High court upholds suspension of ex-judge Jones over affair with prosecutor
The Nevada Supreme Court has upheld a three-month suspension without pay of former Family Court Judge Steven Jones over a romantic relationship with a prosecutor who appeared before him.
In a four-page decision filed Friday, the high court said it reviewed the record before the Nevada Commission on Judicial Discipline and found “sufficient clear and convincing evidence” that Jones violated provisions of the state’s judicial code of conduct.
The judicial commission ordered the suspension in February 2014 after concluding that Jones improperly maintained a relationship with Lisa Willardson while she litigated child welfare cases before him on behalf of the district attorney’s office. Jones did not disqualify himself from her cases and issued a ruling in her favor, long after they had begun to date, the commission found.
Willardson, who was fired from the district attorney’s office after the scandal broke, died in December 2013. Jones discovered her body in the bathroom of her Henderson home.
“Public censure and suspension without pay is appropriate, especially given that, at the time of the decision, Judge Jones was already suspended with pay in a separate matter,” the Supreme Court wrote in denying Jones’ appeal.
The commission had suspended Jones with pay in November 2012 after his federal grand jury indictment stemming from a decade-long investment scheme.
The indictment alleges Jones used the power of his Family Court office to carry out a $3 million fraud with five other defendants between 2002 and 2012.
Jones, who spent more than 20 years on the bench, eventually pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and now is serving a 26-month federal prison term.
Earlier this month the commission banned Jones from the bench for life because of the conviction.
Federal prosecutors are pushing to take away the former judge’s state pension to help pay restitution to the victims of the investment scheme.
Contact reporter Jeff German at jgerman@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-8135. Follow him on Twitter: @JGermanRJ
