Family law judge arrested for domestic abuse released from jail

Date: Tue, 27 Jun 2006

http://www.kvbc.com/Global/story.asp?S=5060811&nav=15MV

KVBC/DT News 3
23 June 2006

Judge arrested for domestic abuse released from jail

A judge arrested on domestic violence charges may have received
special treatment to get out of jail.

Family Court Judge Steven Jones was booked into Henderson jail after
his live-in girlfriend accused him of beating her up.

Most people arrested for domestic violence have to appear before a
judge before they can post bail or get released on their own
recognizance, but that didn't happen in Steven Jones' case. We learned
he went behind one judge's back to get help from another.

With a phone call, Judge Donald Mosley authorized Jones' release from
Henderson jail after the mandatory 12 hour hold on all domestic
violence arrests.

Mosley wasn't the first judge that Jones contacted. Henderson
Municipal Court Chief Judge Ken Proctor is the presiding judge in
Jones' case. He denied Jones' request for release on his own recognizance.

Proctor is the founder of SAFE House, the first domestic violence
shelter in Henderson. He has also been appointed by the Attorney
General to the State Domestic Violence Prevention Council and is a
member of the Southern Nevada Domestic Violence Task Force.

In a phone conversation with News 3, Mosley said through a
spokesperson that he had no idea Jones had asked for and been denied
release through another judge, but he remains he did nothing outside the law.

We researched that law, which says, if an arrest meets certain
criteria, any District Judge may grant someone's release on their own
recognizance "on an emergency basis only." Mosley had no answer as to what Jones'
emergency was.

Other judges consulted on this issue say they probably would have at
least consulted with the presiding judge first and tried to work out a solution.

A typical situation where a judge might agree to call in an OR release
to the jail is if someone is arrested on a Friday for a minor crime
and facing an entire weekend in jail before they can appear in court.
Judge Jones was arrested on a Tuesday night.

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He makes a living off of hearing cases involving spousal abuse. Now a
family court judge is finding himself on the other side of the law.
Judge Steven Jones was arrested Tuesday night for domestic violence.

A court spokesman says police arrested Jones for hitting his live-in
girlfriend at a home in Henderson.

News 3 has confirmed that the girlfriend is also an employee of the
family court system. We're told that she has since obtained an
emergency restraining order against Jones.

Judge Jones has been on the bench in Clark County since 1993. He is
expected to be released from jail any time now.