Prosecutor, others show how volunteers help crime victims

Lisa Willardson is a rare attorney. She works full time prosecuting child abuse and neglect cases, but is paid nothing.

The deputy district attorney’s “payment” comes in a physical form.

“There is nothing more humbling than when you’re about to walk into a courtroom and that tiny hand grabs yours,” she said.

Her former husband founded YellowPages.com, so she has the freedom to do what she wants without worrying about a paycheck. She could spend her days indulging herself. Instead, for 18 months, her passion for children has driven her to work 50-hour weeks on cases that still upset her. When we met Thursday, she was carrying a file on an 8-year-old boy who had been beaten, starved and tortured by his father.

“The reason I went to law school is to do exactly what I’m doing,” said the cum laude graduate of the Boyd Law School at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

Volunteers are saviors for agencies trying to do the same job with fewer people. The district attorney’s office has lost 22 attorneys in the past two years. Willardson is the only volunteer prosecutor.

She is one of seven people and one business being honored for their work on behalf of victims of crime at a reception April 14 as part of National Crime Victims Week.

The nominations come from groups that work daily with victims, including the DA’s office, Southern Nevada Domestic Violence Task Force, the Community Coalition for Victims Rights, Stop DUI, S.A.F.E. House in Henderson and the attorney general’s office.

Global Intelligence Network was nominated by the Nevada Coalition Against Sexual Violence. The investigation firm owned by Peter Maheu allowed Nevada Child Seekers to use its resources to help find missing, runaway or abducted children. The company was able to locate a child abducted by a noncustodial parent. The child is being returned to the custodial parent after 10 years in Mexico.

“We were able to do what law enforcement couldn’t,” Maheu said.

Marissa Duke, a Safe Nest employee who works full time with the DA’s Domestic Violence Advocate, was nominated by four different people. That alone says she’s special.

“Marissa provides both justice and empowerment to her victims,” a nominator wrote.

Sandy Heverly was a nominee and a nominator. Her efforts to reduce drunken driving and help victims of DUI have been recognized for decades in Las Vegas.

Her volunteerism was sparked by an accident in 1974 in which her husband, mother and four children were injured by a drunken driver, whose penalty was a $100 fine. She was active in Mothers Against Drunk Driving before forming Stop DUI 17 years ago.

Heverly nominated Whitney Whisman, whose older brother, a Gulf War veteran, was killed five years ago, the day after he turned 27, by a drunken driver on probation from Arizona. Whisman’s recognition is both for her persistence during a long judicial process and for becoming a speaker on Stop DUI’s victim impact panel.

S.A.F.E. House in Henderson, a haven for domestic abuse victims, nominated Marilyn Nisson, president of Desert H.O.P.E., a women’s group that helps victims in various ways, including raising money and donating food, making casseroles and baking cookies.

Henderson Police Detective Athena Raney was nominated for her work in a parental child abduction case. She located the 2-year-old girl in Canada. Mother and daughter were reunited after Henderson police chipped in to pay the mother’s fare to Calgary.

“Volunteers are the unsung heroes, who do their work day after day, year after year, because they really want to help victims,” said Barbara Aupperle, the event organizer and administrator of the DA’s Victim Witness Assistance Center.

Volunteers deserve every honor they receive, yet most receive no recognition for helping others. They step to the plate and fill the gaps.

Jane Ann Morrison’s column appears Monday, Thursday and Saturday. E-mail her at Jane@reviewjournal.com or call 702- 383-0275. She also blogs at lvrj.com/blogs/morrison.