Sometimes your choices can thrust you in the court of public opinion

First case in point: the Elko County sheriff’s deputy who was arrested for DUI after being pulled over by another sheriff’s deputy. That alone is unusual. But the deputy pulled over was married to the deputy who stopped her.

The wife was off duty from her job as a deputy at the jail when her husband nabbed her just before midnight last Saturday. He stopped her for a traffic violation, and the Elko Daily Free Press reported that she allegedly left before he could give her a Breathalyzer test.

Just guessing that she didn’t believe he’d take it any further as she drove off. But he did. He called for backup from the Elko Police Department, and two officers handled her case and arrested her.

One wonders about the first private conversation the couple had together after she was released from jail by the undersheriff.

The wife, Charlotte Moore, said on the newspaper’s Web site that they were not thinking of divorce before this and aren’t thinking of it now. “He may be sleeping on the couch though!” she wrote.

The sad tale of Charlotte and Mike Moore was unusual enough to get picked up by The Associated Press and used worldwide. Elko residents are debating the demands of private loyalty to one’s spouse versus loyalty to one’s job and public safety.

What if Mike Moore had simply let his wife go and she had injured or even killed someone? Every husband has to wonder what he would do in Mike Moore’s situation, knowing there could be ramifications no matter what his decision.

Yet another Nevada tale of domestic disharmony spread across the nation this week: the sad tale of Elizabeth and Ed Halverson. She’s a judge; he’s a felon.

Until the release this week of a previously sealed transcript of a closed hearing July 16, the public didn’t know that Judge Halverson had asked her bailiff, more than once, to shoot her husband. Her husband knew, because she had said it in front of him.

Halverson’s former bailiff, Johnnie Jordan, testified that she called her husband “Evil Ed” and “dumb bitch” and once said she’d take care of disposing of the body if the bailiff would shoot him.

Her defense attorneys suggested it might have been a joke, but the bailiff said he didn’t know what to think.

The American Bar Association Journal, which has already written extensively about Judge Halverson, wasted no time sharing this marital tale with its members this week, showing a Nevada judge in a negative light.

The Supreme Court has scheduled a hearing for oral arguments in Carson City on Sept. 13 before making a final decision on whether Judge Halverson is, as the Nevada Commission on Judicial Discipline said July 25, a substantial threat of serious harm to the public and a substantial threat to the administration of justice.

Her defense team says she was a “baby judge” who has since improved her behavior and is no longer any threat to the public or the administration of justice. (But what about the threat to her husband?)

The real issue for the Supreme Court is not whether she wanted her husband shot. He’s obviously not worried about it.

But is changing judicial behavior enough to save your job?

The crew she had before she was suspended all said she was a wonderful judge, polite and fair, who never asked them to do the things she had asked her first bailiff to do, like change her shoes, fix her lunch, rub her neck and work unpaid overtime.

She never screamed at them, they all testified. Nor did she ask any of them to whack her husband.

Interestingly enough, despite what her attorneys describe as disabilities recognized by the Americans with Disabilities Act, once she was on notice May 15 that she was in danger of being disciplined, her private behavior apparently changed.

That indicates “the baby judge” didn’t need to behave the way she did with her first staff. She made the choice to treat others like they were her slaves. Now she chooses to be on her best behavior.

Whether you’re the Halversons or the Moores, you live with your choices. And it plays out in public, where others judge you and your marriage. Even when they have their own marital secrets.

Jane Ann Morrison’s column appears Monday, Thursday and Saturday. E-mail her at Jane@reviewjournal.com or call 383-0275.