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Halverson's illness halts discipline hearing; forum rescheduled

District Judge Elizabeth Halverson's disciplinary hearing was halted Friday after she suffered a hypoglycemic attack and became ill, her attorney said.

Halverson suffered the attack Friday morning after testifying for about an hour. Her attorney, Michael Schwartz, told the seven members of the Nevada Judicial Discipline Commission that she was nauseated but that he expected the hearing could continue after Halverson stabilized her blood sugar level. The commission agreed to take an hourlong break.


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  • Halverson, 50, returned from the lunch break looking pale, lethargic and sickly. She told the commissioners that she wanted to continue testifying even though her attorney had advised her to stop.

    "I'm better than when I was when the attack happened. I'm not 100 percent," she said.

    But Schwartz said Halverson wasn't up to finishing the hearing.

    "I don't think she wants to admit, even to herself, that she is under the weather," he said.

    The commission rescheduled the hearing to continue on Thursday at 1 p.m. at the Las Vegas Convention Center. The commissioners couldn't resume the hearings before Thursday because they had prior commitments.

    Next Thursday, Halverson and her attorneys are also scheduled to appear in federal court, where they will ask U.S. District Judge Robert Jones to grant an injunction on her behalf.

    She has argued that the disciplinary hearing is depriving her of her right to due process. If the preliminary injunction is granted, the disciplinary hearing could be halted.

    Halverson is facing 14 counts of misconduct. She is accused of mistreating staff, improperly communicating with jurors during trials and falling asleep on the bench, among other charges. She has been suspended from the bench since July 2007 and has continued to collect her $130,000 annual pay. She is running for re-election.

    If the discipline commission finds there is enough evidence to prove misconduct, commissioners could have Halverson removed from office.

    Halverson is obese and suffers from various medical conditions, including diabetes, Crohn's disease and the after-effects of cancer. During a 2007 meeting with Review-Journal editors and reporters, Halverson said she has difficulty walking, uses oxygen to assist her breathing, has suffered from congestive heart failure and experienced severe hypoglycemic attacks.

    Hypoglycemia is characterized by low glucose levels in the blood and is often associated with diabetes. Symptoms include shakiness, clamminess and feelings of anxiety. It can impair mental functions.

    Despite Friday's attack, Halverson said she is physically fit to be a judge. After the hearing ended, she told reporters that people who suffer from diabetes aren't prevented from running for office.

    Schwartz also said Halverson always performed her duties on the bench. He said her health issues didn't prevent her from carrying out her work as a judge. Like everyone, Halverson may get sick from time to time, he said.

    But he said she's no different from anyone else in the work force, he said.

    "Robots maybe don't get sick," he said. "Judge Halverson's not a robot."

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

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    ticketfixer wrote on August 21, 2008 12:24 AM: ATTENTION: Las Vegas Residents and Anyone who has received a Ticket in Clark County.

    Clark County Court Administration has stated that it is perfectly acceptable for Ileen Spoor to take moving violation and traffic tickets from the public and refer them to local Attorney's free of charge. These Attorney's will get a reduction in your Ticket fees, and will get moving violations reduced to Parking Citations.
    They will also get the ticket amount reduced.

    This will be all at no fee if you go through Ileen Spoor, JEA at the Regional Justice Center.

    Please feel free to Email Ileen with your traffic Citation information at:

    SPOORI@Co.Clark.NV.US

    Please include your Citation number, date of Citation and your phone number so Ileen may contact you to obtain a copy of your ticket.

    This is Ileen's REAL Email address.
    She has been running this Ticket busting Service at the RJC for 8 years and Clark County is aware and states this is open to anyone in the public sector.

    I will be using this service. I suggest you do as well. No more taking time off work. No more having to hire and pay for your own attorney.

    She will also handle dismissing Jury Duty if you do not feel up to doing it, or you are just to busy.


    undr cvr wrote on August 11, 2008 05:07 PM: Ryan
    To some extent, everyone is correct. There is no need to strive over making a point that Halverson, from any perspective, is not professionally suited for district court.
    The problem is, is that the point everyone else is stressing is that there are substantially more serious violations of judicial rules and canons by other named judges than Halverson's which are docucumented and on record, who remain on the bench and relatively unpunished.
    This is a lynching of sorts Barnum and Bailey style.
    Having no equity in the disproportion of it all, the whole thing looks likes a set up; typical of a corrupt system.
    Corruption is ooozing from between the lines; and that is what people are screaming about.
    In truth, none of them deserve to represent the interests of justice; and in fact, much of it is the fault of voters NOT voting and allowing the 10% or so of registered voters run the show.
    As for the Supreme Court... a well organized Cherry slithered his way to the top unopposed and well funded by special interests.
    This is only a side show compared to whats coming.


    undr cvr wrote on August 11, 2008 05:01 PM: Ryan
    To some extent everyone is correct. There is no need to strive over making a point that Halverson, from any perspective, is not professionally suited for district court.
    The problem is, is that the point everyone else is stressing is that there are substantially more serious violations of judicial rules and canons by other named judges than Halverson's which are docucumented and on record, who remain on the bench and relatively unpunished.
    This is a lynching of sorts Barnum and Bailey style.
    Having no equity in the disproportion of it all, the whole thing looks likes a set up; typical of a corrupt system.
    Corruption is ooozing from between the lines; and that is what people are screaming about.
    In truth, none of them deserve to represent the interests of justice; and in fact, much of it is the fault of voters NOT voting and allowing the 10% or so of registered voters run the show.
    As for the Supreme Court... a well organized Cherry slithered his way to the top unopposed and well funded by special interests.
    This is only a side show compared to whats coming.


    lawyerscoop wrote on August 11, 2008 01:45 PM: AbadCherry wrote on August 11, 2008 09:35 AM: Attorney's Role is to Clarify or Confuse wrote on August 08, 2008 10:12 PM:
    By attempting to make Spoor "the issue," do you think Halverson's attorney is attempting to clarify or confuse?


    I think the Attorney is trying to show Ileen Spoor for the FAT LYING little troll she is. I don't think he tried to make Spoor the issue at all. I think he was trying to show there is much more to this story than meets the eye of first glance.

    Clearly the Attorney had some sort of documents that prove Spoor is a liar and the "Commission" would not allow him to read them or make Spoor answer questions about it.

    I found it telling that when they wanted Halverson to answer questions they would say, "This is not a "real" trial so, this or that would not apply.

    Yet, when Schwartz wanted to have Fatty Spoor have to answer questions regarding these tickets, he was told he could not per some court NRS something or other...

    Again, to levels of justice.. one if you are massively obese and unlikable.
    Another if you are just obese and are being backed by the Chief Jugde and Court Administration.

    One has to wonder WHY all the hush, hush about these tickets..

    WAIT... MAYBE... they want to keep our Supreme Court Judge Mikey Cherry out of it.. since Spoor said he was aware and approved her running her free "Ticket Buster" organinzation on County time. Ya think?? One also has to wonder why these Attorney's did all this legal work for free?? You don't think it's cause " BIG" ole Justice Cherry's (another Fatty) name was on the letterhead???

    Way to go Justice Cherry.... Hey, got any extra Superbowl tickets??


    theend wrote on August 11, 2008 12:55 PM: Thank you Ryan. I hope it finally got through to them. I doubt it.


    Ryan wrote on August 10, 2008 11:15 PM: timetotalk, since I haven't seemed to grasp the fundamental issue surrounding due process that the NV supreme court has ruled was not a violation, perhaps you would be willing to explain to me what a chief judge other than Hardcastle would have done when faced with the multiple alleged violations of Halverson. What should a chief judge do? Should a chief judge wait for months trying to get the board to act as Halverson snores through trials? Let me reiterate that the NV Supreme Court has ruled that no due process violation exists. I'm sure many will believe the NV Supreme Court is part of the overall conspiracy and perhaps that is true. Unfortunately they are elected officials too so the voters are once again to blame if that is the stance you want to take. I don't think you have read what I have posted. I believe I have mentioned at least three times that I am not a supporter of Hardcastle or any of the other judges that have been mentioned. What I have said over and over is that this hearing is addressing Halverson's mistakes and the posts listed in this forum continually gravitate away from those violations and many people want to minimize them and divert to other judges. Doing so is the equivalent of a person who runs a red light telling the police, "at least I didn't kill anyone." Minimization and diversion...

    What has Halverson done thus far to expose the other judges? I have listened to her speak of health issues and discrimination based on obesity but I haven't heard her mention specific instances of corruption among the other judges. Have I missed it? Many of you are doing a fine job at addressing them but how is Halverson helping?


    timetotalk wrote on August 10, 2008 10:45 PM: "Not Fooled" and "Endrun"; have devoted approximately 10 hours to help Ryan understand the fundamental issue surrounding due process and the inappropriate methods used by Hardcastle to satisfy an agenda.

    Give it up. I strongly suspect "Ryan" is Hardcastle, and has successfully manipulated the blogs so as to divert attention.


    Ryan wrote on August 10, 2008 09:48 PM: endrun, you are obviously an intelligent individual who makes some very good points while, at the same time, resisting the urge to name call and introduce emotion into your argument. I appreciate that.

    notfooled, "unopposed" means no one is running against her. If you require that I explain anything else to you, please don't hesitate to request clarification again. I'm surprised that you don't address my point about diversion, however. The fact that the conversation continues to gravitate away from Hlaverson is something that neither I will drop, nor will you address apparently. Unfortunately, Hardcastle is not having a hearing. Nor is Mosely. Nor is Walsh. Rather than repeat myself, I would direct you to my penultimate post about those judges. If you are inclined to continue our conversation, I'm curious to know what you think would have happened with regard to Halverson's multiple violations should an ethical judge other that Hardcastle been in charge. Do you suppose she would have been left on the bench to slumber or continue to dine with jurors? At the risk of sounding condescending, my point is that any chief judge with a sense of responsibility would have removed her. Don't mistake that point as a voice of support for Hardcastle. Keep in mind that I am, and have always managed to focus my argument on the topic of this news story. Thanks for your passion in the matter though and I would love for you to direct your energy toward identifying judges who might unseat some of the current judges we have, beginning with Halverson.

    P.S. [Ryan may want to explain how his comment, "Hardcastle is unopposed".] is not a complete sentence.


    endrun wrote on August 10, 2008 06:10 PM: I appreciate your clarifications of which I find I agree in part.

    'I reiterate, if you are unhappy, do something about it other than complain. Find a better candidate and back him/her. Get involved. Research those running for office. READ! Use the internet for something besides posting your complaints.'

    I cannot speak for everyone, but trust me there is a lot being done behind the scenes about the judicial hell hole and its members...the outcome may take some time but there are several entities working simultaneously and from different directions.

    My opinion on Halverson is that not only she, but many of the RJC judges are incompetent, where knowledge of the law and descretion is essential.

    Should we have ambulance chasers and attorneys with special interests in their place? Of course not.

    What I and others simply want, is whats right (including a finding in these allegations proportionate to the outcomes in perpective to the allegations and charges of other judges such as Mosley.

    In so doing, having nothing to lose at this juncture, if Halverson ends up leveling the playing field by opening up 'Pandora's Box' and the truth of improprieties on others comes out..then so be it!!!


    NotFooled wrote on August 10, 2008 05:56 PM: Endrun; You are correct in that "Ryan" cannot seem to grasp the much larger picture. This is further illustrated by his response to "Halverson supporters".

    Way over his head!!

    P.S. Ryan may want to explain how his comment, "Hardcastle is unopposed". Does this mean that her illegal and unethical conduct should go unmentioned? Is it possible that Ryan or Hardcastle could believe she is immune from a complaint of sanctions?
    Is this a message to leave her alone?


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