Judicial Candidates: Marsha Kimble-Simms

Marsha Kimble-Simms is a loving mother of six children.

The 50-year-old is an attorney with her own law firm and serves as president of the Foster Care and Adoption Association of Nevada. Kimble-Simms is a candidate for North Las Vegas Municipal Court judge Department 1.

She is running against Catherine Ramsey, a city prosecutor, in the June 7 general election. During the April 5 primary, Kimble-Simms received 35 percent of the vote. Ramsey had 37 percent.

Only 131 votes separated the two candidates. Kimble-Simms or Ramsey will become the city's first female Municipal Court judge.

The office is a six-year term that pays $148,438 annually. The court handles misdemeanor cases such as traffic, petty larceny, trespassing, domestic violence and DUI.

The Municipal Court is one of the busiest in Southern Nevada, according to the 2010 Nevada Judiciary Annual Report. Each of the court's two judges handled 4,531 cases last year.

Earlier this year, the court instituted a half-off discount program for warrants for people who met certain guidelines. Closing those cases and collecting fines earned the financially strapped city more than $700,000.

"By instituting that, people can handle warrants at the counter rather than come into the courtroom," Kimble-Simms said. "You can have the warrant recalled at the counter, and that frees up court time for other matters."

If elected, Kimble-Simms, who has 17 years of legal experience, said she would follow the law, be fair and impartial in her courtroom.

"That's what every judge is required to do," she said. "I really have a strong belief that the community should be involved. I would work toward saving our youth, keeping them from entering the criminal justice system so they can become productive citizens."

Kimble-Simms, who has lived in the city for 11 years, also would work toward securing a grant writer for the city to augment funding for specialty court programs to help protect abused and neglected children -- one of her passions.

"We want to try to break that cycle," she said. "Most who were abused turn into abusers and bullies themselves."

According to campaign finance reports filed in March, Kimble-Simms raised $10,020 -- about one-third of what Ramsey reported.

Not to worry, Kimble-Simms said.

"You work with people because they're the ones who decide, and you'll be fine," she said. "There were so many qualified people in the primary, but I went out and met with the voters. They identify with my message."

Kimble-Simms is a University of Detroit School of Law graduate and was licensed to practice law in Nevada in 2003. She ran unsuccessfully for Municipal Court in 2009 and for justice of the peace in 2008.

Her friends, family and neighbors work her grassroots campaign to get her message out.

"I'm getting out there, meeting the voters, knocking on doors and letting them know what my platform is," she said. "I'm their neighbor, and I'm involved in the community."

She is married to her husband, Wendell, 62.

Kimble-Simms grew up in Detroit. Her mother's family is from Georgia. Her father's family is from Mississippi. Her father coached high school basketball and sent some of his best players to legendary UNLV coach Jerry Tarkanian.

"I've been coming here ever since I was little," Kimble-Simms said. " (Becoming a judge) is a logical transition from being a lawyer, who has raised children in the city, who is president of her HOA and who has worked diligently to make the city a better place and to promote public safety."

For more information about this candidate, visit marshakimblesimmsfor
judge.com.

Contact Downtown and North Las Vegas View reporter Kristi Jourdan at kjourdan@viewnews.com or 383-0492.