Letters sent by judge’s brother stir controversy

The brother of District Judge Michelle Leavitt called a local defense attorney a "permanent enemy" of the Leavitt family for supporting the judge's challenger in the upcoming election.

The judge's brother, defense attorney Andrew Leavitt, also sent a strongly worded letter to Leavitt's challenger that accused him of lying on his campaign Web site about the judge.

Andrew Leavitt, who works as Leavitt's campaign finance chairman, said he is only defending his sister, who is running for re-election in Department 12 against attorney Kurt Harris. The brother said that Leavitt did not advise him to draft the letters and that she learned about them only after he sent them.

"I guess I'm always working on behalf of my sister. I would consider everyone in her family working on her campaign," he said.

The attorneys who received the letters said it was inappropriate for a judge's brother to issue the letters because the attorneys have cases before Leavitt. They questioned whether they could get a fair shake before the judge.

On March 28, Andrew Leavitt sent a letter to Osvaldo "Ozzie" Fumo after Fumo supported Leavitt's challenger and announced he was holding a fundraiser for Harris. Andrew Leavitt considered Fumo a friend. He said Fumo's support of Harris is a stab in the back because Fumo barely knows Harris but has known the Leavitts for years.

"It is amazing to me that you would put our friendship, my sister's friendship, and the entire Leavitt Family friendship down the drain for someone that you don't even know," Andrew Leavitt wrote. "To me this is outrageous and I have no other choice, but to consider yourself a permanent enemy to both myself, my sister and the entire Leavitt family."

The Leavitt family has deep ties to the community. The Leavitts' father, Myron Leavitt, had a long career in politics and served as a judge in Nevada. He was a state Supreme Court justice for more than five years and a district judge for 14 years. He was a Las Vegas city councilman, county commissioner and state lieutenant governor. Myron Leavitt also worked as sports editor of the Review-Journal.

He died in 2004 at age 73.

Fumo attached Andrew Leavitt's letter to a request asking Michelle Leavitt to recuse herself from a case he has before her. Fumo's client, Jaamal Smith, is accused of possessing stolen goods. Leavitt is scheduled to sentence him in June.

In his request, Fumo said he does not think Leavitt can be impartial because she "now considers Mr. Fumo her enemy." He said he would ask Leavitt to recuse herself from any future case he or any of his firm's attorneys have before her.

"She clearly has an actual bias against me and for her to say otherwise would be disingenuous," he said. "I think he's (Andrew Leavitt) clearly acting as her agent and I think it's wholly inappropriate."

Andrew Leavitt sent a letter to Harris dated April 10. He accused Harris of implying that the judge has never tried a case and does not have any practical experience.

Andrew Leavitt wrote that if Harris did not correct the errors, he would "personally make sure that your lies and scandalous misrepresentations are dealt with accordingly."

Harris, who posted Andrew Leavitt's letter on his Web site with a rebuttal, said he felt threatened by the letter.

"The overall tone of it was shocking to me. It seemed out of place for a political, judicial race," he said.

He questioned whether the judge was behind the letter and wondered whether Andrew Leavitt had sent it in some sort of quasi-judicial, official capacity.

Harris declined to comment on whether he would file a complaint against Andrew Leavitt.

The State Bar, which is responsible for disciplining judges, declined to comment.

The judge said she did not ask her brother to write the letters and did not think much about them when she learned of them. She said it was her understanding that the letter to Harris was to correct misinformation on his Web site.

She said she did not know much about the letter sent to Fumo other than that the matter was between her brother and Fumo.

Leavitt said she can remain impartial.

"I always considered Ozzie a friend. During politics, you find out who your true friends are. I'm disappointed in him (Ozzie). But that doesn't mean I can't be fair," she said.

Andrew Leavitt said he sent the letter to Harris because he was "offended by some of the personal jabs he was taking" and wanted to set the record straight, namely that his sister has plenty of courtroom experience.

He said he was hurt that Fumo did not support his sister and, in response, wrote the letter, which he conceded was "mean-spirited."

He said that the letter had nothing to do with politics or the campaign and that he was not speaking for the judge or the Leavitt family.

"This is a personal letter between me and Ozzie," he said. "It irritated me that someone I thought was a close family friend was throwing campaign parties for someone he never met before. He's not doing it for Kurt Harris. He's doing it to screw Michelle Leavitt."

Contact reporter David Kihara at dkihara@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-1039.