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Challenger calls NLV judge too tough
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Marsha Kimble-Simms
Age: 48
Occupation: Attorney
Tools
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Sean Hoeffgen
Age: 40
Occupation: Municipal Court judge
LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL
Updated: Apr. 9, 2012 | 10:16 p.m.
Judicial candidates often try to win votes by promising they'll be tougher on crime than their opponents.
But Marsha Kimble-Simms, a challenger for North Las Vegas' Municipal Court Department 2, says the incumbent, Judge Sean Hoeffgen, is too tough, at least when it comes to nonviolent misdemeanors such as traffic offenses.
The court under Hoeffgen has levied excessive fines and jail sentences that are too lengthy for such offenses, said Kimble-Simms, a 48-year-old attorney with her own law firm. People often can't afford to pay the high fines and end up incarcerated "for minor tickets," she said.
"Nobody should go to jail because they couldn't afford to pay a fine," she said. "It's the poor people who suffer the most."
Kimble-Simms also said many of those arrested for failing to appear in court on traffic offenses stay away because they can't take time off work. Such people should have their warrants quashed and be released on their own recognizance, she said.
"The system needs to be more accountable to the people it's supposed to serve," she said.
Hoeffgen, 40, said only repeat, "habitual" offenders who refuse to change their behavior end up behind bars.
"If someone is driving without a license or insurance, typically prosecutors will ask for a suspended sentence to compel that person to stop doing that," he said. "If they continue, then, yes, they'll do 60 days in jail. We need to find a way to get them to stop."
The court always allows people to do community service in lieu of fines if they can't afford to pay, Hoeffgen said.
But "a significant portion of people, we don't see them until we get a warrant," he said. "We bend over backwards; we like them to comply. We don't want people to go to jail if it's unneeded."
Hoeffgen, a one-term incumbent, led Kimble-Simms in the primary by a mere 24 votes.
The 1996 graduate of the University of San Diego School of Law is a 10-year resident of North Las Vegas.
He brought to the city the Habitual Offender Prevention and Education Program (HOPE), which requires repeat, nonviolent offenders to seek jobs, do community service and take drug tests while serving one-year probations. Hoeffgen also started a DUI court in the city.
Kimble-Simms is a University of Detroit School of Law graduate licensed to practice in Nevada in 2003. She has lived in the city nine years. She previously worked as a prosecutor and a judge pro tem in North Las Vegas Justice Court. She ran unsuccessfully for justice of the peace last year.
Kimble-Simms is a foster parent and president of the Foster Care & Adoption Association of Nevada.
Contact reporter Lynnette Curtis at lcurtis @reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0285.
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Sorry I meant to post hug but thinking Marsha Kimble-Simms thinking is such a huge mistake I kept writing huge.
Hugs it's hugs for everyone.
You know when you are caught driving without a license or insurance you really need a huge.
Unless you are involved in a crash that injuries someone than you get a really, really big huge.
I'm sure the other party will have the needed insurance and when their rates go up, they can just get a big fat raise from work.
As we continue to justify crimes committed by the poor, illegal aliens or any others.
Is it any wonder few have any respect for laws that help everyone.
Marsha Kimble-Simms wants to solve all our problems with great big huges.
Things happen sometimes when someone drives the first time without a license and insurance.
Who pays the bills if there is a crash, do you tell the victims it's only that persons first offense? Lets not be too harsh on them?
That's why laws are there because bad things happen sometimes when it's someone's first criminal action.
Nonsense, a no-vote for Marsha Kimble-Simms.
"she should change careers and become a social worker"....better yet, how about animal control! I would hate to see how this woman would defend an illegal!!!
These are the kind of people who make a mockery of our justice system....DO NOT ELECT THIS WOMAN!!!!!!
"poor people". She must be talking about the disinfranchised, baby mama, where's my daddy individuals.
Looking at the picture of Ms. Kimble-Simms, is there any question who she is referring to as "the poor people" she promises to protect? And to what segment of the NLV community she is pandering to?
How often do we read about traffic accidents with dire consequences or death involving a driver with a "suspended license" and/or multiple convictions for DUI, reckless driving, no insurance, etc.? And we all ask ourselves, "What in the world was this moron doing still driving on our roads?" If Kimble-Simms is elected, more of these types will be out there. But at least we will know who to blame.