Judge sets bail at $113,000 for Edward Halverson

By Mary Manning (contact)

Wednesday, Sept. 10, 2008 | 10:18 a.m.

Metro Police

Edward Halverson

File photo

Elizabeth Halverson

Edward Lee Halverson, 49, wasn't released from jail and a judge set bail at $113,000 today on domestic violence-related charges after he allegedly beat his wife, Judge Elizabeth Halverson, with a frying pan last week.

Edward Halverson will have a public defender appointed. He asked to be released to his cousin, Scott Lewedag, who lives in Las Vegas, but the judge refused based on his prior felony record, including felon in possession of a gun. Smith also banned Halverson from going closer than half a mile from his wife, who has 100 staples closing her wounds.

He has been charged with attempted murder, battery with substantial bodily harm and battery with a deadly weapon, Metro Police said.

Chief Judge Douglas Smith received the case after Judge Karen Bennett-Haron told the court Tuesday she would excuse herself from the case because she had been subpoenaed by Judge Halverson during her disciplinary hearing.

Smith set a preliminary hearing for Sept. 25. Smith said he had no conflicts with Judge Halverson.

"I don't know Judge Halverson," he said.

Judge Halverson faced a disciplinary hearing in August on charges of misconduct. After her husband allegedly attacked her at their home in southeastern Las Vegas, the court is trying to find a judge without judicial ties to Elizabeth Halverson to hear the case against her husband.

Bennett-Haron said she felt it would be a conflict to hear a case involving Halverson's husband.

Judge Halverson was suspended in July 2007. She lost a recent bid for re-election in the August primaries.

She is awaiting a decision by the Nevada Commission on Judicial Discipline, which could permanently bar her from the bench after two weeks of hearings in August. Among a dozen complaints the commission heard, the judge was accused of sleeping on the bench and treating her staff like servants.

The judge has continued to receive a $130,000 annual salary during the suspension.

Judge Halverson called 911 at 10:49 p.m. Thursday after police said she was attacked by her husband. After knocking on the front door of their house in the 4100 block of Oxnard Circle and getting no answer, officers broke through a security gate. Edward Halverson opened the front door, shirtless and wearing green camouflage shorts. He had blood on the shorts, and his arms and legs, and had smears of blood on his back, a police report said.

Due to the nature of the call, officers placed Edward Halverson in handcuffs before they searched the rest of the house.

In the master bedroom, officers found Judge Halverson sitting on the bed, bleeding profusely from the head with large gaping wounds, the police report said. Blood surrounded her and continued to flow from the severe head wounds, police said. At the time, officers noticed an odor of bleach in the air.

Judge Halverson told police her husband had struck her with a flying pan, injuring her head, chest, right hand and right eye, the police report said. In addition, there was a cut on her cheek and her scalp had been partially removed from her head, police said.

Judge Halverson was taken to Sunrise Hospital, where she underwent surgery Friday morning for a fractured skull. She is still hospitalized and in severe pain.

Inside the bedroom, police found a bottle of bleach inside a trash can. Judge Halverson had told officers that her husband had been using bleach to clean up all the blood splattered in the bedroom from the beating, the police said.

As officers escorted Edward Halverson to a police car, he resisted and had to be escorted by two officers who placed him into the vehicle, the police report said.