LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — A Las Vegas judge facing ethics violations around her social media posts, including one where she posed in a hot tub with public defenders, responded about her potential discipline with lyrics from a Cardi B song, including the words: “Get money, go hard, you’re [expletive] right.”
Last Wednesday, the Nevada Commission on Judicial Discipline filed a formal statement of charges against Clark County District Court Judge Erika Ballou. Two charges Ballou faces center around the posts, one where she appears to state that cases in which defendants are not in custody should be tossed out and another in which she posed with two individuals from the Clark County Public Defender’s office in a hot tub and referred to “t***.”
In the formal statement of charges, the commission referred to Ballou’s Instagram post from Sept. 19, 2021. Her caption on the selfie 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.” Ballou also posted the hashtags, “Vacatethe[Explitive]OuttaOutofCustodyCases” and “WhereInTheWorldisCarmenSanDiego.”
Ballou declined to comment on the 8 News Now Investigators’ reporting when asked through a court spokesperson Friday.
“Went from makin’ tuna sandwiches to makin’ the news,” Ballou posted on Facebook over the weekend, quoting the Cardi B song, “Get Up 10.” “I started speakin’ my mind and tripled my views.”
“Get money, go hard, you’re [expletive] right,” the post continues. “Never been a fraud in my [expletive] life. Get money, go hard, damn [expletive] right. Stunt on these [expletive] out of [expletive] spite.”
In their filing about the first court, the commission alleged that Ballou violated three rules requiring a judge to promote public confidence and avoid impropriety and the appearance of impropriety, to put duties of the judicial office before their personal and extrajudicial activities, and to show that they can remain impartial.
The formal statement of charges also referred to a Facebook post from April 2022.
“Judge Ballou posted a photograph of her Facebook page of herself in a hot tub with two public defenders, Shana Brouwers and Robson Hauser, with the caption, ‘Robson is surrounded by great t***,’” according to the formal statement of charges.
In a second count, the commission alleged that the Facebook post demonstrates that Ballou again violated three rules requiring a judge to promote public confidence and avoid impropriety and the appearance of impropriety, to show that they cannot be influenced, and to not participate in activities that would appear to undermine the judge’s independence, integrity or impartiality.
A public hearing for Ballou’s ethics case had not been scheduled as of Sunday.
Ballou won her election in November 2020 and was sworn in as a judge in January 2021. She has previously faced criticism.
In July 2022, the Las Vegas Police Protective Association, the union representing Metro police officers, called for Ballou’s resignation as well as an ethics investigation after she made comments about police officers.
“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. “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.”
The Clark County District Attorney’s Office was seeking the revocation of the probation of the defendant who Ballou was addressing. While on probation for a previous case, the defendant was accused of committing battery against an officer.
Before becoming a judge, Ballou was a public defender and social justice organizer. She was a member of the Democratic Socialists of America, which supported her run for judge.
In 2016, Judge Ballou refused to remove a Black Lives Matter pin after a judge ordered her to. This made national headlines.
8 News Now also contacted the Clark County public defender’s office on Friday afternoon regarding the two public defenders, Shana Brouwers and Robson Hauser, identified in the hot tub photo. A response was not received as of Sunday.