Saturday, August 28, 2004
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Disrobing leads to official's suspension

Hearing master's orders left teen in his underwear during court proceedings

A teen stands in court in his underwear on Aug. 6 after Hearing Master Sylvia Beller forced him to remove his shirt and belt, causing his baggy pants to fall to the floor, in this image from video made available Friday to the Review-Journal. A teen wearing a G Unit T-shirt stands before Hearing Master Sylvia Beller on Aug. 6. Beller lectures the boy on the shirt, which she thinks represents his gangbanger desire. The boy complies with Beller's order to remove his shirt. Photos by K.M. Cannon.

A videotape released Friday shows a Family Court official ordering a teen to disrobe in open court because she didn't like a T-shirt he was wearing.

On the tape, Hearing Master Sylvia Beller is heard telling the 16-year-old boy to take his shirt off during his Aug. 6 sentencing on a graffiti charge.

"Take your shirt off," Beller said. "You can just walk out of here without a shirt on."

The boy takes off his shirt, and Beller orders a bailiff to take the boy into custody. The boy is handcuffed, and then Beller tells the bailiff to remove the boy's belt from his pants.

"You might as well take the belt and let his pants fall off," Beller said. "You are going to take the belt anyway.

"Take the belt," Beller said. "Get rid of that belt. He can just walk back there (to jail) holding his pants up."

The bailiff tells Beller that if the belt is removed, the boy's pants might fall down because he is in handcuffs.

"Oh well," Beller said. "Take him back. I don't want him in here anymore."

The boy's belt is removed, and his pants fall to the ground, leaving him standing in open court in his underwear. The boy spent the next four days in jail.

Contacted Friday, Public Defender Phil Kohn said Beller should be removed from office.

"I was appalled by it," Kohn said. "The humiliation of getting this boy down to his boxer shorts is indefensible."

Kohn, whose office represented the teen, said Beller has a reputation among lawyers as someone who is verbally abusive to both defendants and litigants.

"This wasn't a first-time offense," Kohn said. "People have known about this for a long time."

Chief District Judge Kathy Hardcastle said Beller's actions were clearly intolerable, but Beller will not be fired.

"It was inappropriate conduct," Hardcastle said. "We've taken immediate action."

The Review-Journal has learned Beller has been suspended for a month without pay and she has been removed from future court proceedings involving juveniles.

Beller has been a hearing master since 1991, and she earns $131,366 a year. She has not responded to two separate requests for comment.

Allen Lichtenstein, general counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada, called Beller's actions "as outrageous a misuse of power as I have ever seen."

"This was not anything to do with justice," Lichtenstein said. "This was bullying, and an attempt to demean an individual's sense of dignity."

Lichtenstein said Beller's conduct raises the question of whether she should be fired. He also said perhaps a more appropriate punishment would be to have Beller disrobe in public.

"Poetic justice would have her reprimanded by having her do exactly what she required him to do," Lichtenstein said. "Clearly, that would be inappropriate, but it's no more inappropriate than what she did to him."

The Review-Journal first learned of the incident last week, and the newspaper filed a records request with District Court seeking a videotape of the proceedings.

The court then informed the newspaper that because juvenile records are sealed by law after the conclusion of a case, the only way a videotape of a juvenile proceeding can be released is by order of a judge.

On Thursday, the newspaper filed a motion asking Chief Family Court Judge William Voy to release the tape. Voy -- who is Beller's supervisor -- released the tape Friday morning, saying the law clearly dictates the public has an interest in monitoring what unfolds in courtrooms.

Voy ordered the Review-Journal not to show the boy's face or identify him by name.

The tape shows the teen appearing before Beller for a sentencing hearing. He is expected to be sentenced to probation, but Beller then takes notice of the boy's shirt, which says in large letters "G Unit."

"What's the G Unit?" Beller says to the teen. "Does that mean girls? What's the G, what's that mean?"

The boy says, "It's a T-shirt."

"I know it's a T-shirt, but what does that G mean?" Beller said.

"It's a rapper's name," the boy said.

"Is it a gang rapper?" Beller said.

A woman who is believed to be an officer with the Division of Parole and Probation then interjects, saying the T-shirt is a reference to a rap artist, and that she told the teen the shirt was inappropriate for court.

Beller orders the boy to take the shirt off. He does so, and it is apparent that he is wearing baggy pants.

"That's fine, pull your pants up, or let them fall down," Beller said. "Pull those pants up. ... lock his body up."

After ordering the boy into custody, Beller continues the sentencing hearing four days, until Aug. 10. The boy was to stay in custody in the interim.

"We'll see if he's going to change his mind, but take the shirt anyways. ... He can go back there without a shirt," Beller said. "No problemo."

"He doesn't deserve the opportunity for sentencing," Beller said. "If he wants to be a gangbanger, that's fine. He'll stay in custody."

Voy said in court Friday the teen's only criminal history consists of misdemeanor offenses.

G Unit is a reference to a group of rappers associated with 50 Cent, a popular rapper.

G Unit T-shirts and other gear are available in mainstream stores throughout the country. Dillard's recently advertised a G Unit T-shirt in an advertising insert in the Review-Journal, and Macy's offers a G Unit T-shirt over the Internet.

In addition, the sneaker company Reebok distributes G Unit items.

"She put him in jail on the basis of nothing other than her own prejudice and ignorance," Lichtenstein said.