Nevada panel cancels testimony on ethics charges against judge

The Nevada Commission on Judicial Discipline has canceled testimony that had been scheduled to start next week regarding a Las Vegas judge accused of improperly inserting herself in a double murder investigation.

Justice of the Peace Melanie Tobiasson faces a list of allegations after the commission said she urged Metropolitan Police Department detectives to investigate a clothing store where her daughter worked. Tobiasson believed the store was a front for an unlicensed club where teens drank, used drugs and engaged in prostitution.

The commission claimed that Tobiasson violated the state’s Code of Judicial Conduct and abused “the prestige of judicial office to advance” her personal interests.

Tobiasson’s lawyers have argued in briefs filed with the commission that her reports to police went unchecked and that she was acting to protect her child. They also asked the Nevada Supreme Court to dismiss the allegations, but the high court denied that request.

The commission filed eight charges against the judge after laying out 16 separate allegations.

A five-day hearing was scheduled in October and was to start Monday morning, via the Zoom videoconferencing platform. But on Friday afternoon a notice appeared on the commission’s website that stated the hearing was “continued until further order of the commission.”

In its initial order, the commission did not include information about how the hearing could be accessed or viewed by members of the public. Calls to the commission office, the prosecuting officer, Thomas Bradley, and the commission’s executive director, Paul Deyhle, were not returned Friday.

The commission’s procedural rules indicate that the hearing should be open to the public.

“The formal hearing shall be held in public before the Commission,” Rule 22 states. “All testimony must be under oath.”

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