Classroom No. 203 at UNLV's Boyd Law School is named for controversial former Judge Jerry Whitehead. Photo by John Gurzinski.

Former Judge Jerry Whitehead, who resigned from the Washoe District Court in return for a federal promise not to prosecute him, has been honored with a room named for him at the Boyd School of Law on the UNLV campus.

Richard Morgan, dean of the law school, said the naming was requested by David Belding, former chief general counsel of Mandalay Bay Resorts, in connection with his donation of $250,000 to the law school.

"He did not make that a condition of the donation, but he requested it, so I recommended it, and the recommendation was concurred in by the then-president of the university, Carol Harter," Morgan said. "It was mostly my decision; so if there's some controversy about it, I guess it's on me."

Controversy did emerge as word of the Nov. 29 dedication spread through the Nevada legal community.

"I think it is terribly inappropriate," said Bob Rose, chief justice of the Nevada Supreme Court. "Former Judge Whitehead and his supporters caused chaos at the Nevada Supreme Court for several years because they wanted to dismiss the judicial discipline complaint against him in secret. His conduct precipitated a federal grand jury investigation that ended only when he resigned his judgeship. The law school teaches its students ethics and to do the right thing. The law school is doing the wrong thing by honoring a former judge who was forced to leave office and brought dishonor to the Nevada court system."

The case divided the Supreme Court and Nevada Bar into camps favoring or opposing Whitehead's goals. Rose was considered a leader of the Whitehead opposition.

However, Washoe District Judge Brent Adams, who helped ignite the affair by notifying the Judicial Discipline Commission of some of Whitehead's practices, wasn't offended by the naming.

"Everybody in that episode did what he thought was right at the time," Adams said. "It is appropriate to honor Jerry Whitehead as an outstanding trial judge and as a pioneer of judicial settlement conferences in Nevada. His efforts in the latter regard have saved litigants millions upon millions of dollars."

Attempts to reach Belding were unsuccessful. A receptionist at a Reno law firm with which Belding has been associated said he lives in Costa Rica.

Morgan described Belding as "a very dear friend" of the former judge.

The Whitehead case began in 1993 when the Nevada Judicial Discipline Commission investigated reports of questionable practices in Whitehead's court. Dorothy Nash Holmes, who was Washoe County district attorney, complained that Whitehead showed favoritism in a case.

The commission also looked into allegations that when one side sought to remove Whitehead as a judge in a case, he would assign a judge picked by the other side, even though the new judge was supposed to be chosen at random.

Whitehead also was accused of improperly meeting with only one side in a case, excluding the other, a practice known as ex parte communication.

Whitehead asked the Nevada Supreme Court to halt the investigation and to decide the case in secret, concealing not only the allegations and outcome, but the existence of the case.

His attorneys contended that since complaints to the Judicial Discipline Commission and its investigations were confidential, Whitehead could appeal in secret. After the Supreme Court agreed to the unprecedented secrecy, the Review-Journal revealed the case anyway.

The court unsealed the case but launched a sweeping effort to discover who leaked information to the newspaper.

The case resulted in the Supreme Court issuing new rules for the discipline commission and the Legislature increasing the panel's funding, making it stronger and more effective.

In August 1995, Whitehead agreed to resign in return for a promise he wouldn't face federal prosecution.

The bargain that was worked out with federal prosecutor Douglas Frazier said the judge would not be prosecuted for any offense "of which the government has notice at the time of the execution of this agreement." In return, Whitehead agreed that he "will retire and, upon retirement, will not seek re-election, and will not serve in state judicial capacity."

What charges might have been contemplated were not revealed. Whitehead's resignation took effect in January 1996.

In the 1996 Judicial Performance Evaluation poll conducted by the Review-Journal and the Clark County Bar Association, Clark County lawyers gave the two justices who championed the Whitehead cause, Thomas Steffen and Charles Springer, some of the worst scores any jurists have received since the biennial survey began in 1992. Only 31 percent said Steffen should be retained on the court, and only 32 percent said Springer should be. Rather than face the voters, both retired at the end of their terms.

Steffen and Springer were among guests invited to the room dedication. Speakers included Whitehead and Nevada Supreme Court Justice Jim Hardesty, who is Whitehead's former law partner but was not on the court at the time. Other speakers included Belding, Morgan, UNLV President David Ashley and Bill Boyd, the school's benefactor and namesake. University Chancellor Jim Rogers, whose television stations broadcast a 10-part series of editorials in support of Whitehead in 1994, also spoke.

Morgan said nobody talked about the Whitehead case.

Most teaching rooms in the law school bear the names of prominent Nevada lawyers. The room named for Whitehead is a second-floor seminar hall.