Judge: Attacker 'gleeful' - News

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Oct. 07, 2008
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Judge: Attacker 'gleeful'

Transcripts reveal Halverson's account

By DAVID KIHARA
REVIEW-JOURNAL

Edward Halverson, 49, brings his wife, suspended District Judge Elizabeth Halverson, a note pad during a Nevada Judicial Discipline Commission hearing in August.
Photo by John Gurzinski

Moments before husband Edward Halverson struck her with a frying pan, he had a "wicked, nasty" smile on his face, suspended District Judge Elizabeth Halverson told a grand jury.

"It was like he was gleeful ... like I got control here," she testified, according to transcripts of the Sept. 23 grand jury proceedings.

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Edward Halverson struck his wife of 10 years in the head so hard that she was hospitalized and needed more than 100 staples to close the deep wounds, authorities said.

He is being held at the Clark County Detention Center on charges that he tried to murder Elizabeth Halverson at their home near Tropicana Avenue and U.S. Highway 95.

The grand jury transcripts released Monday provide a window into the couple's marriage and the incident.

Elizabeth Halverson told the grand jury that she sat in her bedroom cleaning green beans on Sept. 4 while her husband watched television in the living room. They talked about marinating some steaks for a future dinner and discussed cooking some ears of corn for that night's meal.

That night, Edward Halverson, 49, was supposed to cook dinner around 7:30 p.m. He told her he did not want to fix a full meal, so they had decided to boil two ears of corn.

By 10:30 p.m., Edward Halverson hadn't cooked the corn. So Elizabeth Halverson asked him about it.

"I was a little like hey dude. I mean it's been three hours, where is the corn? It's just two ears of corn, how long can it take?" she testified.

Edward Halverson replied that he had not started cooking the corn because "I'm lazy or whatever," she said.

She also said that he was acting very strangely and that she told him to sleep in a separate room that night because "you're being very weird."

She reminded Edward Halverson to use his BiPAP machine, Bi-level Positive Airway Pressure machine.

A BiPAP is a device that allows people to get more air into their lungs, Web sites said. It helps people who suffer from sleep apnea.

Edward Halverson lingered in the bedroom with his wife, making her nervous. She told him to leave and threatened to call the police if he did not go to another room.

He left briefly but returned with a frying pan and a nasty smile, she said. She thought he might have wanted to start cooking but instead he beat her in the head with the pan, she said.

"The next thing I know the frying pan was in his hands and coming down on my head," she said. "And then I thought oh, I guess we're not cooking anything."

At the time, she was lying in bed on her stomach. The blows knocked her to the floor. She said she could not get up because she and the floor were soaked in blood.

She told police that he said something to the effect of: "You can't hide from me, you can't get away from me," according to prosecutor Maria Lavelle.

While she was on the floor, Edward Halverson hit her several more times, Elizabeth Halverson said. She said she put up her arms to defend herself.

At some point, she got back onto the bed and called 911. During the call, she was heard speaking in a conversational tone to Edward Halverson, but her tone became panicked when speaking to the 911 operator. She told the grand jury that she spoke in a normal tone of voice to her husband because she wanted him to calm down.

Elizabeth Halverson said that after the attack, Edward Halverson told her that her eye "looks real bad, hon." He got her a glass of ice water and wrapped the ice cubes from the glass into a cloth for her eye, she said.

Edward Halverson has pleaded not guilty to attempted murder and battery charges in connection with the incident. His attorney, Deputy Public Defender Bita Khamsi, declined to comment Monday.

Elizabeth Halverson is facing a Nevada Judicial Discipline complaint alleging that she created a hostile work environment, fell asleep during trials and improperly communicated with jurors. The commission is set to rule on the complaint within the following weeks. It could permanently bar her from serving as a judge.

Elizabeth Halverson was running for re-election in District Court's Department 23 but did not make it through the primary.

During the grand jury proceedings, a juror asked her whether she had any emotional pain and suffering.

"Your whole world is kind of turned upside down," she said.

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

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Please enter your name Name: Please enter your email Email: Please enter a comment COMMENTS : (word count limit is 300) You have reached the maximum number of words allowed Current Word Count: Note: Comments made by reporters and editors of the Las Vegas Review-Journal are presented with a yellow background. Need Help? Here it is! wrote on October 08, 2008 10:10 AM: For Help with Parking or Traffic Tickets in Las Vegas: Michael Sommermeyer, 702- 671-4534 Any JEA can help the public with tickets. Here is Ileene Spoor's information. She has been doing this for years and is really good at it! We know she will take your ticket and refer it to an attorney free of charge and have your ticket reduced. Here is her contact information. You can call, email or fax her at the numbers below. SENIOR JUDGE DEPARTMENT Judicial Executive Assistant - Irene Spoor Ph # 702-671-4607 Or email your ticket information to Ileene at: spoori@co.clark.nv.us Please include your name, phone number, Citation number, Date and location of ciation. Or you can fax a copy of your ticket: C/O Ileen Spoor. FAX # 702-671-4606 jh wrote on October 08, 2008 01:55 AM: i might beleive two trucks of corn...two ears come on! I smell Bull Manure wrote on October 08, 2008 12:17 AM: For real Halverson expects us to belive her story? Two ears of corn? How did she get to be so large eating two ears of corn for dinner? This story is so obviously bogus. I would imagine that her "glandular" problem was probably brought on by 10,000 calorie meals and not by eating green beans and corn. Edward Halverson wrote on October 08, 2008 12:14 AM: I was only trying to cook dinner. There was a fat load of back bacon and some green beans on the bed and I figured I would make us a nice side dish to go along with our two ears of corn. I did not realize until I saw the bllod that the back bacon was in fact my beautiful wifes back......... casinocon wrote on October 07, 2008 09:58 PM: Truth is certainly stranger than fiction. Cleaning green beans in the bedroom . . . it is details like this that you just have to relish. Cornbread would sound good with those beans, and would have been a better use for the frying pan. Do you really believe this woman would have settled for an ear of corn? I think she was angling for chicken too . . . hubby should have just gone to KFC for a bucket with the fixins. hungry but not cranky wrote on October 07, 2008 09:44 PM: Forget politics, ethics, judicial conduct or misconduct. You are missing the tragedy of the story. all those cleaned beans, made bloody, and ultimately crushed into the floor as she fell helplessly upon them. Dammit people, think of the beans... desertking wrote on October 07, 2008 09:30 PM: there are just too many directions this could go. Try Nutra Systems. They still advertise meals prepared delivered. Where Ed's going,his meals will be made for him too. Maybe you should pick your battles wrote on October 07, 2008 09:10 PM: DON'TWONDER...such vitriol. And to your sister, SHOWYOURFACE...thanks for spelling out your mindful and physical responses, like a movie script, in your comment.. I almost can see your performance/delivery of your comment. All you have to do is wiggle your ears at the end, to make your comment more convincing. SimpleFacts wrote on October 07, 2008 08:29 PM: dontwonder Would you please provide that verse from the Bible.. It does not exist. D Jones wrote on October 07, 2008 07:14 PM: I would've paid to see her get back on the bed. And, who cleans vegetables in the bedroom? Read All Comments