Hooters, The FBI, Cutting the Mustard

Judge rules woman at fault in incident

Ex-girlfriend accused Family Court jurist of domestic violence

By GLENN PUIT
REVIEW-JOURNAL

The former girlfriend of Family Court Judge Steven Jones was to blame for an incident that prompted domestic violence charges against the judge last week, a judge determined Friday in a controversial decision.

After nearly six hours of witness testimony, Washoe County District Court Judge Charles McGee found that Jones' former girlfriend, Amy McNair, was the aggressor in a heated confrontation between the couple at Jones' home on June 20.

"You were the one who was escalating the situation," McGee told McNair.

"He (Jones) didn't want to carry a fight to you," McGee said. "He wanted to go upstairs and go to bed."

McGee offered his assessment of the domestic violence allegations against Jones as he refused Friday to extend a temporary protective order on behalf of McNair against Jones.

The Northern Nevada judge handled the case to avoid potential conflicts of interest.

But McGee's decision does not affect a pending misdemeanor criminal charge against Jones that is pending in Henderson. And McNair also said in court that the FBI has met with her twice, asking questions about Jones and his alleged association with a known felon.

An FBI spokesman would not confirm or deny an investigation of Jones, but two female FBI agents were in attendance at Friday's hearing.

Their presence became known to the Review-Journal after they clashed with bailiffs over a requirement that the agents surrender their firearms before entering McGee's courtroom.

Authorities said on June 20, Henderson police responded to Jones' home and found McNair crying and holding her head. According to police reports, she accused Jones of shoving her, causing her to hit her head on a banister.

Photos of McNair showed two large abrasions surrounding her right eye. After his arrest, Jones spent about 12 hours in jail.

Jones is the presiding judge in Family Court. He regularly oversees cases of domestic violence in his courtroom.

In court, McNair said she first met Jones in 2000 while working as a waitress at Hooters. She moved in with Jones and lived with the judge for the next five years.

At times crying, she told of a chaotic home life, saying Jones basically controlled her. She said the judge had a "demerit system" in which her treatment depended on whether she was behaving well and whether she kept the house clean.

She said several years ago, Jones held her to the ground in a bathroom during an argument. In 2002, she said, Jones physically kicked her out of bed, causing an injury to her neck. She acknowledged that she didn't call police to report either episode.

McNair also testified that Jones likes to gamble, at times spending as much as seven hours at a time doing so.

"Either (he's) gone for seven hours, or I had to sit and watch it ... If he lost, it was bad, if he won, we were good," McNair said.

She said days before the incident leading to Jones' arrest, Jones struck her in the chest during an argument.

"I got the karate chop," she said.

McNair said on the night of the 20th, the couple was preparing to travel to Alaska for a vacation when an argument erupted over fast food. McNair said she had been drinking that day and had also consumed the prescription drug Xanax.

When Jones went into his bedroom and shut the door, McNair followed him and knocked on the door. When Jones opened the bedroom door, she said she tried to pry it open with her fingers and Jones slammed the door on her foot. Then, she said she was shoved and hit her head.

"I just remember getting chucked so bad and hitting my head," McNair said.

"I mean I flew like a good seven feet," she said.

But when Jones took the stand he said the allegations were false. He said McNair is a problem drinker who routinely engages in aggressive behavior while drunk and that on the night he was arrested, she was drunk and trying to get into his bedroom when she fell.

"I did not see her hit her head," Jones said, adding, "I had never seen those injuries until they made the paper."

He also portrayed his former girlfriend as a woman who has harmed herself in the past.

"She has sliced her wrists in the past for attention," Jones said. "She has engaged in self-inflicted wounds to her head."

McNair acknowledged on the stand that she has a problem with alcohol and that she has gotten so drunk in the past that she has fallen and hurt herself at Jones' home.

"I have never struck, beaten or harmed her in any way," he said, also denying McNair's allegations he controlled her life.

When questioned by McNair's attorney, Randall Roske, about police assertions that Jones was uncooperative with authorities during the investigation, Jones acknowledged he is no fan of Henderson police, saying he is "not impressed with their department."

Jones also admitted he was trying to help McNair get a job with Clark County before the battery allegations.

"I wanted to help her get on with the county," Jones said. "Help her get on her feet."

The Review-Journal reported in Friday's edition that McNair was being considered for a job as a bailiff for Family Court Judge Nicholas Del Vecchio until Jones' arrest.

In issuing his ruling denying the extension of the protective order, McGee speculated it was at least possible that McNair suffered her injuries by falling while going to call 911. The judge said he believed McNair was a domestic violence victim but that she was victimized by another man in a prior relationship -- not Jones -- and that this prior abuse left McNair "as fragile as an eggshell."

McGee went on to say that there was insufficient evidence to show Jones battered the woman on June 20.

"It wasn't a push that was aggressive in nature ... that falls within the domestic violence laws," he said.

"That doesn't cut the mustard as far as this court is concerned," McGee said.

Afterward, Roske said he was "flabbergasted" by McGee's ruling. He questioned why McGee had not given him a continuance in the case so he could call Henderson police officers to the stand to testify about what they observed at Jones' home the night the judge was arrested.

One official who works with domestic violence victims said the ruling by McGee sends the wrong message.

"What kind of message does that send other victims?" said Amy Batchelor of SafeNest. "What kind of message does it send to the community?"

Batchelor went on to say that several victim advocates were not allowed to attend the hearing, which was deemed public by McGee. She said she plans to file a complaint about the matter with Clark County officials.

Find this article at: http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/2006/Jul-01-Sat-2006/news/8274126.html