Chamber members were able to hear from the three candidates running for the Justice of the Peace position at the New River Justice Court. Sitting Judge Ben Trotter has drawn two challengers: Court Service Director Brenda Ingram and Dr. Stuart Richardson, OD, a local optometrist who also serves the Justice Court as Judge Pro Tempore.
Trotter explained that Justice Court is located in the 1903 Court House, and the staff consists of six clerks and two Pro Tempore judges, Richardson and Anthony Tisdale. The court sees various cases, including felonies, misdemeanors, traffic court, restraining orders, small claims, evictions, wage garnishments, and weddings. The Pro Tem judges serve when Trotter has to recuse himself for potential conflicts of interest or if he is in training or meetings.
“I believe this may be the single busiest office in the county; the front counter is perpetually busy, and this staff does an outstanding job handling the matters of the community,” he said.
A member of the community for 29 years, he moved to Fallon in 1995 to take a job at the Fallon Police Department, where he served for 15 years. He ran for sheriff in 2010, was elected, and then reelected in 2014. He filed for JOP in 2018 and has served the six-year term.
Explaining what made him run for JOP in 2018, Trotter said that, as sheriff, he spent every Thursday in court for the entire eight years of his service. “I saw some inefficiencies that affected all the users of the court, and I thought if I could schedule in a way that attorneys could see out-of-custody clients in the morning and, using technology, stream the prisoner hearings from the jail, the court could be more effective. I use Zoom every day; the only time I ever have prisoners in court from the jail is a trial with the right to be present. We have cut down on all that transport.”
Trotter explained there are perpetual changes in the law that must be kept up on, as well as new Supreme Court rulings. He specifically discussed a change in the law that resulted in a “180 change – it used to be that the prisoner must justify why he should be released without bail, but now the burden is on the DA (District Attorney) to prove why they should not be released.”
“I’m an honest, independent, hard-working guy, and I love the trial setting in the court. I’m grateful to serve as Justice of the Peace and consider this the people’s court.”
Brenda Ingram has lived in Fallon for 34 years, moving here in 1990 to go to work for Churchill County. “I’ve spent two-thirds of my life serving the community and bring a wealth of institutional knowledge about county government and the court system.”
Ingram worked for the Justice Court for 18 years. She said she served in every capacity, from civil to misdemeanor to felony, and then eventually, the court clerk responsible for the overall operation. “I wrote and managed grants, managed the staff, reported to the Supreme Court and the state and county government, and also worked in the courtroom setting.”
In 2009, she was appointed Director of Court Services, a new county department to reduce jail overcrowding. “I was hired to create the office. It started with just me supervising inmates who were released from jail, and we have grown to a staff of four. I am proud of our department.”
Ingram said she had no personal animosity to either of her opponents, “they are both nice men, but I do see a contrast.”
She wants to keep the community safer by scrutinizing those arrested and released.
The Supreme Court has mandated that the court consider a Risk Assessment tool that Ingram uses at Court Services to make recommendations to the judge during hearings. She said the tool has been “highly predictive in whether someone will re-offend or fail to appear. We provide that to the Justice Court, and when someone is released, my department has to supervise them, and they often violate their release and go back in front of the judge only to be released again.”
Under the Nevada Supreme Court decision referred to as the Jimenez Ruling, judges are directed to lean toward releasing prisoners. “I support the presumption of innocence,” Ingram said, “but at any one time, a quarter of our caseload are in the wind. They either flee or re-offend and violate the condition of their release.”
Ingram also said she is committed to being a full-time judge and that her “knowledge of how the Justice Court should work as a whole far exceeds Mr. Trotter’s.”
Stuart Richardson said he has lived in Fallon for 44 years, and as a 72-year-old goat farming optometrist, he filed to run “in January when Ben was on the fence. I just hope in June, someone gets 51% of the vote, so we don’t have to keep running.
Richarson had the opportunity to attend law school online through Concord Law School beginning in 2003. “All you have to do is give up TV,” he said. In 2008, he graduated and passed the California Bar in 2009. He said when Trotter won his JOP seat, District Court Judge Tom Stockard suggested Richardson for the Pro Tempore position, and he has served alongside Trotter for five years.
The Justice of the Peace candidates face off in the primary election on June 11. Early voting begins May 25.
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