Ethics panel says judges shouldn’t serve on team

CARSON CITY -- It would be in­appropriate for judges to serve on a new state team created to review domestic violence related deaths or provide voluntary comments to the parole board concerning the release of an inmate in a case the judge did not preside over, a judicial ethics panel said.

In one opinion issued Friday, the Standing Committee on Judicial Ethics and Election Practices advised judges not to serve on the multijurisdictional team created by SB66 approved by the 2011 Legislature.

The law authorizes the attorney general's office to organize a team to review deaths attributed to domestic violence.

The goal is to examine trends and patterns that lead to such deaths and make recommendations on how to prevent them by focusing on protecting battered women, holding batterers accountable and assessing whether victims used available state and local services designed to help them.

In a separate opinion also issued Friday, the committee said it would be inappropriate for a judge to voluntarily provide written comments to the parole board concerning release of prisoner in a case the judge did not preside.