The video below is a highly disturbing scene from the courtroom of Clark County Hearings Master Patricia Doninger (right) in a family court case. The video shows Monica Contreras, 28, who complains that she was assaulted by a marshal in the room next to the courtroom under a pretext of a spontaneous drug search. Doninger entirely ignores her and does nothing as the marshals arrest her on the clearly abusive charge of “making false allegations about a police officer.” Doninger is shown playing with Contreras’ daughter. Internal Affairs is reportedly investigating a host of such allegations in the courthouse. Contreras is now suing the officer Ron Fox, a second officer, James Kenyon, and Doninger in a civil rights action. She has also named Clark County, Nevada, as a defendant.
Contreras was called into a room where she says that the officer ordered her to lift her shirt and groped her. When she demanded a female officer, both the marshal and the judge ignored her.
She later pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor disorderly conduct charge. This required some prosecutor to look at the evidence and, rather than act to stop this abuse of the system, alter the charges to shed to overtly unsupportable false information charge. I am not sure if she had counsel, but the role of the prosecution needs also to be examined. There appears no independent judgment or action from the prosecutor in participating in this sham. Then there is the absence of a criminal charge against Fox if in fact this “search” was a ruse for groping this woman. Prosecutors seemed to have no problem with the criminal charges against Contreras but there is no record of any charge against Fox.
Later, Fox was fired after an investigation. In a decision upholding the termination, Assistant County Manager Ed Finger found “Fox, and to some degree Kenyon, simply intimidated and bullied the complainant in a way that is shocking and almost incomprehensible, using the complainant’s own freedom and custody of her three-year-old child as threats.” It is not clear if Kenyon was also fired.
The Internal Affairs investigation reportedly confirmed her account from the room and there is no need for confirmation of what occurred before Doninger. I cannot imagine keeping Doninger on the bench after such a complete failure to protect individuals in her courtroom or perform even a modicum of the responsibilities of a judge. As for the officers, these allegations, if true, would constitute crimes.
What is astonishing is that Doninger is a “domestic violence commissioner” and has worked as a domestic violence commissioner since late 1998. She received her undergraduate degree from the University of Miami and her J.D. from Southwestern University School of Law. There is no evidence of such experience or even concern over this victim’s pleas on the videotape. As the presiding judicial officer in this court, she must bear the ultimate responsibility for the abuse.
The question is whether that accountability can take the form of civil liability over what could be viewed as a discretionary act on her part in allowing the arrest to occur. She will have some strong legal arguments. However, that does not relieve her of responsibility. There remains the question of her suitability to continue on the bench.
I am at a loss of words. There are so many abuses here it is staggering. This judge better read up on Misprision of Felony because federal law codifies this and it might be the case there is probable cause to believe she is guilty of it. A state / local LEO who uses colour of law (in this case his office as a pretext to conduct a “drug search” whereupon he sexually assaulted the victim) it becomes a felony federal crime.
It is also TOTALLY obvious that a person making a bona fide complaint of a crime is shielded from both criminal and civil liability in doing so. But this is what the marshall based his arrest on, that the compaint was false. With ZERO investigation he arrived at this conclusion. The bar for determining whether or not to file a “making a false police report” is so high it is only used where it was completely baseless AND malicious AND intentional.
There is certainly going to be more to this investigation. I’ll venture to say someone else is going to be seeing jail time also.
Seamus,
I know a judge that would pause the tape anytime something controversial went about ….. They are no longer on the bench…
Man o’ man do we need cameras in court. judges and legislatures routinely say they’re afraid of lawyers show-boating, but this kind of crap (stupid behavior on the bench) is the real reason for the choice to continue to use technology from the 1920’s instead of cameras. It also give reviewing courts the ability to ignore almost any factual determination by saying the trier of fact always has a better opportunity to observe the witness’ demeanor etc etc etc.
“Fox tried to get her to recant the allegations. When she refused, another marshal, James Kenyon, handcuffed her and took her into custody. Her crime, as described by Fox, was making false allegations.”
Can we assume that had she recanted her allegations she would not have been charged? Is this the proper behavior one can expect from our court system? Watching Marshall Fox demand that she recant her charges at the microphone and her courage in turning the tables, I felt an overwhelming anger towards this vicious criminal. So often we see rants against the “evils of the criminal elements” in this country in justification of being tough on crime.
Is Marshall Fox any less criminal in his heartless/disgusting behavior towards someone he perceives as defenseless? I think the man based on this performance alone deserves greater punishment that mere firing. This was criminal behavior and should not be protected by any “performed under duty” statute.
“assaulted by a marshal in the room next to the courtroom under a pretext of a spontaneous drug search”
Are we to assume that all people who find themselves in this Family Court are subject to “spontaneous drug searches”? Also from the news video “Marshall Fox claims his arrest was just because nobody in the Courtroom tried to stop him”. I think what we are seeing always has been an aspect of American “justice”. Whether it is abuse of power, the powerlessness of those lower on the economic scale, the powerlessness of those of various ethnicity and the appointment/election of corrupt/incompetent people to the judiciary.
There will be those who protest that the majority of LEO’s are not like Marshall Fox and I believe that is true. However, it is incumbent upon those LEO’s who uphold their office with integrity to insure that those like Fox cannot blithely get away with this kind of behavior.
A stable, law abiding society can never be maintained by governmental force alone and this is the mistake of those who would legislate ever harsher penalties for criminal enforcement. Oppressive police states never ensure peaceful societies for a deep psychological reason. If the people are made to feel powerless in a society, without recourse to a fair legal system and police authority, then they tend to embrace crime and violence, because then they in fact have nothing to lose. In the USSR, during the height of Stalin’s reign of terror were birthed the beginnings of the Russian Mafia via the profits to be gained from a “black market”. I’ve no doubt the same was true in Germany under the NAZI’s and in Italy under Mussolini. In China today this is also true.
Police States on the surface create stable societies, but the reality is that oppression is the great social De-stabilizer. In America this pattern has repeated itself time and again, yet it remains unrecognized by the many who feel that we must crack down on people to maintain social stability. In reality all we need to maintain a socially stable society is a legal system that is fair for all participants, so that everyone feels they are safe from this kind of behavior. Obviously though, maintaining a fair legal system is a very hard thing to do. some may think that I’ve strayed too far from this case to a macro-cosmic view of a police state in action. I would answer by saying yous look at that video again and if in your gut you don’t feel anger and outrage at this vile human being, then perhaps you are part of the problem.
“There remains the question of her suitability to continue on the bench.”
I don’t think there is any question at all.
She’s not suitable to be a member of the bar let alone a judge.
And again I ask, where are the pending criminal charges?
How does one remove a judge in that Pirate Territory? What plays in Nevada stays in Nevada?
Balanced, Find your balance, these are not the norm.
Ugh, this makes me ill, and quite frankly makes me exceptionally discouraged with our legal system and government in general.
Good comments.
It is time for the lawyers in the Bar of Nevada to step up and do their duty, I assume this judge is a lawyer, so disbarment should be started in addition to possible criminal and civil penalties.
If Doninge has any sensitivity at all, she will resign … but, then again, she’s already shown that she has none.
It appears the “marshall supervisor” also paid a price “Amid a cloud of misconduct allegation” ie more than one incident in this judicial cesspool.
http://www.reviewjournal.com/news/crime-courts/family-court-marshal-supervisor-steps-down
“In a courtroom incident captured on video, Contreras complained to Hearing Master Patricia Doninger that Fox assaulted her in a nearby witness room under the guise of searching for drugs.
Contreras alleged Fox touched her buttocks and breast and ordered her to lift and shake her bra so he could determine whether she was hiding drugs or drug paraphernalia, according to internal court documents.
On courtroom video, Doninger is seen playing with Contreras’ daughter and appearing to ignore the woman’s emotional description of the incident and plea for help.
Fox tried to get her to recant the allegations. When she refused, another marshal, James Kenyon, handcuffed her and took her into custody. Her crime, as described by Fox, was making false allegations.
Rushfield was investigated in connection with an incident on May 20, 2010, in which he is alleged to have choked Crystal Williams in a restraining chair.
Williams was at a hearing in Family Court to support a friend. After a confrontation with marshals outside the courtroom about her use of a cellphone, she was taken to a holding cell and strapped into the chair. …”
I am a former criminal defense attorney. I have made many wonderful friends who are members of law enforcement.
However, there is fine line between those who arrest and those who they arrest. This doesnt shock me at all. This kind of behavior goes on a lot.
To me the one disrespecting the rule of law was the Judge. She utterly abdicated her power in that room
Jimbo,
I rescued your comment from the moderation filter. You used three links, and the filter is set for two links. The reason for that is spammers often use multiple links. Henceforth, suggest if you have more than two links to share, break it down into more than one comment, with no more than two links per comment. Thanks for taking the time to comment.
These are the same judges that have not the Right Stuff to make other important decisions….and we trust other judges with FISA matters… I feel safer now…
I think that if a LE officer, or officer of the court, commits a crime under color of law, and is convicted, the sentence should be doubled. And this should go all the way up the chain to the Supremes and the US A-G. These folks are supposed to be setting an example, not working the system so that they can have their authority trips over suspects, defendants, and ordinary citizens.
Power corrupts. . . . what does this guy have on the judge that she stayed quiet? This guy is a typical bully, like many low level law enforcement.
If you want “traitors”, look at state/government officials who were involved in that courtroom incident. They are they ones that endanger an orderly safe society.
It’s one of the most obscene things I’ve seen in a while.
Ditto
When I investigate incidents such as this I like to break it down to the basics. It may sound crude to some but this is the way the world works, and it’s often much more than crude. The victim is a very attractive and endowed woman. The marshall was REALLY quick on the draw having her arrested. You could tell the bailiff was reluctant, possibly because he knew how this Marshall operated. The judge was just a disgrace, as a judge and a woman.
This is “our freedoms” I take it?
I think that society would be better served by cleaning up that sort of cess pool – rather than it would be served by hunting/destroying whistleblowers who expose illegality.