by Donny Ferguson
Fox News, CNN, Court TV and the gang will soon descend on Las Vegas as tabloid mainstay O.J. Simpson goes on trial facing charges of armed robbery and kidnapping allegedly committed with accomplices so shady the prosecution fears their testimony against Simpson could work in his favor.
But reporters looking for an even shadier cast of characters should venture down the hallway into other courtrooms. There, they could find those accused of nefarious deeds ranging from blackmail, mob ties and fixing cases to line their own pockets are behind the bench, rather than in front of it.
Las Vegas courtrooms have earned a reputation as some of the most compromised in the nation, where rulings are often based on personal relationships and financial benefit, rather than the letter of the law.
In fact, influence peddling and improper relationships are so rampant among Las Vegas judges The Los Angeles Times did a feature series on rampant corruption in the Las Vegas judicial system 12 months ago. The investigative report revealed a court system so thoroughly tainted, and rulings so completely corrupted, they make Simpson’s acquittal on murder charges look like a fixed traffic ticket. The expose did result in more financial disclosure among senior judges, the Las Vegas judicial system remains one of the most compromised in the nation.
For all the talk of reigning in activist judges, ensuring the right of jury nullification and tort reform, the single greatest threat to jurisprudence in America is simply the lack of basic oversight of judges. And Las Vegas courtrooms are a glaring example of the problem taken to the extreme.
The Times uncovered one Las Vegas judge James Brennan, actually resigned his position as a Nevada state judge to avoid indictment by a federal grand jury on blackmail charges in which he tried to steal $56,000 from the family of a deceased friend. Shamelessly, Brennan returned to the bench, with a promotion to senior judge, and ruled on 16 cases involving participants in his real estate deals.
Las Vegas senior judge Joseph Pavlikowski officiated the wedding of notorious mob boss Lefty Rosenthal, played by Robert DeNiro in the movie “Casino.” Rosenthal returned the favor to his friend by giving the judge a discount on his daughter’s wedding at a casino he ran.
That didn’t stop Pavlikowski from presiding over a case against the mobster, in which he overruled Nevada authorities and allowed Rosenthal a license to operate a casino. The state denied the license because Rosenthal, as a known Mafia figure listed in the state’s List of Excluded Persons, was prohibited from having a gaming license. Pavlikowski fought the state, issuing orders prohibiting the denial of the license and even ordering his friend de-listed as a Mafia figure.
Another judge, James Mahan, awarded nearly $5 million in judgments and legal fees to friends such as a business partner and campaign treasurer, as well as a former law partner he owed money to and provided him with free legal assistance. The Times found that in other cases he appointed his business partner, who ran an Internet porn business, to the lucrative position of court-appointed manager to several businesses.
But the worst of the Times bunch is senior judge Stephen L. Huffaker, who routinely ruled in cases involving businesses he held financial interests in. In one case, a real estate investment consortium sued 63-year old widow and Greek immigrant Carol Pappas and her children, who refused to hand over their home to be bulldozed and replaced by a parking garage. Pappas filed a countersuit, claiming her property was improperly seized for private use.
The case was brought to Huffaker’s court, who heard the case for an amazing 21 months, eventually ruling against the widow and allowing the demolition to proceed. Only after his ruling, nearly two years after taking the case, did Huffaker admit he held 12,000 shares of stock in the company.
The widow’s attorneys sued and requested his ruling be overturned, given the massive ethical violations and conflicts of interest on the part of Huffaker. The Las Vegas court refused to dismiss the corrupted ruling, and the case was resolved only when the city settled for $4.5 million.
The Times also found five cases in which Huffaker heard and ruled on cases involving the Golden Nugget casino, which had given his son an $11,000 scholarship to Yale.
Huffaker also presided over five suits against other Wynn family casinos and a law firm, both of his employed his son. In one case, a jury awarded a $5.8 million judgement to a man savagely beaten and robbed at the Wynn’s Mirage hotel. Huffaker called the jury’s judgement “absolutely shocking” and reduced it to just $1.5 million, never publicly revealing the scholarship to his son.
In all, the Times feature lays out a Las Vegas judicial system in which mob ties and business interests, not the letter of the law, decide cases. Innocent citizens and businesses hoping a even odds in Las Vegas courtrooms often face a stacked deck. Reporters looking to report on the real assault and heist in Vegas should try looking in some of the city’s other courtrooms.
It’s a virtual criminal enterprise that makes stolen footballs look like an unpaid traffic ticket. Rampant disregard for basic judicial ethics, crystallized by the nearly ethically crippled Las Vegas judicial system, is more of a threat to citizens than activist federal judges or the latest tort reform du jour.
Donny Ferguson is a professional political fundraiser and campaign consultant, and Editorial Chairman of the Libertarian Party of Virginia.