Mayor’s son named one of five attorneys to serve Muni Court

Diana Sahagun

Wednesday, June 26, 2002 | 9:14 a.m.

Two Goodmans will soon be working at Las Vegas City Hall.

Ross Goodman, son of the mayor, was selected by Municipal Court Chief Judge Toy Gregory to represent indigent clients in his courtroom.

Ross Goodman joins four other attorneys who were selected by the court's five judges to serve as public defenders. The judges made their announcement on Tuesday.

The attorney general's office has ruled that the proposed hiring of Ross Goodman would not violate the state's nepotism law, provided the mayor and council do not actually decide whom to hire. The city requested the opinion when Ross Goodman applied for the position.

More than 70 local attorneys applied for the positions in Municipal Court after the city announced it was severing its ties with the Clark County public defender's office in an attempt to privatize the services.

City officials estimate that a contract with the public defender's office for the fiscal year beginning July 1 would have cost $900,000. Court officials say the private attorneys should be able to provide the same services under the contract for about $500,000.

The other attorneys chosen were Peter Bellon (Judge Betsy Kolkoski), Osvaldo Fumo (Judge Bert Brown), Martin Hastings (Judge Cedric Kerns) and Robert Draskovich (Judge Jessie Walsh).

Recently appointed Municipal Judge George Assad will be overseeing traffic court, thus he will not have a public defender.