Judge’s divorce filing follows arrest of her husband, a lawyer

By Jeff German

Thursday, Nov. 26, 2009 | 2 a.m.

District Judge Stefany Miley is suing attorney Edward Miley for divorce.

According to a copy of her Nov. 13 complaint, the judge says she and her husband of 12 years “have become incompatible to the degree that it is impossible for them to continue to live together in a harmonious marital relationship.”

The marriage fell apart Oct. 1 in what authorities and the judge alleged was a violent confrontation in front of their two young sons that led to Edward Miley’s arrest.

Several days later the district attorney’s office filed a criminal complaint against the lawyer, charging him with felony child abuse and neglect, misdemeanor domestic violence and misdemeanor cruelty to animals. The family’s cocker spaniel was injured during the confrontation, which Stefany Miley alleged was fueled by her husband’s heavy drinking.

Edward Miley has since spent time at a rehab center and is set to be arraigned on the criminal charges in Las Vegas Justice Court on Tuesday.

Although the marriage is headed for divorce, cooler heads appear to be prevailing in the rocky relationship.

Judge Miley is seeking primary custody of the couple’s sons, but at a closed hearing in Family Court last week, an arrangement was worked out to allow both parents to temporarily share custody.

Also, a protective order barring Miley’s husband from setting foot in the Regional Justice Center, where she sits on the bench, has been lifted, allowing the lawyer to go back to practicing his livelihood. The judge is seeking alimony and child support, the complaint says.

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Now that the trial of former University Medical Center CEO Lacy Thomas has been delayed until March 22, prosecutors will have more time to dig into another high-profile case.

As the Sun first reported, police last week turned over to the district attorney’s office the brunt of their massive criminal case against Dr. Dipak Desai and other medical personnel stemming from the hepatitis C outbreak in 2008.

District Attorney David Roger has promised a decision on whether to file patient neglect charges against Desai and company after the first of the year.

Not having to devote the next month to the Thomas case gives Roger’s top corruption fighters, Chief Deputy District Attorneys Scott Mitchell and Mike Staudaher, a chance to move up that time line.

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Former professional football player Ross Verba faces the prospect of sitting in jail over the Thanksgiving holiday after his arrest in Phoenix on charges of failing to pay a $26,000 gambling debt to the Palms.

Chief District Attorney Bernie Zadrowski says Verba, 36, was arrested on a Nevada arrest warrant. He is charged with three counts of writing bad checks to the Palms in January 2008.

Verba, an offensive lineman who played with the Green Bay Packers, Cleveland Browns and Detroit Lions, is fighting extradition to Nevada, which means investigators with the district attorney’s office will likely have to go to Phoenix to bring him back, Zadrowski says.

This isn’t the former first-round draft choice’s first brush with the law over Las Vegas gambling debts.

He was arrested on bad check charges in Wisconsin in January 2007 for failing to pay for $50,000 in markers at Wynn Las Vegas. Those charges were dismissed after he paid off that debt.