Halverson’s recollection of meeting jaw-droppingly unbelievable

Watching District Judge Elizabeth Halverson re-enact a meeting she had with three other judges was disturbing. First, because it was totally unbelievable. Second, because she believed it.

According to Halverson, District Judge Stewart Bell was screaming at her during an April 6 meeting where he and Judges Sally Loehrer and Art Ritchie were supposed to be helping her. In fact, Loehrer was screaming too, Halverson said, but not as loudly as Bell. Only Ritchie wasn't screaming.

If you know these three judges, they're not screamers.

But watching Halverson portray Supposedly Screamin' Stew was Emmy-winning material. With her arms flailing, she demonstrated what she insisted was Bell's behavior before a roomful of stunned people at a Review-Journal editorial board meeting Monday.

Her voice rising to a yell, Halverson said, "The first words out of Stew Bell's mouth were: We're taking you off the bench and we're putting a senior judge in your position and you're going to be taken to Judicial Discipline.

"I had no idea what he was talking about. I ask: What are you talking about? What is the problem? What did I do wrong? He screams at me: Oh you should get help. If you don't know what you did wrong, you're crazy."

Halverson said she told him to calm down. Yeah, right.

Her version didn't ring true. I've known Bell for more than 20 years, first as a defense attorney, then as district attorney and now as judge.

When I challenged her, Halverson's own voice became louder. "It's the truth. He was screaming at me. He kept saying: You don't understand, you need help. ... I'm not making this up. I have no reason to lie."

Really? Actually, Halverson, suspended in July and fighting to keep her job, has more reason to lie than the five other people at that meeting, the three judges and two court officials.

All three judges seemed stunned Tuesday when I read Halverson's recollections of their April meeting to them. All three said that none had raised his or her voice and that the meeting didn't begin with hostility the way Halverson portrayed it.

Bell said a court staffer took detailed notes of that meeting, and those notes, which he used both for a memo to court administration and a sworn affidavit filed with the Nevada Supreme Court, contradict what Halverson told the Review-Journal. "Six months after the fact, she has a new idea of what was said," Bell said.

"Nobody screamed. That's absolutely wrong and totally false," said Loehrer, a district judge. "I never raised my voice. That day our sole and absolutely 100 percent goal was to see if we couldn't talk to her and help her. Resolution was the only goal any of the three of us had."

Ritchie, a Family Court judge, said: "There wasn't any yelling at all. It's just not accurate." He said their comments were pointed but low key. "The whole focus was trying to help her," he said. "I don't believe she's accurately reflecting what happened. I think she's way off base as it relates to Sally and Stew."

Is Halverson making this up, or does she really believe what she says? I don't know which would be worse, but either way, it shows she's not qualified to be a judge.

At the April meeting, after they discussed the complaints against her, Bell said, "If you can't see it, you can't fix it. Get some psychological help."

Reminded of his comment, Halverson snapped: "Which I've been to. Has he? He needs to go. There's a letter from my therapist saying there's absolutely zero wrong with me, other than what's happening, the stress I'm under from what's happening, that I have no paranoia."

During the 90-minute editorial board meeting, Halverson sounded polite, thoughtful and intelligent much of the time, explaining in detail the myriad claims against her. She urged the media to recognize she was only making rookie mistakes and named other, more experienced judges who need to be investigated. It was a classic denial and diversion tactic.

But when she started describing her version of what happened in that meeting with three respected, experienced judges, her credibility was lost.

A lie or a delusion? Neither option is acceptable for a judge.

Jane Ann Morrison's column appears Monday, Thursday and Saturday. E-mail her at Jane@reviewjournal.com or call 383-0275.