Halverson, Del Vecchio cases show open season on court staff is over

If florist shops in the vicinity of the Regional Justice Center are running low on posies these days, it would be understandable.

And if there's not a box of See's candy left in all of Southern Nevada, I think I have a good idea where all the sweets went, at least, if local judges have an ounce of sense.

If the black-robed set is not merely book learned but truly wise, it already would have begun showering staff with goodies. Clerks and assistants would receive gifts for all occasions, and bailiffs would get plentiful pats on the back. Civility and collegiality would reign at the justice center, and the judges would have learned an essential lesson:

Don't harass the hired help, or you'll have hell to pay.

It's something rookie District Judge Elizabeth Halverson should have known after spending much of her career inside the courthouse. Instead, she faces 14 charges leveled by the Nevada Commission on Judicial Discipline in a Jan. 7 complaint. Halverson denies the allegations and continues to fight to return to the bench.

While it's true several of the charges she faces question her ability to perform her judicial duties, arguably the most damning allegations come from the statement of former bailiff Johnnie Jordan Jr., who swears Halverson humiliated him.

For example:

Jordan claims the judge yelled at him, called him names, referred to him and other employees as "bitches," "dumb asses" and worse. And he alleges Halverson called him to report for work before 7 a.m., work through the lunch hour and remain on duty until after 5 p.m. without authorizing overtime.

Then it gets weirder. Jordan alleges Halverson required him to "spy" on other employees, "heat and serve" her meals, keep her water glass chilled and filled, making him put on and take off her shoes, requiring him to massage her feet, neck and shoulders, ordering him to cover her with a blanket for her naps and so on.

Setting aside some of allegations of procedural errors and accusations that she fell asleep while on the bench, Jordan's description is pretty damaging.

She's accused by former judicial executive assistant Ileen Spoor and court clerk Katherine Streuber of harassment and creating a hostile work environment. She's accused of calling her former court recorder, Richard Kangas, a spy working on behalf of Chief Judge Kathy Hardcastle. She's accused of calling former law clerk Lisa Carroll a "faux Jew."

Although Halverson faces other hurdles, I suspect the insurmountable obstacles in her path back to District Court will be found in the form of all the former employees she's accused of treating so shabbily. Who would want to work in the courtroom of such a judge?

Don't harass the hired help, or you'll have hell to pay.

It's a lesson that might have saved Family Court Judge Nicholas Del Vecchio from himself.

It might not be much solace to Halverson, but most of the allegations she faces are forgettable compared to the 38 misconduct accusations filed Feb. 8 by the Judicial Discipline Commission against Del Vecchio. If there were such a thing as a sexual harassment RICO, Del Vecchio would be accused of it.

Beyond the most serious allegation, that he once forced the daughter of his ex-wife to perform oral sex, most of the charges Del Vecchio faces arise from complaints made by former judicial assistants, clerks and bailiffs. The remarks are raunchy and inappropriate, and were supposedly spoken by a person we pay a six-figure annual salary to sit in judgment of others in sensitive cases at Family Court.

From encouraging judicial assistant Wendy Cox to dress "seductively" and go to lunch with attorneys who might contribute to his campaign, to calling bailiff Richard Tamez "my lazy Mexican," Del Vecchio's alleged abuse of the hired help figures to haunt him for however long he remains on the district court bench.

There probably was a time lowly clerks, secretaries and bailiffs had to put up with obnoxious bosses in black robes.

That time has passed.

Perhaps one day soon you'll hear about other active judges who abuse their courthouse subordinates.

The day has changed, your honors. Don't say you weren't warned.

If I were you, I'd make with the flowers and candy while you still can.

John L. Smith's column appears Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. E-mail him at Smith@reviewjournal.com or call (702) 383-0295.