On Thursday, July 18, 2024, 8 News Now reported that Clark County District Court Chief Judge Jerry Wiese denied a request from the Clark County District Attorney’s office to remove Judge Erika Ballou from overseeing criminal cases.

The District Attorney’s office, led by Steve Wolfson, filed a motion in June asking for Judge Ballou’s recusal from all cases they are prosecuting. They argued she should only handle civil cases while an ethics complaint against her is pending with the Nevada Commission on Judicial Discipline.

However, in his July 12 order, Chief Judge Wiese said the District Attorney’s office appeared to be seeking discipline of Judge Ballou for her actions in a particular criminal case, against defendant Mia Christman. Wiese noted that the court is “not a ‘disciplinary’ tribunal.”

Regarding the Christman case, Ballou had previously vacated Christman’s conviction in 2013, resulting in her release from prison. Prosecutors appealed to the Nevada Supreme Court, which ordered Ballou twice to follow instructions, which she ignored. In May, the Supreme Court ordered Wiese to remove Ballou from the case and send Christman back to prison to finish her sentence.

In his order, Wiese said there was “no evidence that Judge Ballou has shown any bias or prejudice in any other case” besides the Christman case. Chief Deputy District Attorney Chris Hamner, who argued the motion, did not provide examples of statements or actions by Ballou in other cases that would justify disqualification, according to Wiese.

While Wiese acknowledged Ballou should have followed the Supreme Court’s orders in the Christman appeals, he stated that any disciplinary action against her must be taken by the Nevada Judicial Discipline Commission or Supreme Court, not his court.

Separately, Ballou faces an ethics complaint filed in April by District Attorney Wolfson related to the Christman case. She also previously admitted to violating ethics rules in an agreement with the Judicial Discipline Commission related to inappropriate social media posts from 2020.

 

 

Source: 8 News Now