. Doctrine of merger. Lesser subsumed into greater or is it defendant gets lesser because verdict inconsistent. Was jury instructed to come back on one charge–as in pick one.
I guess no one cares. Minnesota’s criminal justice system spent millions to ensure Derek Chauvin was crushed, bringing in 11 ringer private attorneys to augment the state’s attorney. That same system sat pat while mobs destroyed downtown Minneapolis last summer and burned down a police station. Other states are doing the same. In Georgia, officer Garrett Rolfe is still being prosecuted for shooting Rayshard Brooks, who stole a taser and tried to use it on Rolfe.
Police will get the message: If they use any kind of force to stop a fleeing suspect or restrain one resisting arrest, the state will not protect them. It will side with the criminal.
4:13. You missed something. Your argument is sound if the criminal is African-American and the officer is white.
3:04. The lesser offenses will merge into the greater offense and he will only be sentenced on the greater offense. You're right, however, in most jurisdictions the jury is required to pick one theory. This is more sound approach as the jury is suppose to determine the defendant's mens rea, which is different for manslaughter and murder. I guess Minnesotans are just hillbillies masquerading as intellects.
I didn't watch the verdict. Did the Judge poll the jury?
Criminal law is codified. If MN has different laws than us, if merger is applied differently, that doesn't make them hillbillies. Minneapolis is actually a pretty amazing city…great culture, education systems, medical care, city planning, public spaces, etc. It's pretty rich for anyone from NV to be calling other people hillbillies.
9:21 AM–MN criminal law codified. Have you not heard of "double jeopardy"?
You can't be guilty of three offenses all of them related to a single event and a single crime. I have not heard one good legal analysis of this issue.
Not true @ 10:00, so long as each offense has an element the other does not, you can be convicted of multiple offenses for the same conduct.
You can be found guilty of multiple offenses, but you can't be sentenced to a second offense that is a lesser included of the first.
The State of Minnesota charged and tried three different types of murder. Usually in this scenario the jury picks one not three. The jury was making a statement. Ultimately it is whether this runs afoul of state and federal constitutional requirements in Minnesota. I suspect it does and we will hear more once the case goes to the next state. My hunch says the lesser will be subsumed into the greater. Not sure if the judge has the discretion to sentence the defendant on the lower charge since the jury did not pick. Not sure if the jury was instructed on this issue. Is this harmful error or harmless error. Too many unansewerd questions.
The Nevada Supreme Court has now dismissed two high profile appeals filed by Craig Mueller due to the fact that he failed to file an Opening Brief.
After Judge Crockett found that Cliven Bundy and Craig Mueller, Esq. were jointly and severally liable for $88,059.00 in attorney’s fees and $4,527.02 in costs, Mueller filed an appeal to the NSC, Case No. 81080. Unfortunately, Mueller did not file a timely Appendix or an Opening Brief, so Respondent filed a Motion to Dismiss the Appeal. The NSC then gave Mueller an additional 30 days to file the Appendix and the Opening Brief, cautioning Mueller that it could dismiss the appeal and refer him to the NSB for an investigation if he failed to comply. In spite of the warning, Mueller did not file an Appendix, an Opening Brief or a Motion for Extension of Time to File Opening Brief, within that 30 day period. His excuse: he decided to go out of state for a month.
Likewise, in Child v. Clark County School District, Case No. 78664, the appeal was dismissed after Mueller not only failed to file an Opening Brief, he failed to file an opposition to the Motion. To Dismiss Appeal.
That is pretty bad for the NSC to do this. They gave me a 90 day extension, because I had a stroke.
Supremes arbitrarily do this all of the time. Polsenberg will get 4 extensions based upon 4 sentences that he is too busy. I just got denied a FIRST request for extension (other than the automatic 14 days that the Clerk gives you) as not showing good cause.
Extensions are bogus. Just got a 60 day extension from feds for breathing. They give them out with covid
Sucks to suck amigo.
Friends of the court like Lietenant Dan get the royal treatment. Sucks to be corrupt.
As a former prosecutor who had dealings with Craig A. Mueller, former candidate for Nevada Attorney General, I can tell you that he thrives on chaos and practices law on the fly. He has been told more than a few times to take control of his office, and most importantly, to take control of himself.
Chauvin: I cant believe this happened on the fuhrer's birthday
Craig Mueller did not have a stroke. He went on vacation for a month. Big difference. Sorry to hear about your stroke.
I know that he who shall not be named and his little friend, the pretend lawyer from CA, troll this site, but the number of right-wing racist comments has gotten really disgusting lately.
Let's be fair. There are far more left-wing racists comments on this blog than the other way around. If you have a mental filter to only see the right-wing ones, please consider looking for both.
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