Justice of peace pulls media duty for O.J. case

Nancy Oesterle quipped she would have washed her blond hair and worn something other than white capris if she had known her image would be plastered all over television Monday.

Oesterle, a Las Vegas justice of the peace, was yanked off the bench in the morning and put in front of a pack of hungry reporters as the designated court spokeswoman for the O.J. Simpson robbery case.

"It was a crazy day," said Oesterle, 50.

Over the course of the day she responded to nearly 100 media inquiries and appeared on the Greta Van Susteren show "On the Record" Monday night. Oesterle, who in December 1990 became the first woman appointed to Las Vegas Justice Court bench, was scheduled to appear on the "Today" show this morning. Justices of the peace are responsible for setting bail and handling preliminary hearings and initial arraignments for felony cases before they proceed to District Court. Justices also oversee misdemeanor and small claims civil cases.

"I've been a judge 171/2 years, and in Las Vegas Justice Court, I call my job 'expect the unexpected,'" she said. "But I didn't expect this."

Oesterle is the creator, producer and co-host of her own weekly TV show, "Law and the Layman," which has been airing in Clark County for 13 years. She volunteers her time to Keys to the Courthouse, a program she started that brings elementary students into the courtroom to educate them on criminal justice. She is the chairwoman of the education committee for the Nevada Judges Association.

A Miami native, Oesterle moved to Las Vegas the day after her high school graduation in 1974. In 1978, she obtained a bachelor of arts degree in criminal justice from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, where she was a cheerleader for four years. She received a law degree in 1981 from the California Western School of Law in San Diego.

After finishing law school, Oesterle worked as a trial attorney for nearly 10 years in the criminal division of the Clark County district attorney's office, focusing on cases involving child molesters and drunken drivers.

"I guess I'm most interested in people who are defenseless," she said in a 1986 interview with the Review-Journal. "Children and elderly people often cannot defend themselves, so I try to take their side."

She has served on the Nevada Judges Association Board, the Nevada Supreme Court Judicial Assessment Commission, the Nevada Supreme Court Community Relations Committee and the Nevada Supreme Court Mandatory Sentencing Commission.

She said she was chosen to be a spokeswoman in the Simpson case because she has no involvement in the proceedings.