Community service ordered for judge arrested in domestic battery case
A district judge facing a misdemeanor charge of domestic battery is set to have the case dismissed if she completes community service.
District Judge Jasmin Lilly-Spells was arrested in May following a confrontation with her husband at their Henderson home, according to an arrest report. She pleaded no contest to the misdemeanor charge, court records show.
During a court hearing Thursday, Henderson Municipal Judge Alicia Albritton ordered Lilly-Spells to complete 24 hours of community service, according to Lilly-Spells’ defense attorney, Warren Geller. The case will be dismissed if Lilly-Spells successfully completes the community service, he said.
“In the interest of her family, we took action to put this case behind her so she can continue working hard fulfilling her obligations to serve the community,” Geller said.
Lilly-Spells was elected in November 2020 to Department 23 in District Court. Before that, she was a chief deputy public defender, and she previously has served as a mediator, parking arbitrator and court-appointed special advocate representing abused and neglected children.
According to the arrest report, Lilly-Spells’ husband told police that she shoved him into a wall during an argument on May 8 while he “begged her to stop.” His name was redacted from the report.
“He suffers from Sciatica and was in pain prior to the altercation, but her pushing him into the wall had worsened the pain,” the report stated.
An officer wrote in the report that Lilly-Spells was upset with her husband and carried two PlayStations into a bedroom closet. While recording a video on his phone, her husband followed her into the closet and found her stabbing at one of the PlayStations with a screwdriver.
The video captured Lilly-Spells approaching her husband “with a closed fist and screwdriver in hand,” the report said. Neither suffered from “apparent injuries,” other than an “extremely minute scratch” on Lilly-Spells’ wrist, according to the report.
Contact Katelyn Newberg at knewberg@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0240. Follow @k_newberg on Twitter.
