Latest news with #CommissiononJudicialDiscipline
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Michele Fiore to appeal judicial suspension to Nevada Supreme Court
LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — Pahrump judge and former Las Vegas City Councilwoman Michele Fiore is asking Nevada's high court to rescind her suspension from the bench. Fiore filed a notice of appeal to the Nevada Supreme Court on Wednesday. The Commission on Judicial Discipline suspended Fiore from judicial office with pay in an order filed Monday. The suspension was pending a final decision. Last month, President Donald Trump pardoned Fiore, a Nye County Justice of the Peace, after a jury convicted her of taking money meant for fallen police officers' memorials and spending it on herself. The jury deliberated for two hours, convicting her in federal court on one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and six counts of wire fraud. Following Fiore's federal indictment last July, the Nevada Commission on Judicial Discipline suspended her from office with pay amid the proceedings. The commission later suspended her without pay after her conviction. The commission held a hearing on Friday, May 9, following the pardon to discuss its next steps. In an order filed Monday, the commission kept Fiore suspended pending a final review, citing the allegations against Fiore as 'a substantial threat of serious harm to the public and to the administration of justice.' Fiore will be suspended this time with pay. The order notes that the commission 'has received additional complaints against Fiore' since the pardon. There was no indication in the document filed Monday when the commission could complete its investigation. 'When does this end?' Paola Armeni, Fiore's attorney, said during the May 9 hearing. Armeni added the commission only has jurisdiction over a judge's actions as a sitting judge. 'The commission can no longer issue, rescind, and reinstate based on this conviction, based on the pardon,' Armeni said. 'There is nothing before this commission about her conduct as a judge, nothing.' Trump pardoned Fiore on April 23. First elected as a Republican Nevada assemblywoman in 2012, Fiore later served as Las Vegas mayor pro tem and unsuccessfully ran for governor and treasurer as a Republican. Nye County Commissioners appointed her to her judgeship in late 2022. Last June, before her indictment, voters re-elected Fiore, who is not an attorney, to that position. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
25-04-2025
- Politics
Trump pardons Nevada politician who paid for cosmetic surgery with funds to honor a slain officer
LAS VEGAS -- President Donald Trump has pardoned a Nevada Republican politician who was awaiting sentencing on federal charges that she used money meant for a statue honoring a slain police officer for personal costs, including plastic surgery. Michele Fiore, a former Las Vegas city councilwoman and state lawmaker who ran unsuccessfully in 2022 for state treasurer, was found guilty in October of six counts of federal wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. She was out of custody ahead of her sentencing, which had been scheduled for next month. In a lengthy statement Thursday on Facebook, the loyal Trump supporter expressed gratitude to the president while also accusing the U.S. government and 'select media outlets' of a broad, decade-long conspiracy to 'target and dismantle" her life. The White House confirmed Fiore had been pardoned but did not comment on the president's decision. The pardon, issued Wednesday, comes less than a week after Fiore lost a bid for a new trial. She had been facing the possibility of decades in prison. Federal prosecutors said at trial that Fiore, 54, had raised more than $70,000 for the statue of a Las Vegas police officer who was fatally shot in 2014 in the line of duty, but had instead spent some of it on cosmetic surgery, rent and her daughter's wedding. 'Michele Fiore used a tragedy to line her pockets,' federal prosecutor Dahoud Askar said. FBI agents in 2021 subpoenaed records and searched Fiore's home in Las Vegas in connection with her campaign spending. In a statement, Nevada Democratic Party Executive Director Hilary Barrett called the pardon 'reckless' and a 'slap in the face' to law enforcement officers. Fiore, who does not have a law degree, was appointed as a judge in deep-red Nye County in 2022 shortly after she lost her campaign for state treasurer. She was elected last June to complete the unexpired term of a judge who died but had been suspended without pay amid her legal troubles. Pahrump is an hour's drive west of Las Vegas. In her statement Thursday, Fiore also said she plans to return to the bench next week. Nye County said it is awaiting an update on Fiore's current suspension from the state Commission on Judicial Discipline, which told The Associated Press in an email that it was aware that Fiore had been pardoned but that it didn't have further comment on her situation. AP also sent an email seeking comment from Fiore's lawyer. Fiore served in the state Legislature from 2012 to 2016. She was a Las Vegas councilwoman from 2017 to 2022. While serving as a state lawmaker, Fiore gained national attention for her support of rancher Cliven Bundy and his family during armed standoffs between militiamen and federal law enforcement officers in Bunkerville, Nevada, in 2014 and Malheur, Oregon, in 2016.
