A Las Vegas judge has been slammed for posting a photograph of her in a hot tub with two public defenders.
Erika Ballou sparked an ethics probe after she shared the image on her Facebook with the caption: ‘Robson is surrounded by great t*ts.’
The picture showed her in a bathing suit with Shana Brouwers and Robson Hauser, with the latter shirtless and smiling for the camera.
She latter appeared to stand by the post by penning expletive-ridden Cardi B lyrics that included the line: ‘Went from makin’ tuna sandwiches to makin’ the news.’
The Nevada Commission on Judicial Discipline has now filed a formal statement of charges against Judge Erika Ballou, left, who serves in the Clark County District Court for this hot tub posting where she is seen posing with Robson Hauser, center, and Shana Brouwer, right
Las Vegas judge, Erika Ballou, is under scrutiny for ethics violations after sharing a photo on Facebook in a hot tub with two Clark County Public Defenders
The Nevada Commission on Judicial Discipline filed a formal statement of charges against Ballou for the hot tub posting.
The commission also filed a second complaint for a second social media post where she suggested defendants who are not in custody should have their cases tossed.
That posting read: ‘Life is STILL beautiful, despite the fact that Billie Eilish doesn’t start for 30 minutes and I have an 8:30 calendar tomorrow.’
The posting included the hashtags, ‘Vacatethe[Explitive]OuttaOutofCustodyCases’ and ‘WhereInTheWorldisCarmenSanDiego.’
In the hot tub posting, the commission alleges Ballou violated basic rules requiring a judge to promote public confidence and avoid impropriety.
The commission says the duties of a judge should be placed above their personal and extrajudicial activities in order they maintain the appearance of impartiality.
Ballou earns over $155,000 a year – although her total pay and benefits exceed $262,000 according to Transparent Nevada, which tracks public workers’ salaries.
A second complaint has been filed for this Instagram posting in which she suggested defendants who are not in custody should have their cases tossed out
The Nevada Commission on Judicial Discipline says the duties of a judge should be placed above their personal and extrajudicial activities in order they maintain the appearance of impartiality
In a second count, the commission similarly alleges the Facebook post demonstrates Ballou again violated the same three rules that requiring judges to promote public confidence, avoid impropriety and not participate in activities that could appear undermine the judge’s independence, integrity or impartiality.
So far, Ballou has responded to her potential disciplinary charges with the lyrics from a Cardi B song, including the words: ‘Get money, go hard, you’re motherf***** right’
A hearing for the judge, who was sworn in January 2021, has not yet been set.
Ballou has responded to her potential disciplinary charges with the lyrics from a Cardi B song, including the words: ‘Get money, go hard, you’re motherf***** right’, reports 8NewsNow.
‘Went from makin’ tuna sandwiches to makin’ the news,’ Ballou posted on Facebook this weekend using the songs lyrics, according to the news outlet.
‘Get money, go hard, you’re motherf***** right. Never been a fraud in my motherf***** life. Get money, go hard, damn f****** right. Stunt on these b****** out of motherf***** spite.’
Calls for Ballou’s resignation previously arose in July 2022 after she told a criminal in her courtroom she didn’t know if she would ‘walk away alive’ from cops.
Judge Ballou told a defendant he should have walked away from officers, after being arrested for committing battery against an officer in Nevada while on probation.
In 2022, the judge was branded as ‘biased’ against law enforcement leading to calls for her to resign her post after comments made to a defendant were ‘unethical and irresponsible’
The Las Vegas Police Protective Association, the union which represents Metro police officers, demanded an ethics investigation.
‘Hey, Judge, you are a disgrace to the bench,’ the police union tweeted at the time. ‘You have dishonored the robe you wear. You need to resign immediately.’
At the time, Ballou had been addressing a defendant had been on probation while accused of committing battery against an officer.
‘You’re the one making the decisions not to walk away from cops. You’re a black man in America. You know you don’t want to be nowhere where cops are,’ Ballou said at the time.
‘You know you don’t want to be nowhere where cops are cause I know I don’t, and I’m a middle-aged, middle-class black woman. I don’t want to be around where the cops are because I don’t know if I’m going to walk away alive or not. You know that.’ she said.
Judge Ballou reduced the man’s sentence from original 24 to 60-months to 19 to 48 months.
She added: ‘Even if the cop like came after and was harassing your group, you should have walked away instead of staying.
‘You needed to walk away because you knew you were on probation, you knew.’
The LLVP, which represents Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department officers called for her to quit over the comments.
A spokesman said: ‘On behalf of the men and women of law enforcement, the Las Vegas Police Protective Association takes exception to Judge Erika Ballou’s disparaging comments about police officers.
‘We call upon Judge Ballou to resign from the bench. We also ask the Judicial Ethics Commission to sanction her for violating the Nevada Code of Judicial Conduct.
‘Among other obligations, the rules require the judiciary to, ‘[A]spire at all times to conduct that ensures the greatest possible public confidence in their independence, impartiality, integrity, and competence.’
‘Judge Ballou has demonstrated that she is biased against law enforcement and cannot live up to the standards required of a jurist.
‘Judge Ballou’s comments, from the bench, that she, ‘does not want to be around where cops are because I don’t know whether I am going to walk away alive or not…’ are both unethical and irresponsible.
‘Police officers and the law abiding citizens of our community deserve better from the judiciary.’
Judge Ballou was elected to bench in November 2020, taking her position in January 2021, and previously served as a Deputy Public Defender for Clark County Public Defenders office for 15 years.
Her term runs through 2027.
She was also caught on camera becoming emotional while sentencing a repeat teenage offender in January 2022.
The offender had eight previous counts for armed robbery, with Judge Ballou telling him she would ‘think about this every single day’ for the rest of her life.
In 2016, while working as a public defender Erika Ballou rrefused to remove her ‘Black Lives’ button from her blouse despite a judge’s request
In 2016 Ballou refused to remove her ‘BLM’ badge from her blouse when asked to by Clark County District Court Judge Douglas Herndon. She said at the time ‘In a free country, I shouldn’t be afraid of the police, but I am’
Before stepping up as a Judge, Ballou was also a social justice organizer and member of the Democratic Socialists of America.
She also found herself in hot water after she refused to remove a ‘Black Lives Matter’ pin in court in September 2016, while still working as a deputy public defender.
Clark County District Court Judge Douglas Herndon requested she remove the badge from her blouse while representing a white domestic battery defendant at a sentencing hearing.
However she later accepted that she would not be allowed to wear the pin, as courtrooms should be ‘viewpoint-neutral’.
At the time Ballou said she knew wearing her pin would be controversial after the Las Vegas police union sent a letter to judges complaining about what the union executive termed ‘Black Lives Matter propaganda’ in courtrooms.
In a statement she said: ‘In a free country, I shouldn’t be afraid of the police, but I am.’
Court officials say Judge Douglas W. Herndon (pictured) is responsible for applying rules of decorum, proper attire and dignity and asked Ballou to remove her Black Lives Matter pin
The pin, the judge said, ‘is making a political statement, that, ‘I wear this in protest of how the court is treating minority defendants.”
‘Wear it in the hallway. Wear it in front of the courthouse,’ Herndon added. ‘Demonstrate. Protest. Use your voice. But that’s not what dealing with justice on an individual case is about.’
Ballou, a self-described ‘middle-aged, middle-income’ woman, said she feared for her life when she was surrounded by four Nevada Highway Patrol officers during a traffic stop.
In Las Vegas, race in criminal justice has been a controversial issue in recent years.
The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department drew scrutiny from the U.S. Justice Department’s office of Community Oriented Policing Services and began in 2013 to change a range of policies after a review of officer-involved shootings over several years.
The seven-month COPS review looked at 87 cases of police use of deadly force from 2007 to 2012. Of those, 10 involved unarmed people, including seven who were African-American.