Nevada Supreme Court says judge retaliated at sentencing

The Nevada Supreme Court has decided that a Clark County judge went too far in ordering a man to serve life in prison without parole after he repeatedly cursed at the judge and a prosecutor during his sentencing hearing.

At a hearing early last year, District Judge William Kephart began to deliver a sentence that would have given Anthony Williams a chance at parole for a series of armed robbery convictions, though he would have to spend decades behind bars.

But when Williams lashed out at the judge, Kephart changed his mind.

“The district court never gave a legal reason for suddenly deviating from the previously pronounced sentence,” Chief Justice Kristina Pickering wrote in a unanimous decision handed down last week. “In fact, we conclude that the district court judge erred in retaliating against Williams by imposing life without the possibility of parole sentences.”

Williams, a convicted felon and reputed member of a violent white supremacist prison gang, had been convicted of leading a spree of armed robberies that stretched from Laughlin to northwest Las Vegas.

Transcripts of the hearing showed that Williams responded to his sentence with a profanity-laced tirade.

“I can just give him life without,” Kephart said.

“Whatever you say, punk,” Williams responded.

As the judge then read through nine sentences of life in prison without the possibility of parole, Williams continued to speak out.

“Yup,” he said. “Keep them coming.”

At the end of the hearing, as a new attorney was appointed to appeal the sentence, Kephart remarked, “Have fun.”

“The record is unclear as to whether the district court judge directed this comment toward Williams or his counsel, but it is improper and judicially unbecoming nonetheless,” Pickering wrote.

Kephart declined to comment on the case.

The high court upheld Williams’ underlying conviction but decided that another judge should deliver a new sentence for Williams.

The armed robberies occurred just months after Williams was released from High Desert State Prison without facing criminal charges in the slaying of 26-year-old Andrew Thurgood behind bars.

Prosecutors later charged Williams and another man in the killing and have said that they plan to seek the death penalty.

Contact David Ferrara at dferrara@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-1039. Follow @randompoker on Twitter.