Bailiff in Halverson case arrested, charged with sexual assault

Johnnie Jordan, the bailiff whose tearful testimony helped oust embattled District Judge Elizabeth Halverson, was arrested by North Las Vegas police today on charges of sexual assault and lewdness with a minor.

Jordan, 40, was taken into custody without incident about 2:15 a.m. at 200 W. Sahara Ave. On Saturday, police were called to the 14-year-old girl’s home on a report of sexual assault and lewdness with a minor under 16 years of age, North Las Vegas police said. Police said Jordan, 40, was a friend of the girl’s family.

The former bailiff accused Halverson in 2008 of treating him like a personal slave in the courtroom. He told the Judicial Discipline Commission in August of that year that she made him pick lint off of her judicial robes with scotch tape and get on his knees and slip on her shoes.

“I can’t stand what she did to me! My question is why?” Jordan shouted at Halverson and the seven members of the commission. “What’s it say about America? What’s it say about the president of the United States? If you guys allow her to be in office after all this, what does this say about all you? This is bull crap!”

Halverson denied the charges and told the commission that Jordan was too attentive – that he would give her massages and insist on putting her slippers on.

“We had fight after fight after fight about them because I told him repeatedly, ‘I don’t need you to put them on and off,’ ” she said.

Halverson was also accused of improperly communicating with jurors, falling asleep on the bench and swearing in front of other staffers. In November 2008, the Judicial Discipline Commission removed Halverson from the bench and barred her from ever serving as a Nevada judge again.

Jordan said in 2008 then that he had a heart attack and no longer works for the county as a bailiff. He is being held at the North Las Vegas Detention Center on two counts of sexual assault and two counts of lewdness with a minor.

Contact reporter Lawrence Mower at lmower@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0440.