Judge’s death leaves colleagues devastated

On April 1, 2002, two fledgling attorneys started their first day of work as deputy prosecutors for the city of Henderson.

From the early moments of that day, George Ward said he knew he and Diana Hampton would work well together.

“She was so affable. You couldn’t help be drawn to her because she was just such an outgoing person,” said Ward, now an assistant city attorney.

The two worked inside the city attorney’s office prosecuting drunken driving and domestic battery cases for three years before Hampton took the plunge for the newly formed municipal judge position for Department 3 in 2005. Hampton won the election despite a slight controversy over her short stint as a stripper at Cheetahs in the early 1990s.

When news came Monday that his friend and former colleague had been found dead inside her Henderson home over the weekend, Ward thought for sure there had to be a mistake.

Just days before, the two had crossed paths in the hallways of City Hall as they headed out the door for the weekend.

“It was like any other Thursday afternoon. Brief, quick pleasantries. She told me to have a good weekend,” Ward said.

Henderson police found Hampton inside her home in Inspirada, a new neighborhood on the far south edge of the Las Vegas Valley, just after noon Sunday after someone called to report a welfare check. Police spokeswoman Michelle French said that foul play is not suspected. As of Tuesday evening, the Clark County coroner has not determined her cause or manner of death.

Ward couldn’t fathom that the person many described as a fitness buff and whom he saw as “one of the strongest individuals I have ever met” could simply be gone.

“It just does not seem logical that anything like this can happen,” he said. “It’s just shocking and makes no sense.”

The loss hit City Hall hard.

“There was not a dry eye when I came to work on Monday,” Ward said. “People were absolutely devastated.”

Ward described Hampton as an open book, someone who owned her past and unusual path to law school.

Hampton, whose maiden name was Montgomery, grew up in Las Vegas. She never graduated from high school, instead getting her GED certificate. To pay for college, she worked at Cheetahs as a stripper for a year before moving behind the bar for another six. She earned her bachelor’s degree from UNLV in 1997. Two years later she graduated from California Western School of Law.

The judge was also open about losing her mother in 2012, Ward said, as well as her 2014 divorce from her husband of more than a decade, Henderson police Lt. Scott Hampton. The divorce, Ward added, appeared to wear on his friend.

The Hamptons had two sons, according to divorce records.

“They were the light of her life. She said she would do anything she could to keep a happy face on them,” Ward said.

Ward said Hampton’s death leaves a “great void” on the municipal bench, lauding his former colleague for her work with youth in her Life of Crime program.

While still reeling from the sudden death, the municipal court still has cases to hear and decisions to make.

The most pressing decision? Finding a replacement for Hampton.

The Henderson Charter lays out exactly what to do when a vacancy arises in the municipal court, giving the city council two options: Either they can appoint a person to the position or hold a special election for the seat.

The new judge would serve the remainder of Hampton’s term, which expires next year.

City Clerk Sabrina Mercadante said she expects the City Council to discuss those options at the April 5 council meeting.

Until then, the court is planning to use a rotating list of pro tem judges — mostly attorneys who have been approved to serve part time — to handle Department 3’s caseload, Municipal Court Administrator Bill Zihlmann said.

Contact reporter Colton Lochhead at clochhead@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4638. Follow @ColtonLochhead on Twitter.