DA won’t send third prosecutor to North Las Vegas despite boost in court sessions

A showdown is looming between North Las Vegas Justice Court and District Attorney David Roger over his refusal to assign an additional prosecutor to deal with the court's stepped-up criminal calendar.

On July 6, court officials added a third morning criminal session on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, expecting Roger to send a third prosecutor to handle the extra courtroom time.

But Roger, struggling with the loss of dozens of positions because of the ongoing county budget crunch, decided to staff the three extra courtroom sessions with the two prosecutors currently assigned to North Las Vegas.

Chief Justice of the Peace Natalie Tyrrell sent Roger a letter two days later informing him that she considered two prosecutors "inadequate" to cover the three courtrooms. Tyrrell instructed Roger to staff all three courtrooms with a prosecutor beginning Aug. 3.

Roger, however, made it clear in an interview with the Las Vegas Review-Journal on Tuesday that he does not intend to comply with the judge's wishes, setting up a possible separation of powers confrontation next month. The district attorney's office is part of the executive branch, and North Las Vegas Justice Court is part of the judicial branch.

"We have two attorneys there. We'll cover the third calendar when we get there," Roger said. "We are incredibly short-staffed. We have lost 60 positions over the last two years, and our caseload has not gone down."

Roger said he doesn't believe Tyrrell has the authority to order him to send another prosecutor to the North Las Vegas courts.

He also said the dispute could be resolved easily if the justices of the peace considered some alternatives, such as holding the third session in the afternoon instead of the morning. That would allow him to more easily staff the extra sessions, he said.

Roger has found an ally in Clark County Commissioner Steve Sisolak, who said the county can't afford to give Roger extra money to hire more prosecutors.

"There's nothing we can do," Sisolak said. "We just don't have the money to fund any new positions at this time."

The clash is the latest in a simmering dispute between county officials and the North Las Vegas courts since a third justice of the peace took the bench in January 2009 during the ongoing economic crisis.

Last summer, then-Nevada Supreme Court Chief Justice James Hardesty was called upon to persuade North Las Vegas to back away from adding the new criminal calendars.

Sisolak said Henderson Justice Court is in a similar position as North Las Vegas, with the addition of its third judge in January 2009. Yet the court has been willing to wait to ramp up its criminal calendars until the economy improves.

But Terri March, the administrator of North Las Vegas Justice Court, said the judges there feel they no longer can wait.

"Our judges are in the best position to know and understand the community in which they live and serve," March said in a statement. "This decision was made in an effort to do everything possible to benefit and protect the citizens of North Las Vegas.

"The judges are willing to put in the extra work that it takes to handle the serious and violent cases that come before them. It does not benefit the judges personally to do this. They live in this community and see what is happening in their courtrooms, and feel compelled to fully utilize the third judge, as intended by the Legislature."

March said the justices of the peace aren't asking the county to fund an additional position. She said they want Roger to accommodate them with his existing staff.

County Public Defender Phil Kohn has agreed to send a third attorney to staff the additional court sessions, March said .

But Kohn said he was doing it reluctantly.

"It just means that much more work for us," he said. "Both agencies have to be in more places with fewer deputies. It's difficult, and it's going to get worse in January when Las Vegas Justice Court adds two more judges."

Tyrrell's ultimatum to Roger last week followed an exchange of letters between the district attorney's office and the chief justice of the peace.

In a June 11 letter to Tyrrell, Assistant District Attorney Chris Owens said: "You were informed one year ago that our office would be unable to accommodate your proposed increase in schedule. This was due to reduced staffing levels necessitated by the economic downturn. The only relevant change since that time has been the continuing loss of attorneys in our office."

Owens said the office has lost 10 percent of its prosecutors in the past year, while the public defender's office has received funding to add attorneys.

"Public defenders now out-number prosecutors in the courtroom," Owens wrote. "While that office bemoans a caseload of 200 cases per defender, our prosecutors are carrying nearly three times that amount."

Owens also said court records show that the caseloads in North Las Vegas are not out of hand and don't justify adding the new criminal calendars.

But in a June 16 letter to Roger, Tyrrell responded: "The judges of North Las Vegas Justice Court are concerned with the quality of justice taking place in our jurisdiction. Further, it is our responsibility to safeguard the rights of both the state and the defendant. This court's action is necessary to ensure that happens."

Owens, however, suggested in his earlier letter that the North Las Vegas judges were upsetting the delicate balance in the valley's justice system.

"It is obvious to most of us who have worked within this specialized community that there is an ominous consequence to unilateral action," he wrote.

"Rogue undertakings place an unfair and unnecessary strain upon the resources of sister institutions. The beneficiaries of these maverick endeavors are often the purveyors of crime, rather than the law-abiding citizenry."

Contact Jeff German at jgerman@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-8135 or read more courts coverage at lvlegalnews.com.