- Quickdraw McLaw
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- A 14-year old, who (according to DA Steve Wolfson) may be the youngest ever charged with murder in Clark County, made his first appearance in court yesterday. [RJ]
- Here’s a closer look at the red-light camera bill. [Las Vegas Sun]
- The Clark County Coroner continues to fight release of autopsy reports. [RJ]
- From a press release:
Chief Justice Mark Gibbons has announced the Nevada Commission on Judicial Selection submitted three individuals to Governor Steve Sisolak for his consideration to fill the empty seat in Dept. 9 of the Eighth Judicial District Court. The vacancy became available following the retirement of the Honorable Jennifer P. Togliatti.
The nominees, in alphabetical order:
•Mark. L. Gentile, 59, Las Vegas, Gentile Law Group
•John Hunt, 64, Las Vegas, Clark Hill PLLC
•Cristina Silva, 39, Las Vegas, United States Attorney’s Office for District of NevadaIn selecting the finalists, the Commission considered the applicants’ interviews along with information in comprehensive applications about education, law practice, business involvement, community involvement, and professional and personal conduct. The Commission also considered letters of reference and public statements during the interview process, which was open to the public and streamed on the Supreme Court website.
Six Nevada attorneys with 10 years of legal experience and two years of Nevada residency applied for the position and participated in public interviews in Las Vegas. The Governor’s appointee must run in the 2020 General Election and win to retain the seat.
I have no interest in ever running for judge. Sometimes though, when I am sitting and waiting for my case to be called, I look around the court room at the choices this particular judge has made as to courtroom decor. There is so much decor that is so tacky: sports teams, hobbies and things completely unrelated to Nevada/Las Vegas or the law. Much of the decor is something you'd expect in a basement rec room with a ping pong table or pool table.
If I had a courtroom, I would have decor, but it would be limited to items relevant to Nevada/Las Vegas/American history and the law. I would hang replicas of the Constitution, Declaration of Independence and Letter from a Birmingham Jail. Portraits would include people like Helen Stewart, MLK and Abraham Lincoln. I might include a photo of the Moulin Rouge, Old Mormon Fort and maybe some Paiute art. I might include a portrait of Mark Twain, although maybe not because he had no ties to Southern Nevada.
The courtroom belongs to the people, not to the judge. It should not reflect the judges hobbies or sports teams. It should reflect the common aspirational values and history.
Or maybe I'm wrong. Thoughts?
What court is this? I've never seen anything like this at the RJC.
Judge Delaney's dogs were the best, and by best I mean – holy hell. Did she get in trouble? They've been gone for a while now. I love this topic FYI.
Denton does it right. Boulder dam and Red Rock would be my choice.
Tobiasson's douchy Harley Davidson clock
9:13 is right as to courtrooms, but that "personal hobby" shit is okay for chambers. So, that one judge should move his elk horns and deer antlers(or whatever he has hanging up there) from the courtroom to chambers, and then it will be okay.
Gentile is like Tarkanian, always running for a (judge) spot, never gets it
11:38 AM–Gentile is not Tarkanian. He has never run for office. He applied for an appointment and previously advanced to the Governor. No I am not Mark Gentile. Anyone who knows him and has had cases with him recognizes he is a great lawyer and would make a decent judge. There is tough competition and it is very hard to get an appointment. Never been easy but tougher today. Hope the Governor will appoint him.
I am not Gentile — I am a Plaintiff attorney who has had several cases against Mark. He is a great attorney, and very knowledgeable about the law, and procedure, and how to be professional and cordial. He would be a real asset on the bench.
Now that it is down to the final three for the Governor to pick from, it's almost exclusively a totally political undertaking.
It will not truly have anything to do with selecting the most qualified and experienced candidate. If it truly were about finding the most qualified and experienced applicant, the commission would not have advanced a finalist under the age of 40, while eliminating people who practiced for 20, 30 years or more. Now I do understand that length of experience and quality of experience can be two different things, it doesn't change the fact that when a successful applicant is still in their 30's that the commission and the governor are looking at factors beyond finding the most experienced and qualified candidate.
And nothing wrong with looking toward other factors. They absolutely should do so, and do in fact do so. But spare us the press release tripe about how the Commission wanted to advance the three most experienced and qualified candidates, or the Governor ultimately succeeded in selecting the most experienced and qualified applicant–which implies they are looking to appoint the person who is the most experienced and skilled attorney. If their true criteria is to appoint the most skilled and experienced attorney to each vacancy, they have failed miserably as these folks seldom make the cut.
Now with understanding that this "most experienced, most qualified" focus is bogus, we must try to handicap each applicant from a political perspective.Cristina Silva is, in addition to being female which is usually a plus in these appointments, is a U.S. Attorney General. Those federal connections are, presumably, helpful to her trajectory. John Hunt has always been deeply entrenched in Democratic politics, and is former party Chairperson, so that could help. He certainly has a lot of connections. As for Mark Gentile, while recognizing he is a highly experienced and skilled attorney, I am not aware of any political considerations which favor him as to the appointment. So, I will rely on other posters to explain what political considerations may favor him.
Now in this case, we do have two finalists with decades of legal experience, which is often not the case.
There are two finalists in there 30s. Bluth and Silva, jokeem.
But as to the seat 1:05 discusses, there is just the one applicant who is under 40(39 in fact), while Gentile is 59 and Hunt is 64.
I'm sorry, when your only experience with Nevada courts is federal court, you just are not qualified for an appointment to the state court bench.
Ummmmm Judges Johnson??
Just the male Johnson had only federal experience. That's my point. He started using the federal sentencing guidelines in deciding sentences. Called on it, I think he stopped.
This episode of…
Judge Johnson. SHJ was not in the US Attorney's Office before taking her seat; she was in private practice.
Eric Johnson has been a textbook case of why attorneys who have never set foot in the RJC (other than to come try to intimidate state court judges) should never ever be placed on the State Court bench. EJ is tough but clueless to the state system. Honestly Hardy and EJ go to show why political connections can ruin judicial appointments and are a blemish on Sandoval's record.
I'm sure folks here will disagree with me, and I completely get the "she's a fed and doesn't belong in state court" argument, but I'd feel like an asshole if I didn't say that I think Silva is smart and likeable and that I think she'd make a good judge. Not to say that she should get this one. But I hope she gets one in the future.
Just not one in a court in which she has never set foot.
To: 2:37. Granted, she is smart and likeable, and the fact it is federal experience, and this is a state court appointment, such should not be a detriment. But I don't think the length and level of her experience can compare to the other two finalists, She is competing against two people who each have about 30 years(perhaps even more than 3o years as to John Hunt) in impressive legal experience.
But as 1:05 discusses, seldom does the seat truly go to the most experienced and skilled attorney. Factors such as gender, race, and political party come into play. Also, who knows who, who is connected to who, who may be juiced in, etc.
I don't know who, of the three, is most politically connected, but it may be Hunt on account of years of heavy involvement with the Democratic party, which could help him with Sisolak. I have a hunch that this may finally be Hunt's turn. He'd probably be a real fine judge, but would need to control his tendency to talk too much, and, to be blunt and a bit unkind, avoid his occasional tendency to be a blow hard.
Agreed as to Hunt's tendency to toot his own horn too much on occasion, but I think he would ultimately be fine. Often attorneys who boast and brag too much, and who are too self-aggrandizing, effectively avoid that once on the bench. He will make the adjustment, if appointed.
Ultimately, sometimes behavior as an attorney does not really translate to the bench. It is hard to know what we are going to get. There are sometimes really difficult, hyper-aggressive, obstructive attorneys, who are a lot easier to deal with once they become a judge. And sometimes there are nice, easy to work with attorneys, who, once on the bench, are ineffective for a variety of reasons.
So, often hard to tell what will happen. But sometimes there are no surprises, such as sometimes jerk attorneys become jerk judges, with little or no change in their behavior, except perhaps that it gets even worse.
Anyone know how James Dean Leavitt is doing?
UNLV leads SDSU. Let's go Rebels!
Nope