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Complaint spurs investigation

The Nevada Commission on Judicial Discipline launched an investigation this week into a complaint filed against Family Court Judge Steven Jones over his romantic relationship with a fired prosecutor who appeared before him.

The complaint, which accuses Jones of violating the state’s judicial code of conduct, was filed Dec. 20 by District Attorney David Roger.

Investigators hired by the commission, including retired FBI Agent Dennis Arnoldy, interviewed Roger and others in the district attorney’s office this week and have more interviews scheduled, sources close to the investigation said.

Among those questioned were Michelle Edwards and Janne Hanrahan, the two whistle-blowing prosecutors who helped expose the judge’s relationship with former Deputy District Attorney Lisa Willardson.

David Sarnowski, the commission’s executive director, confirmed Wednesday that the investigation is under way but declined further comment, saying the commission’s rules prohibit him from discussing the case.

According to the rules, Sarnowski can only open an investigation with the authorization of the seven-member commission. The Jones investigation will remain confidential until Roger’s complaint is either dismissed or the commission decides to move forward with a public hearing into possible sanctions against the judge, who has been on the Family Court bench since 1993.

The judge’s lawyer, James Jimmerson, responded Wednesday, “Judge Jones is very respectful of the Judicial Discipline Commission and welcomes a fresh pair of eyes to look at the district attorney’s attack upon the judiciary.”

Roger declined to discuss his interview with a commission investigator, but said his office is pressing ahead with its own grand jury investigation into allegations that Jones and Willardson lied in court affidavits about the extent of their relationship.

Roger, who retires Jan. 3, said his office is preparing grand jury subpoenas for records of calls and text messages on the cellphones of both Jones and Willardson since Oct. 1 . Roger also seeks cell tower records that can show where Jones and Willardson were using their phones.

Prosecutors want to know if the two were together, and when they were together, when they sent or received calls and texts. Such information could cast further suspicion on their statements in the affidavits.

“I suspect we will find a wealth of information in their calls and text messages,” Roger said. “The evidence we have right now suggests that Judge Jones and Ms. Willardson may have communicated frequently through their cellphones.”

Georgina Stuart, a county family services specialist, has provided the district attorney’s office with an affidavit swearing she saw Willardson text messaging with Jones while Willardson was in court before another judicial officer.

Last week, Roger said he launched the investigation after emails from Willardson’s office computer showed the relationship between Jones and the former prosecutor may have begun while Willardson was still handling child welfare cases before the judge.

Roger fired Willardson, 43, from the district attorney’s child welfare unit on Dec. 13.

Jones, 53, and Willardson denied in their affidavits that they were seeing each other while Willardson appeared before Jones. They contended they didn’t start dating until at least November.

But in an Oct. 26 email to two lawyers, Willardson admitted she was in a dating relationship with Jones. That same day, she referred to Jones in an email to his law clerk as the “honorable (and freakin’ HOT) Steven E. Jones.”

Other emails from Oct. 17 to Oct. 20 show Willardson and Jones flirting with each other as they set up a lunch date and discuss it afterward.

Prosecutors filed copies of the emails in Family Court on Friday as part of a motion seeking to disqualify Jones from a child welfare case because of his “personal bias” against Edwards and Hanrahan, who worked with Willardson. The judge had banned the whistle-blowers from his courtroom.

Edwards and Hanrahan had given supervisors a photo Edwards took of Willardson and Jones sitting close to each other at an Oct. 28 office restaurant gathering. Edwards, who snapped the photo with her cellphone, believed Jones had put his hand on Willardson’s jeans-covered leg. The photo appears to show the judge’s hand moving toward Willardson’s leg or moving away from it.

Willardson was removed from handling cases before Jones after the photo surfaced.

Contact reporter Jeff German at
jgerman@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-8135.

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