Whitehead discipline case put before Supreme Court

Monday, Oct. 7, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- The controversial discipline case of former District Judge Jerry Whitehead has reached the U.S. Supreme Court.

A petition was filed today in the court on behalf of Nevada Supreme Court Chief Justice Thomas Steffen and Justice Charles Springer to void the latest Whitehead decision by the state's high court.

The petition says that Justices Cliff Young and Bob Rose, who voluntarily disqualified themselves from the Whitehead case, illegally returned to the case and stopped an investigation into who leaked confidential information from the court.

Richard Wilkins, a law professor from Brigham Young University, filed the petition, saying "disqualified judges may not affect the outcome of the very case in which they are disqualified to act."

Complaints were filed with the state Judicial Discipline Commission against Whitehead that he bullied lawyers in his chambers and held improper meetings with attorneys from one side of the case while the other side was not present.

He appealed to the Supreme Court, which, after a long battle, ruled that the discipline commission had not followed its own rules in processing the case. It threw out the case but permitted the discipline commission to launch a new investigation. But Whitehead resigned in an agreement with the U.S. Justice Department that it would not continue its investigation into his behavior.

The majority of the Nevada Supreme Court then ordered an investigation by a special master into who had leaked confidential information about the case to newspapers.

Attorney General Frankie Sue Del Papa, who had been a severe critic of the court majority, sued, trying to end the investigation. Justices Rose and Young then joined with Justice Miriam Shearing to issue an order stopping the investigation.

Wilkins said that 10 years ago, the U.S. Supreme court declared it was "aware of no case, and none has been called to our attention, permitting a court's decision to stand where a disqualified judge casts the deciding vote."

The U.S. Supreme Court must now decide whether it will accept the appeal.

Steffen said the issue is whether "a disqualified justice can re-enter the case and alter the outcome."

The court, with former Justice David Zenoff and District Judge Addelair Guy joining in the majority, called for an independent investigation. The court hired attorney Rick Ahlswede to conduct the probe.

But the Rose-Young-Shearing group stopped the investigation and ordered that Ahlswede not be paid. Steffen and Springer then chipped in to pay Ahlswede for the work he had already performed.

Steffen

Springer