Relationship with prosecutor hasn’t curtailed embattled Judge Jones
Amid a legal uproar over his romance with a fired prosecutor who appeared before him, Family Court Judge Steven Jones continues to handle a normal child welfare caseload.
Concerns about a rift between the judge and the district attorney’s office over the relationship with former Deputy District Attorney Lisa Willardson were aired Friday at a regular meeting of Family Court judges attended by Chief District Judge Jennifer Togliatti.
But no administrative action was taken to ease the tense conflict.
"They don’t want to make a knee-jerk reaction," District Court spokeswoman Mary Ann Price said Tuesday. "They want to look at all the facts and circumstances before they make an informed decision."
Longtime child advocate Donna Coleman said Tuesday that she’s not surprised that Jones is still hearing child welfare cases.
"He’s part of the good old boy network," said Coleman, a former member of Nevada’s Standing Committee on Judicial Ethics. "He has been there a long time. He has a lot of support from some of the other judges."
Coleman, however, said Jones has "lost the confidence of the public."
"Until this is resolved," she added, "his relationship with the district attorney’s office, whoever the new district attorney is going to be, is now tainted, and it’s not in the children’s best interest for him to remain on the bench in child welfare cases."
Attorney James Jimmerson, who represents Jones, countered: "The fact that Judge Jones retains his child welfare caseload reflects his excellence as a jurist in this field.
"He not only is viewed as able and fair by his judicial colleagues, but recently, despite this controversy, he received a 70 percent retention vote of support from the Las Vegas Review-Journal survey of lawyers appearing in front of him."
The judge’s conflict with prosecutors erupted in the waning days of the administration of former District Attorney David Roger, who has said he felt pressured by Jones to keep Willardson in the child welfare unit after the involvement between the judge and the prosecutor was brought to light.
Jones, 53, issued an order banning from his courtroom Michelle Edwards and Janne Hanrahan, the two deputy district attorneys who helped expose the relationship on Oct. 28. But he contended that he does not have a bias against the rest of the district attorney’s office.
Roger, however, filed a complaint with the Nevada Commission on Judicial Discipline over the judge’s conduct stemming from the relationship. The district attorney’s office also filed a complaint with the State Bar of Nevada against Willardson, who was fired Dec. 13. Both agencies are investigating.
Roger, who retired Jan. 3, also launched a grand jury investigation into allegations both Jones and Willardson lied in sworn affidavits about the extent of their romantic involvement.
Grand jury-approved subpoenas have been issued seeking cellphone records dating to October for both Jones and Willardson, courthouse sources said this week.
In their affidavits, Jones and Willardson, 43, said under oath that they didn’t start dating until November, after she was removed from prosecuting cases before the judge. But emails from Willardson’s office computer showed the relationship might have begun while she was appearing before Jones.
In an Oct. 26 email to two lawyers, Willardson admitted she was in a dating relationship with Jones.
That same day, she referred to Jones in an email to his law clerk as the "honorable (and freakin’ HOT) Steven E. Jones."
Other emails from Oct. 17 to Oct. 20 show Willardson and Jones flirting with each other as they set up a lunch date and discussed it afterward.
The rift between Jones and the district attorney’s office also is playing out in a child welfare case. Prosecutors have filed a motion seeking to remove Jones from the case because of his "personal bias" against Edwards and Hanrahan.
Togliatti assigned District Judge Mark Denton to hear the matter, and he has summoned both sides to his courtroom on Thursday.
Contact Jeff German at jgerman@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-8135.
