Opinion ID: 1162726
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: The Gordon Yach Incident

Text: The evidence adduced at the formal hearing in this respect consists entirely of exemplified copies of an order to show cause issued by Judge Goldman, an affidavit of an attorney attached to that order and an acknowledgment of receipt of service of the order to show cause. These documents merely establish that, on June 20, 1986, appellant issued an order directing Gordon Yach, the Director of the Clark County Detention Center, to show cause why he should not be adjudged guilty of contempt of court and punished for his failure to immediately transport a prisoner to appellant's courtroom when requested to do so on June 18, 1986 at 4:45 p.m. The order further provided that Mr. Yach's failure to appear at the scheduled show cause hearing would result in the issuance of a bench warrant for the arrest and confinement of Mr. Yach. An attorney's affidavit attached to the order indicates that a jury returned a verdict against a criminal defendant at 4:45 p.m. on June 18, 1986, and the Clark County Detention Center was immediately notified to bring the prisoner to appellant's courtroom. Repeated calls were thereafter placed to the Detention Center to ascertain the delay in the prisoner's presence, and the Detention Center did not deliver the prisoner until 5:20 p.m., a mere thirty-five minutes after the initial call. Although no further evidence respecting this incident was adduced at the formal hearing, the commission found that appellant abused the contempt power vested in him and that threatening to hold Mr. Yach in contempt was inappropriate, and tended to degrade the judicial process.