NLV judge hasn’t lived up to disciplinary agreement, yet remains on bench

By Chris Kudialis

Friday, Oct. 7, 2016 | 2 a.m.

An embattled North Las Vegas municipal judge who admitted to accusations of professional misconduct last month for incidents dating to 2011 remains on the bench despite failing to complete the terms of her discipline agreement.

Catherine Ramsey, the first woman elected as a municipal court judge in North Las Vegas, agreed Aug. 18 to a suspension without pay covering her last three months in office in 2017, and not to seek re-election. Per terms of her agreement, Ramsey also agreed to an exam evaluating her “fitness for duty” and to send written apologies to three parties who brought the complaints against her.

But the North Las Vegas City Attorney’s Office, one of the complainants, has not received an apology from Ramsey, according to assistant city manager Ryann Juden.

“It is unclear when Judge Ramsey will answer for her admitted guilt and widespread corruption,” Juden said in a statement to the Sun. “The city of North Las Vegas has undergone a monumental transformation, realizing countless successes for taxpayers and employees, and the court is long overdue to undergo similar reforms to properly fulfill its mission of serving residents and upholding justice.”

Ramsey said she hadn’t prepared the apology letters, which are due to the City Attorney’s office, fellow judge Sean Hoeffgen and former assistant Kathryn Avena. She hasn’t taken the fitness for duty exam, either, because she wasn’t sure what it entailed.

Ramsey declined comment on whether she planned to take an exam and write the apology letters outlined in the agreement. The agreement allowed her to remain on the bench with the understanding she’d complete the tasks expeditiously.

“There’s no time frame for those,” Ramsey said.

Ramsey is scheduled to discuss her discipline agreement in front of the seven-member Judicial Discipline Commission at 10 a.m. Oct. 21. Commission Director Paul Deyhle said the public meeting would be a question and answer-style discussion with Ramsey to make sure the agreements of the stipulation are taken care of “in a timely fashion.”

“This will present an opportunity for (Ramsey) to appear before the commission and for us to ask any questions,” Deyhle said. “We have been and will be following up to make sure that those stipulations have been met.”

Ramsey admitted last month to seven counts of professional misconduct in her position, including charging over $12,000 on a city purchase card to pay for personal legal services and altering criminal charges in multiple cases without notifying the City Attorney’s office.

She also admitted to making Avena, her then-assistant, do personal errands. Additionally, she followed Avena to a doctor’s appointment against her will and improperly shared Avena’s medical condition to others. By agreeing to the charges brought forth by the Nevada Judicial Discipline Commission, Ramsey said she generally created an “atmosphere of fear and apprehension” for the clerks, marshals and other staff.

Avena did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

Ramsey’s transgressions sparked a recall committee, Remove Ramsey Now, to gather 2,717 signatures early last year, more than the required 1,984. Ramsey would have been the first judge in Nevada’s 152-year history to be recalled and the first judge nationwide since 1977. Ramsey appealed, arguing that judges could not be recalled because they did not fall under the Nevada Constitution’s term of “public officer." After Clark County District Judge Eric Johnson denied her appeal, the case went to the Nevada Supreme Court in October 2015, where it has been held in limbo.

Nevada Supreme Court spokesman Michael Sommermeyer said he hoped last month’s sanctions against Ramsey would squash any initiatives to recall her.

With less than four months left on her term when factoring in the upcoming suspension, Ramsey is “essentially finished,” Sommermeyer said. To recall her now, opponents would have to refile a court order and recollect the necessary signatures to proceed.

“There wouldn’t be anything like that,” Sommermeyer said. “All we did was close the case after we accepted this agreement.”

But Ramsey’s attorney Craig Mueller isn’t so sure.

While the Supreme Court hasn’t decided whether the recall of a judge is constitutional, it hasn’t yet dismissed the case, either, Mueller said. With no time frame to arrive at a decision “it’s very possible” that no action on the recall’s legal validity is taken by the time Ramsey is suspended in March 2017.

“There’s really no obligation for the court to rule,” Mueller said. “What the Supreme Court does or does not do with that is up to them.”

Ramsey made nearly $153,000 in base salary last year, according to Transparent Nevada. With benefits and “other pay,” her total salary was $231,445 in 2015.