With very little fanfare panel of the Nevada judicial Ethics committee accepted the stipulation offered by West Wendover JP Reese Melville last Friday in Elko.
According to Melville’s attorney David Lockie the judge agreed to public admonishment for violating judicial conduct rules.
Melville agreed to the discipline in a stipulation filed by the commission last Friday.
The stipulation says Melville made inappropriate remarks in the presence of witnesses about his former bailiff, Joel Torres, who was named in a criminal complaint alleging domestic violence.
“Reese told me he didn’t even remember saying that,” Lockie said. “ But he also said he well may have. Judge Melville is a stand up guy. He never tried to evade the issue. And what he was accused of while against the rules did not result in any miscarriage of justice or subversion of anyone’s rights.”
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“I don’t think it will necessarily hurt his chances of reelection,” said a local poll watcher. “Getting reprimanded for swearing about an accused wife beater is not all that bad. A lot of old school men and women might applaud him for it.”
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