Nevada judge recuses herself after attorney tries to disqualify her over affair rumors

District Judge Erika Ballou has decided to recuse herself after a public defender said she leveled baseless allegations that the attorney had a sexual relationship with a client.

Ballou’s decision comes days after Deputy Public Defender Anna Stone filed an affidavit stating the judge suggested her representation of a client was tied to a non-existent sexual relationship, has refused to explain the reasons behind her rulings and did not permit Stone to “make a record about a custody issue implicating a client’s fundamental right to liberty.”

Stone requested Ballou be disqualified from all her cases and said the judge has shown “a level of dislike and antagonism that has affected her rulings.” Ballou’s sexual claim amounted to “sexual harassment, apparently in retaliation for the lawyer’s advocacy for her client,” Stone said in the Friday filing.

Ballou, who is also the subject of a pending judicial discipline case, believed “she could remain fair and impartial,” according to a Tuesday minute order, but chose to take herself off the case in which Stone made the filing anyway.

It is unclear whether Stone will be able to keep Ballou from hearing all her cases.

Court spokesperson Mary Ann Price said the “recusal appears to apply specifically to” the case of Jermaine Garner, who has pleaded guilty to possession of a stolen vehicle and awaits sentencing.

“Judge Ballou has no further response,” Price said.

Ballou’s attorney, Tom Pitaro, declined to comment.

Stone filed her affidavit in Garner’s case, but most of the allegations deal with the case of a client named Dshawn Cross, a homeless man who pleaded guilty to attempted residential burglary.

Deputy Public Defender Abigail Stanley said in her own affidavit that Ballou accused Stone of “‘f---ing’ her client’ and said if that was the case, it would explain why Stone knew about Cross’ living situation and issues with electronic monitoring.

Ballou made those comments on March 17, after finishing her calendar, but before leaving the bench, according to Stanley.

The Nevada Commission on Judicial Discipline has separately alleged Ballou showed bias toward a prisoner named Mia Christman and against prosecutors. Ballou ordered Christman’s release, and when the Supreme Court reversed her decision, did not remand Christman into custody.

Ballou made rulings in the case while a motion to recuse her was pending, which the commission said another judge found to be a violation of the law.

Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson previously sought to have Ballou removed from all of his office’s cases. The Nevada Supreme Court took her off of one case, but Chief District Judge Jerry Wiese rejected an attempt to have her removed from all district attorney cases in July.

Ballou, who was elected in 2020 without campaigning or raising money, was also censured by the commission last year over social media posts and comments 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.”

The Las Vegas Police Protective Association, which represents Metropolitan Police Department officers, said Ballou should resign in the wake of those statements.

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