OPINION
Clark County Eighth Judicial District Court Judge Stefany Miley was assigned to adjudicate the case in which a number of media members joined to file suit against the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department (LVMPD) to force the department to release hours of accumulated video, audio and other records they collected in their investigation of the Las Vegas 1 October shooting in 2017.
In March of 2018, District Judge Richard Scotti, who was initially assigned to oversee the case from the bench, ruled that Metro was required to immediately hand over recordings from the Oct. 1 shooting to the Las Vegas Review-Journal and other media organizations suing for their release.
Judge Scotti agreed to allow Metro to release the records gradually — as they were processed — giving LVMPD six months to complete the task. He also ruled that the department could not charge journalists the $500,000 Metro said it would cost to process and produce the records and distribute to the media organizations.
Metro asked for that ruling to be reconsidered, but that the case be reassigned to someone other than Judge Scotti. That’s how Judge Miley got the case.
A month later, in April 2018, during her review of the case, Miley accused LVMPD of gamesmanship and manufacturing delays in the release of the records in the face of the city trying to uncover exactly what happened leading up to, during, and in the aftermath of the shooting. The 1 October shooting in 2017 was the worst mass shooting in the history of the US, initially leaving 58 dead, a number that grew to 60 over the subsequent years during which two more shooting victims died from their wounds. Miley was not happy with what she viewed as Metro dragging its heels in making public the records that the media sought.
As was reported in an article at the time in the Las Vegas Review Journal, Miley was quoted as telling Metro, “All you’ve done is prolong the proceedings even further than it should have been, and that’s what’s very concerning to me,” Miley said. “It seems like a game.”
Metro was not happy about that. Judge Miley Miley denied Metro’s motion for reconsideration, despite the request to withdraw it. She also denied Metro’s subsequent request to keep the body camera footage and 911 calls in limbo until could appeal to the Nevada State Supreme Court. Miley’s decision forced LVMPD’s hand and left in place the requirement that they immediately begin to produce the records sought in the lawsuit. The supreme court denied the request by LVMPD to withhold the records. The LVMPD was not happy.
They began releasing records, but Miley, in effect, had put a target on her back as a result of her rulings against Metro. And the police were happy to pursue domestic issues in which Miley was entangled with great zeal.
During this time in 2018, Miley and her husband, Las Vegas attorney Ed Miley, were in the middle of a bitter divorce. It had the feeling of the movie, “War of the Roses,” a fictional account of a vicious divorce in which both sides left no stone unturned in their quest to get the upper hand.
One particularly ugly incident made local, national and international headlines.
Around Christmas time in 2018, Judge Miley got into an argument with her older son while driving home in her 2017 Lexus sedan on Dec. 22. The son was driving and admitted to police that he went through a yellow light, which upset Miley. The two began quarreling and he “called her multiple names, which caused her to become more upset,” according to the police report. He said his mom slapped him and the argument continued after they got home.
Miley’s husband at the time, Ed Miley, who she was divorcing, got in touch with a fellow attorney and friend, Bruce Gale, who called police.
The police responded to the home; Miley’s 18-year-old son refused medical attention and declined to give a written statement to police after he alleged his mother slapped him in the face.
Police charged Miley with domestic battery. However, about a month later, all charges against her were dropped.
It’s interesting to note that the LVMPD charged her; neither her son nor her husband pressed charges.
The report of the initial incident made headlines across the Las Vegas valley, across the country, and even across the world.
The Las Vegas Review Journal’s headline:
“District Judge Stefany Miley arrested on domestic violence charge”
The New York Post headline:
“Judge arrested for punching teen son in the mouth”
And England’s Daily Mail headlined the story:
“Las Vegas judge is charged with domestic battery for ‘assaulting her 18-year-old son’’
Multiple stories were carried by multiple entities for days.
However, scant coverage was given a month later when all charges in the case against Miley were dropped.
We have a rhetorical question, because we know it won’t be honestly answered:
Was Judge Miley charged as a result of her rulings on evidence related to the October 1, 2017 mass shooting incident in Las Vegas?
It’s interesting how closely connected in time Miley’s ruling on the case, the forced release of documentation of the largest mass shooting in the history of the US, and the judge being charged with domestic battery were. It was just a few months. It’s only speculation on our part, but the question bears being asked and honestly answered: Was all this connected? Was the LVMPD trying to send a message to Judge Miley?
Again, though, we’re posing it as a rhetorical question. We don’t expect an honest answer to be forthcoming from LVMPD.