Las Vegas Judge Who Humiliated Defense Attorney Loses Election In A Landslide; Huffington Post, 6/15/16

Matt Ferner, Huffington Post; Las Vegas Judge Who Humiliated Defense Attorney Loses Election In A Landslide:

"A Las Vegas judge who last month ordered a public defender to be placed in handcuffs in court, saying she needed to learn “a lesson” about courtroom etiquette, got a lesson of his own when he lost his seat in Tuesday’s primary election in Nevada...

As Bakhtary tried to speak, Hafen told her to “be quiet“ and then ordered a court marshal to handcuff Bakhtary and seat her in the jury box next to inmates. Hafen then sentenced Bakhtary’s client to six months in jail.

“Clearly Zohra was acting within the bounds of her constitutionally mandated role as an advocate for her client when Judge Hafen had her placed in handcuffs,” Ryan Bashor, president of the Clark County Defenders Union, told The Huffington Post in an email. “The voters overwhelmingly expressed their disapproval of the Judge’s actions.”...

“This judge came off looking unjudicial, undisciplined and unprofessional,” Ken White, a criminal defense attorney in Los Angeles and a leading voice on legal issues on the law-oriented blog Popehat, told HuffPost. “Some judges — this may be one — have more of a hair trigger when a woman interrupts them than a man. Certainly judges have more of a hair trigger when a defense attorney interrupts them.”"