Judge Halverson hospitalized, husband jailed after attack
Embattled District Judge Elizabeth Halverson was hospitalized after her husband beat her with a frying pan, Las Vegas police said this morning. Her injuries are not life-threatening.
Her husband, Edward Halverson, 49, was booked into the county jail on attempted murder and battery charges.
Halverson called police last night at about 10:50 p.m. to report that her husband was beating her and trying to kill her, police said. Officers responded and forced their way into her house, near Tropicana Avenue and U.S. Highway 95. They found Judge Halverson with her face, upper arms and chest severely bruised.
"It looks like she had been beat pretty bad," one police officer said.
Halverson was taken to Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center.
Edward Halverson has been arrested at least 10 times in three states and has been convicted of three felonies. He has previously served four years in prison. In the past, police arrested him on allegations of cocaine possession, breaking into a house and stealing property and on various warrants.
He has been married to Halverson since 1998.
Judge Halverson is facing a Nevada Judicial Discipline Commission complaint accusing her of creating a hostile work environment and improperly communicating with jurors, among other charges.
Her attorney, Michael Schwartz, said this morning that he was shocked to hear that she was in the hospital.
"I am absolutely bewildered. I have no reason to believe anything like this would occur," Schwartz said.
Elizabeth Halverson was suspended in July 2007 and recently lost a primary bid for re-election.
She’s been awaiting a decision from the Commission on Judicial Discipline about whether she’ll be permanently barred from the bench.
The disciplinary panel wrapped up two weeks of hearings last month on allegations that Halverson slept on the bench and belittled her bailiff.
Halverson’s former bailiff has testified she frequently told him to shoot her husband. Johnnie Jordan told the Nevada Judicial Discipline Commission at a July 16, 2007, hearing that his boss told him "plenty of times" that she wanted him to shoot her husband, a convicted felon whom she called "Evil Ed" and other derogatory names.
"Did you take this as a joke what she was telling you, just shoot him?" special counsel Dorothy Nash-Holmes asked. "No, I didn’t," Jordan replied. "I didn’t know how to take it."
Although Halverson made the comments in front of her husband, he was not present on one occasion when the judge told Jordan she would dispose of the body herself, the former bailiff testified.
Contact Review-Journal writer David Kihara with more information at dkihara@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-1039.
