Review-Journal court reporter Noble Brigham’s biggest stories of 2025

A long-imprisoned former police officer was freed, a politician who could have gone to prison was pardoned and a program to target offenders on the Strip was hotly debated.

Here are some of Las Vegas Review-Journal court reporter Noble Brigham’s most memorable stories of 2025.

Mortensen case

Former Las Vegas officer Ronald Mortensen spent nearly 30 years in prison after he was sentenced to life without parole for the 1996 off-duty shooting death of Daniel Mendoza, 21.

But this March, after years of litigation, Senior U.S. District Judge Kent Dawson vacated Mortensen’s conviction, based in part on what the judge viewed as the prosecution’s suppression of evidence that Christopher Brady, an officer who accompanied Mortensen at the time of the shooting, may have told another officer that he, Brady, wanted to conduct a drive-by shooting.

The decision opened the possibility that Mortensen could be tried again but did not automatically free him.

Though Mortensen had claimed innocence for decades, he pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder in a plea deal that allowed for his release. He was released from prison soon after.

Michele Fiore pardon

Former Las Vegas Councilwoman Michele Fiore was found guilty of wire fraud and conspiracy charges by a federal jury in 2024 for defrauding donors who believed their money would go to a statue in memory of a Las Vegas police officer.

The statue was built, but it was paid for by developer Olympia Companies, according to trial testimony. Fiore spent the donations on personal expenses: rent, plastic surgery and her daughter’s wedding, prosecutors said.

Before she could be sentenced and potentially sent to prison, President Donald Trump pardoned Fiore, a longtime supporter of him, on April 23.

Fiore’s pardon broke with tradition, experts said, because Fiore was unremorseful, had not yet served her sentence and was the kind of controversial defendant who typically does not receive clemency until the end of a president’s term when there’s not much to lose.

Fiore was triumphant, writing in a statement: “Today, I stand before you — not just as a free woman, but as a vindicated soul whose prayers were heard, whose faith held firm, and whose truth could not be buried by injustice.”

She is still fighting to retake the bench as a Pahrump justice of the peace after being suspended by the Nevada Commission on Judicial Discipline.

U.S. attorney drama

In March, Trump’s administration appointed Las Vegas attorney Sigal Chattah to serve as interim U.S. attorney for Nevada.

But instead of then going through the traditional U.S. Senate confirmation process, the administration made Chattah acting U.S. attorney, a move that was designed to extend her term but also invited controversy.

“This is an outrageous attempt by the Trump Administration to try to install extremist Sigal Chattah as Acting U.S. Attorney for Nevada and keep her in that role indefinitely,” Nevada Democratic Sen. Jacky Rosen said at the time. “Trump knows Chattah would be soundly rejected by both sides of the aisle if she had to be confirmed by the U.S. Senate, which is why he’s relying on an unconstitutional maneuver to illegally extend her temporary appointment that was set to expire today.”

After a ruling that Chattah’s New Jersey counterpart Alina Habba, who also went to interim U.S. attorney to acting, was not serving lawfully, federal public defenders challenged Chattah’s appointment, arguing that her term expired in July and that she has been doing her job since then without “force or effect.”

Arizona-based Senior U.S. District Judge David Campbell disqualified Chattah from multiple cases in September. He agreed to pause his decision pending appeal, but wrote that he “still holds that Ms. Chattah has not been validly appointed.”

Oral argument in the appeal of Campbell’s decision is scheduled for February at the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Controversial judge

District Judge Erika Ballou was arguably the most controversial member of the Clark County District Court bench in 2025.

In May, Chief District Judge Jerry Wiese removed Ballou from all criminal cases, days after a public defender said the judge should be disqualified from the public defender’s cases, in part for baselessly claiming the attorney was having a sexual relationship with a client.

In September, Ballou was suspended from the bench without pay for six months after she was accused of defying the Nevada Supreme Court by releasing a prisoner, then not ordering the prisoner taken back into custody when the appellate court reversed her decision.

This month, Ballou received the lowest retention score of all 101 judges included in the Las Vegas Review-Journal’s 2025 Judicial Performance Evaluation. The retention score was the percentage of attorneys who filled out the poll anonymously and wanted the judge to stay on the bench.

The average retention score for all judges was 75.6 percent. Ballou received a score of 32.8 percent.

Contact Noble Brigham at nbrigham@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BrighamNoble on X.