Nevada high court denies request to remove judge from case
The Nevada Supreme Court on Monday denied a request from a felon who challenged his decadeslong prison sentence, alleging that a judge had a personal bias against him.
But a lawyer for Marlon Brown said the rejection won’t end his efforts to remove District Judge Michelle Leavitt from his case and void any of her orders related to his post-conviction petitions.
In the high court’s order, justices directed Brown back to Leavitt for a hearing on several motions, including his claim that the judge handed down an unfair sentence and should have been recused from his case.
Attorney Michael McAvoyAmaya, who represents Brown, said he expects Leavitt to deny the motions at a hearing set for early next month, which means he would appeal that denial to the Supreme Court.
Brown has alleged that the judge’s daughter had ties to a business Brown owned, which resulted in “a shocking willingness to engage in fraud and deceit to cover her tracks,” an accusation that Leavitt has denied.
In the past two years, the judge oversaw Brown’s trial on battery and kidnapping charges for shooting his ex-girlfriend in the leg, ordered him to serve up to 45 years behind bars, sealed parts of his records and intervened in his appeal.
Brown, 38, is the former owner of a now-closed clothing store that another judge, Las Vegas Justice of the Peace Melanie Tobiasson, has said was a front for an unlicensed club where teens drank, used drugs and engaged in prostitution.
His lawyer said Leavitt knew about Tobiasson’s allegations because her daughter had been physically attacked by people who frequented the establishment.
Through her own lawyers, Leavitt dismissed Brown’s accusations as “blatantly false and defamatory.”
Last year, Leavitt recused herself from Brown’s case, but another judge found that her recusal was an error and sent the case back to her.
McAvoyAmaya said Brown was never provided a notice of Leavitt’s original recusal.
“There is no way to unrecuse,” the lawyer said. “You can’t unring the bell.”
Contact David Ferrara at dferrara@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-1039. Follow @randompoker on Twitter.
