The contention for District Court Judge Department 8 features an incumbent jurist and a Clark County authoritative facing disconnected successful the nonpartisan race.
The justice successful District 8 oversees a tribunal calendar consisting of civil, transgression and probate cases. Incumbent Jessica Peterson started her archetypal word successful January 2021. She said her 20-year ineligible vocation and grounds warrant different six years connected the bench.
“I americium an incredibly hard worker,” she said. “I’m ever prepared. I’m ever thoughtful. I attraction astir each azygous lawsuit that comes successful beforehand of me.”
Chief Deputy District Attorney Austin Beaumont said the region would beryllium amended served with him arsenic justice successful Department 8. Beaumont has been a lawyer since 2016 and prosecutes fraud, achromatic collar transgression and nationalist corruption cases successful his enactment for the territory attorney. He has worked successful the territory attorney’s appellate portion and besides spent clip prosecuting transgression cases successful Clark County’s agrarian communities. He’s besides argued earlier the Nevada Supreme Court.
“I americium the champion qualified idiosyncratic for the position,” Beaumont said. “I’ve spent my full ineligible vocation successful the District Court and I cognize this is simply a presumption of nationalist work and nationalist trust. I volition bash my champion to service the nationalist and gain their trust.”
Peterson received a 54 percent retention standing successful the Las Vegas Review-Journal’s 2025 Judging the Judges review. She was the taxable of disapproval successful January during the Nathan Chasing Horse transgression proceedings erstwhile she ordered 3 Review-Journal staffers retired of her courtroom. Peterson ordered reporters and a lensman retired aft they refused to hold not to people the sanction of a sexual-assault unfortunate successful the case. The paper did not mean to people the sanction but said the determination was not the judge’s to make.
The Nevada Supreme Court sided with the newspaper, agreeing the judge’s bid was unconstitutional and that Peterson’s tribunal “manifestly abused its discretion.”
In addition, the tribunal criticized a determination by Peterson to change a written transcript to bespeak the tribunal had referred to the unfortunate successful the lawsuit by a pseudonym alternatively than her existent archetypal name.
Beaumont said the concern was mishandled.
“The Supreme Court made it precise wide successful the 2nd bid precisely however unconstitutional the bid was and however inappropriate it was to change the transcript,” Beaumont said, adding, “There are conscionable immoderate things that tenable minds cannot disagree on.”
Peterson said she was attempting to grant the victim’s tendency for anonymity and portion attempting to align it with instrumentality that allows for sexual-assault victims to attest .
“I was attempting to instrumentality everybody into consideration,” she said. “The rights of the suspect to face his accuser, the rights of the nationalist and the property to beryllium successful the courtroom, the rights of the authorities to proceed with their trial, and the rights of the victim, to her information and her anonymity.”
Regarding the alteration of the transcript, Peterson said an lawyer successful the proceedings repeatedly utilized the victim’s sanction and the alteration to the transcript was made to remedy the concern successful extortion of the unfortunate nether the Nevada Sexual Assault Survivors’ Bill of Rights.
“It was a fluid contented that was happening, but determination was perfectly nary intent connected my portion to effort and change thing that should person remained the mode that it was,” the justice said.
Beaumont came to the instrumentality from a inheritance successful edifice management. He has a bachelor’s grade from Eastern Washington University and a instrumentality grade from the University of Idaho. He clerked nether 2 antithetic District Court judges for 4 years and besides worked for the Nevada Division of Insurance successful administrative law. He said helium would beryllium a bully justice due to the fact that helium pays attraction to item and is impartial.
“You are determination to assistance people,” Beaumont said. “You are determination to listen. One of the things my dada ever said increasing up was you don’t larn thing portion you are talking. That is important for a judge”
“For the past respective years, my absorption has been protecting the aged and susceptible from exploitation and abuse,” helium added. “Clark County is simply a superior people for an progressive planetary fraud ringing targeting the important aged colonisation here. I beryllium connected the committee of the Vulnerable Adult Fatality Review Committee and person appeared earlier the Legislature connected behalf of those peculiarly susceptible victims.”
Peterson has degrees from Highline Community College and Evergreen State College, some successful Washington. She obtained her instrumentality grade from the Thomas M. Cooley Law School successful Michigan and volunteers for charitable causes. She said her grounds connected the seat has been stellar and that she’s presided implicit 28 antithetic trials.
“We request judges who person the cognition and the acquisition to bash this job,” she said.
Contact Glenn Puit astatine gpuit@reviewjournal.com.
English (US)·