Las Vegas judge accused of misconduct suspended for 6 months without pay

A Las Vegas judge accused of defying the Nevada Supreme Court will be suspended from the bench for six months without pay, the Nevada Commission on Judicial Discipline ruled in a Monday order.

District Judge Erika Ballou’s suspension was to begin at 12:01 a.m. Tuesday. She also will be on probation for two years and must complete remedial training “specifically customized and tailored to (her) misconduct,” according to the order.

At the center of the judicial discipline case was a prisoner named Mia Christman.

Commission Special Counsel Thomas Bradley previously said that Ballou ordered Christman’s release and failed to order that Christman be taken back into custody when the Nevada Supreme Court reversed Ballou on appeal.

“What Judge Ballou did is what a judge is supposed to do,” Ballou’s attorney Tom Pitaro told the panel at a hearing last month. “You are supposed to consider what is before you, and you are supposed to rule on it.”

Pitaro did not respond to requests for comment Monday.

Court spokesperson Mary Ann Price said a senior judge will fill in for Ballou.

Multiple violations, ‘unpersuasive’ defenses

The commission found that Ballou violated multiple elements of the Nevada Code of Judicial Conduct, including requirements to comply with the law, perform duties competently and diligently, and behave in a way that promotes public confidence in the judiciary.

Members of the panel agreed unanimously that Ballou breached the code by “failing or refusing to remand defendant Christman into custody after the Supreme Court reversed” her ruling.

The panel said it also found some of Ballou’s defenses “unpersuasive,” including her claim that the Supreme Court’s phrase “proceedings consistent with this order” in its reversal order “could mean a lot of things.”

The commission determined that Ballou was not clearly biased in the Christman case, however, noting that the judge said she had demonstrated compassion. The judge testified in August that she provided Christman with time to find a place for her 6-month-old child.

“While proof of Respondent’s repeated failure to follow the law was clear and convincing in this matter, evidence that her actions were driven by such a deep-seated favoritism as to constitute impermissible bias was not,” the panel wrote. “That said, while compassion may be a virtue to a judicial officer, it should never be used as a license or an excuse to violate the law.”

Prior controversy

Ballou has been disciplined by the commission before.

The judge was censured last year over social media posts and comments she made at a sentencing: “You’re a Black man in America, you know you don’t want to be around where cops are,” and, “I know I don’t, and I’m a middle-aged, middle-class Black woman. I don’t want to be around where cops are, because I don’t know if I’m going to walk away alive or not.”

Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson previously attempted to have Ballou removed from all of his office’s cases.

And in May, Chief District Judge Jerry Wiese removed Ballou from all criminal cases, days after a public defender said the judge should be disqualified, in part for baselessly claiming the attorney was “‘f- - -ing’ her client.”

Other judges suspended

Ballou joins an eclectic group of Nevada judges who have received suspensions.

Pahrump Justice of the Peace Michele Fiore, a former Las Vegas councilwoman, was suspended with pay after she was indicted on federal wire fraud and conspiracy charges last year.

Federal prosecutors said Fiore raised tens of thousands of dollars through a charity and political action committee for a statue honoring Metropolitan Police Department officer Alyn Beck, who was shot and killed with his partner in 2014.

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

The commission took away her salary following a guilty verdict, but again suspended Fiore with pay after President Donald Trump pardoned her.

Family Court Judge Steven Jones was suspended without pay for three months for having a romantic relationship with a prosecutor who practiced in front of him.

He also was suspended with pay in 2012 after being federally indicted in an investment scheme case that landed him in prison. Later, the commission prohibited him from serving as a judge for life.

District Judge Elizabeth Halverson was suspended with pay in 2007 and eventually barred from being a judge in Nevada again. She was accused of inappropriate contact with jurors, falling asleep at the bench, and making her bailiff massage her feet.

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