Civil rights lawsuits dismissed

Two federal lawsuits filed by the incarcerated husband of former District Judge Elizabeth Halverson were dismissed last month.

Edward Halverson, 51, is serving three to 10 years at the Northern Nevada Correctional Center in Carson City for beating his wife with a frying pan in 2008.

He was incarcerated at Southern Desert Correctional Center in Indian Springs in June when he filed the first lawsuit. In that case, he claimed his civil rights were violated when a law librarian refused to let him do legal research for other prisoners.

U.S. District Judge James Mahan dismissed the lawsuit on Oct. 18 after Halverson failed to comply with a court order to file an amended complaint.

The prisoner filed a separate civil rights lawsuit in July. In that case, he claimed prison officials might have exposed him to disease by giving him and other diabetic inmates expired insulin prepackaged in syringes that possibly had been re-used and contaminated.

Medical staffers provided the court with affidavits in which they denied that syringes were being re-used at Southern Desert Correctional Center.

U.S. District Judge Philip Pro dismissed the lawsuit on Oct. 6 after ruling that Halverson failed to exhaust "the available administrative grievance procedures" at the Indian Springs prison before filing the complaint.

Halverson beat his wife over the head with a frying pan on Sept. 4, 2008, in their home near Tropicana Avenue and U.S. Highway 95. She needed about 100 medical staples to close her wounds, and she spent about two weeks in the hospital.

In October 2008, Halverson pleaded guilty to one count of battery with a deadly weapon causing substantial bodily harm. He entered a type of guilty plea that required him to admit only that prosecutors could prove their case against him. In exchange for the plea, prosecutors dropped the original charge of attempted murder.

While she was recovering from her injuries, Elizabeth Halverson was permanently removed from the bench by the state's Judicial Discipline Commission. She had been on the bench less than two years. The commission found that she had engaged in misconduct that included sleeping on the job, breaching security by hiring private security guards, and using profanity around staff.

According to a records clerk at Family Court, Elizabeth Halverson filed for divorce in December 2008. The case remains open, but inmates in Nevada are prohibited from challenging divorce petitions. The Halversons have been married about 12 years.

Edward Halverson, who has a lengthy criminal record, previously spent time in prison for burglary and drug possession.

Contact reporter Carri Geer Thevenot at cgeer@reviewjournal.com or 702-384-8710.