Las Vegas courtroom push leads to conviction of ‘aggressive’ defense attorney
A Las Vegas defense attorney has been convicted of battery against a prosecutor.
Jonathan MacArthur was charged with misdemeanor battery in Las Vegas Municipal Court in March for the Aug. 1, 2024, incident, court records show. The filing stated that the victim was Jake Villani.
The complaint said MacArthur pushed or struck Villani, who works at the Clark County district attorney’s office.
MacArthur was found guilty Tuesday after a bench trial, according to court records, and ordered to stay out of trouble for six months, pay a $500 fine and take an impulse control class.
“The verdict was disappointing because normally this sort of thing would not be prosecuted,” said attorney Scott Coffee, who represents MacArthur. “I’m aware of a number of incidents through the years where there’s been bad blood between two competitive attorneys, including several where there’s some sort of minimal physical contact. But this is the first one I’ve seen prosecuted because normally, folks just walk away. At the end of the day, there were no injuries, no kicks, no punches. It was a push as one attorney was trying to squeeze past another.”
The Las Vegas city attorney’s office said in a statement that it was “simply false” they don’t normally pursue cases like this. “This case was not treated any differently,” the office said.
Villani did not respond to requests for comment.
The push
Villani and MacArthur argued a motion before District Judge Michelle Leavitt on the day of the incident, according to a Clark County District Court marshals’ report.
Court records indicate it was a defense motion for release on house arrest or setting of reasonable bail in a sexual assault of a child case. Leavitt denied the motion.
The defense lawyer walked behind Villani and paused next to him in apparent conversation. “I witnessed Mr. Villani put his hands in the air,” Deputy Marshal April Lourenco wrote. “At this time Mr. MacArthur then pushed Mr. Villani.”
Coffee said Villani and MacArthur were at odds in a case, but that he didn’t think the push was a result of that contention.
MacArthur was walking towards the jury box to talk to someone and Villani blocked MacArthur’s path, according to Coffee.
MacArthur pushed his arm down and pushed past him, Coffee said.
Court video shows Villani held up a file folder, obstructing MacArthur. MacArthur pushed Villani’s arm and then his back. “Don’t presume to stop me from going where I’m going,” MacArthur said.
Contentious history with prosecutors
Prosecutors and MacArthur have long had a contentious relationship.
He was reprimanded by the state bar in 2012 after the district attorney’s office alleged that he attempted to bribe a witness to alter testimony, according to prior Las Vegas Review-Journal coverage.
Coffee said he didn’t think allegations about how MacArthur handled the witness were substantiated. The claims had to do with trying to get restitution for a victim, he said.
In 2011, MacArthur was held in contempt by District Judge Susan Johnson and fined $500 for refusing to defend a client in a child abuse trial. The judge also ordered him to compensate prosecutors for the time they spent preparing for the case.
A 2014 reprimand included in a Nevada Lawyer bar counsel report indicates a prosecutor offered a plea in the case, which another prosecutor would not agree to follow. MacArthur then refused to participate.
He previously served as a substitute judge in North Las Vegas Justice Court but lost that position in 2007 after David Roger, the district attorney at the time, raised concerns about comments MacArthur made on MySpace; MacArthur had listed one of his interests as “breaking my foot off in a prosecutor’s ass.”
Coffee said any reprimands or allegations that could lead to reprimands “are long in his past.”
“He’s an aggressive defense attorney,” Coffee added. “And oftentimes, as an aggressive defense attorney we make enemies.”
Contact Noble Brigham at nbrigham@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BrighamNoble on X.
