Free lunches, trains, and other previously unknown judicial perks
Del
The Complaint against Judge Vecchio has finally been posted by the Nevada Commission of Judicial Discipline.
As expected, the details of the allegations eclipse, by far, the charges against Halverson. No footrubs, but allegedly, in addition to sexual misconduct, he forced his staff to strongarm attorneys into buying him lunch. He also required them to buy him a train for Christmas. (On the other hand, sleeping on the bench apparently trumps sexual misconduct , as Del Vecchio has not been removed pending resolution of the charges -- see the R'J's stgory: SEX ALLEGATIONS: Caseload could be stripped ).
Del Vecchio’s alleged sexual relationship with the then 14 year old daughter of his ex-wife was the product of coercion even beyond that implicit in such a relationship. His sexual relationship with her years later – after his election to the judiciary, was also alleged to be the product of coercion.
The judge has denied the allegations. However, the allegations include that he took and kept nude photos of the teen-aged woman, and, when investigation of the sexual harassment complaint by the Office of Diversity began, he offered the photos to those investigators. Subsequently, however, he apparently disposed of the photos, but that offer is going to be a bit difficult to explain if none of this happened.
One of the counts against the judge is that the sexual encounters occurred (mercifully, apparently not in chambers) on court time, and the judge did not require the woman to make up the lost hours. I’d like to think that this one was considered the least of all the charges. I’m guessing, though, that in some circles, stealing county employee time is considered worse than sexual and racial harassment.
More allegations to make you long for the days when judges were respected members o f the community:
The judge asked his JEA to date attorneys and ask them to contribute to his campaign; she was supposed to dress “nice” on those dates;
An assortment of racially derogatory remarks to various court personnel;
An assortment of sexually harassing remarks to various court personnel;
Attempts to bribe a complaint into dropping he charges;
Calling an attorney appearing before him in court to the bench and then asking her to lunch;
Ordering staff members to contact attorneys appearing before the judge to demand they buy the judge lunch;
Requiring his bailiff, who worked part time at an airline, to obtain free plane tickets;
Having court staff babysit his girlfriend’s son;
Requiring staff members to pony up $55 each to buy him a train for Christmas. OK –this one simply boggles me. A train? Like, a model train?
Meanwhile, the R-J reported on the consternation at the Family Court arising from the allegations. The article also explains at least one reason for the lack of commencement a criminal proceedings relating to the underage sexual contact: the statute of limitations has run.
