Searchlight justice of the peace dies of stroke

Tuesday, April 14, 2009 | 6:50 p.m.

Searchlight Township Justice of the Peace Wendell Turner died Tuesday morning after suffering an apparent stroke, a court official said.

Turner was 72 and had been a justice of the peace in the rural community southeast of Las Vegas since January 1995. His six-year term expired in 2012, according to Clark County election records.

In addition to becoming a justice of the peace, Turner had retired from the Nevada Highway Patrol.

Funeral services are pending. Turner is survived by two sons and a daughter.

"Judge Turner is to be commended for his service to the citizens of Searchlight and the state of Nevada both as a highway patrolman and a distinguished justice of the peace," Supreme Court Chief Justice James W. Hardesty said. "The judiciary in Nevada has lost a dedicated judge and a friend. It has been a privilege for all of us to have known him. The entire judicial family extends its heartfelt condolences to Judge Turner's family."

Goodsprings Justice of the Peace Dawn Haviland said the two had shared "a lot of fun during judicial seminars." Turner's service as justice of the peace delivered everyman justice, she said.

Turner handled violations of water rights, highway incidents and mining issues, Haviland said, all of them small-town issues.

Turner served "in the purest sense to deliver justice in a rural area," Haviland said. Searchlight, home of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, and a mining town before Las Vegas became a city, is isolated from urban, big-city problems, Haviland said.

As a justice of the peace serving in a limited jurisdiction court, Turner dealt with every case, ensuring the constitutional rights of all parties were served, even in a case of violence that would later go to a District Court, Haviland said.

"In rural areas, those justices of the peace are judge and jurists," Haviland said.

Many Nevada Highway Patrol troopers had worked with Turner and received training from him, Haviland said.

Away from the bench, Turner loved to dance -- ballroom dancing or any other kind of dancing.

"He was such a gentleman, such an elegant gentleman," Haviland said.