Editorial: Courting trouble

Conrad Hafen’s case of Black Robe Disease has advanced to the terminal stage. No chance of recovery.

Recall that back in May, the Las Vegas justice of the peace found himself in the spotlight after ordering a public defender handcuffed and confined to the jury box. Her crime was attempting to get a word in while representing a local man facing a larceny charge.

Not surprisingly, the contempt citation against attorney Zohra Bakhtary didn’t survive the scrutiny of a more level-headed jurist. Two weeks ago, District Court Judge Gloria Sturman tossed the charge, noting that Judge Hafen had trampled Ms. Bakhtary’s right to due process and not allowed her to speak in her own defense.

But Judge Hafen obviously didn’t get the message. On Tuesday, the judge revived his tired act.

During a public hearing on a drug-related murder case, Judge Hafen refused to allow the relatives of the victims to watch the arraignment. He also threatened to arrest a Review-Journal reporter for using his cell phone to record audio of the proceedings and stopped the paper’s photographer from shooting pictures in the courtroom.

It certainly appeared that Judge Hafen targeted Review-Journal employees for retribution. Others in attendance continued to use their phones and TV news cameras were allowed into the courtroom.

Let’s count the ways in which the judge chose to abuse his authority.

“Judge Hafen improperly denied the Review-Journal the ability to take photographs despite the fact that other people were allowed to take photographs,” said Maggie McLetchie, an attorney for the newspaper. “He improperly denied the ability to audio record, and he improperly denied the public access to open court proceedings.”

Former ACLU attorney Alan Lichtenstein agreed. “The default position is that in this country, our court system should be open to scrutiny,” he said.

Supporters of an open judiciary can at least take solace in the fact that this poor impersonation of a petty tyrant will soon be returning to private life. Voters in the June primary election rejected Judge Hafen’s bid for a second six-year term when he couldn’t even scrape up a quarter of the vote in losing his seat to Amy “JoAnne” Chelini.

Many pundits deplore judicial elections, arguing — among other things — that we can’t trust individual citizens with the lofty responsibility of staffing the judiciary. Maybe, maybe not. But in this case, Las Vegas voters got it exactly right.