How many laws does a judge have to violate before removal?

Just when you think the allegations against District Judge Elizabeth Halverson can’t get any more bizarre, they do.

This time, the accusations don’t just involve sleeping on the bench, insulting and demeaning her staff, making bigoted comments, lying about other judges, or speaking with jurors when she shouldn’t. You know, the regular stuff we’ve been reading about since May. Sexual harassment. Hostile work environment. The kind of stuff that exposes Clark County to civil lawsuits.

This time, it’s borderline criminal.

The newest allegation made against her: She hired someone in May to hack into the Regional Justice Center computer system so she could read other people’s e-mails.

Apparently, the computer guy she hired recognized he’d be committing a crime and told her he couldn’t do what she asked without informing the system administrators. She thanked him. Paid him by check. He went home and stewed about it. Worried he had participated in a crime.

Gregory Klassoff, an independent contractor with Supertech Computers, is the good guy in this scenario. He deserves credit for reporting this. He spoke to a friend who was an attorney, and that person contacted authorities.

Court spokesman Michael Sommermeyer said the police investigation concluded no crime was committed because the computer technician didn’t go past the Web page that warns that unauthorized use of the system is a federal crime with the potential of fines and prison time.

However, if he had done what she asked, Halverson and the technician could possibly have faced federal charges.

Sommermeyer said that after learning of the attempted hack job, Court Administrator Chuck Short called David Sarnowski, executive director of the Nevada Commission on Judicial Discipline. If Halverson had crossed that line and gained access to private communications in the court system, Sarnowski told Short, he would have been prepared to ask the board to suspend her immediately from the bench.

But since the computer technician didn’t cross that line, Halverson had to wait until July 25 for her temporary suspension to occur. She appealed that suspension, and on Nov. 1, the Nevada Supreme Court upheld the suspension but said formal charges should be filed quickly.

The charges were filed Monday, more than two months later, which will become a legal issue. Monday was also the first day possible to file for a judicial office. Her attorneys say Halverson plans to file for re-election.

This previously undisclosed allegation about the hacking attempt was Count 12, tucked in among the 14 counts charging Halverson with violating the Judicial Canons of Ethics. The Judicial Discipline Commission’s special prosecutor, Dorothy Nash Holmes of Reno, alleged Halverson violated the canons by hiring either Supertech Computers or Gregory Klassoff in May to hack into the Regional Justice Center’s computer system.

Klassoff is not one of the former employees or judges who have been feuding with Halverson. He doesn’t have any ax to grind with her, which is going to make it harder for her defense attorneys to attack his credibility when the charges go to an as yet unscheduled open hearing. And the check she wrote him adds credibility to what he told police.

This wasn’t Halverson’s first effort to sneak a peek at e-mails. In February, when her judicial executive assistant, Ileen Spoor, took time off, Halverson asked her temporary replacement to print out e-mails Spoor had sent and received, Sommermeyer said. Since Halverson was Spoor’s supervisor at the time, that action didn’t appear to be criminal. Those e-mails are now in the hands of the Judicial Ethics Commission but were not mentioned as part of the formal charges against Halverson.

Spoor has sued Halverson for defamation because of the judge’s accusations that Spoor was fixing tickets while on the job. That civil case is pending.

If Halverson had managed to hack into the court’s e-mail system, this ridiculous tale of judicial silliness probably would have been resolved far earlier.

There are allegations against her that are more repulsive on a personal level, but this one is the worst, demonstrating a sneakiness and willingness to break the law to spy on others.

If everything else in the complaint were discounted and this was the only thing found true, Halverson, the would-be computer hacker, should be removed from the bench for this alone.

Jane Ann Morrison’s column appears Monday, Thursday and Saturday. E-mail her at Jane@reviewjournal.com or call (702) 383-0275.