Judge Shot at Courthouse in Nevada

[Judi Lynn]

Judge Shot at Courthouse in Nevada
Judge Shot at Courthouse in Nevada; Police Spokesman Says He Believes Judge Is Alive

RENO, Nev. Jun 12, 2006 (AP)— A judge was shot at the Washoe County courthouse Monday, and police closed off several surrounding blocks as a SWAT team was called in, authorities said.

There is no immediate word on the identity or condition of the judge.

Reno police spokesman Steve Frady confirmed that a judge was shot on the third floor of a building housing the Family Court section, on the south end of Reno's downtown casino district. Frady said he believes the judge is alive.
(snip/)

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=2066990

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Police: Judge Shot in Nevada
Monday, June 12, 2006

RENO, Nev. — A judge was shot on Monday at a courthouse in Reno, a police spokesman said, and a SWAT team was inside the building.

"Right now I can't give you the condition" of the judge, Steve Frady of the Reno Police Department said. "It's still an unsafe situation."

“We do believe a sniper shot a judge inside the courthouse," Frady added. "We're trying to locate where the shooting came from."

Streets in the vicinity of the courthouse were cordoned off as of late afternoon and police were searching surrounding buildings.
(snip/)

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,199176,00.html

[Norquist Nemesis]

1. uh-oh They're going after those 'activist judges' for real!

:scared:

[benburch]

3. Was this one of the judges the Right have castigated?

If so, I can only say that I have been expecting this for a while. Rush Limbaugh and company have been wishing them dead for a long time now. "Will nobody rid me of this meddlesome priest?" Do that long enough and somebody will take it as a request.

[onenote]

6. a family court judge -- did you even bother to read the story?

Probably someone unhinged by a divorce or custody case....

[Divernan]

12. I agree, some guy kept away from victim by restraining order or

ordered to pay child support/alimony. Most likely to cause that degree of violence would be a restraining order. Take a victim (wife or kids) away from an abuser and they go ballistic. Whoever fired the shot is obviously unhinged and will cop an insanity plea if caught. There are also a lot of guys who bitterly resent being ordered to pay child support because their ex gets control of the money, but I think they would disappear themselves and abandon their kids before going to the extreme of premeditated murder.

[zreosumgame]

39. wow, you really hate guys!

could also be someone who's 'ex' uses the nuke of 'ABUSER' to get more money from the guy. but it seems you have already judged whomever it is.

[Divernan]

44. Not at all - just someone who's studied & taught crim. law & worked

in the system for years - and we ARE talking about a homicidal maniac who shot a judge 4x with enough planing and expertise to shoot & (so far) escape. Read the other posts from people who know the family law system. And look at the stats - the aggressive threats & violent actions nearly all come from men - something about that old testosterone level. Accusing someone of abuse will not get anyone more money - it MAY result in supervised visitation. In my state, the courts totally separate the issues of custody/visitation and child support. A parent can be years delinquent in support and still have visitation rights.

[benburch]

14. I did.

But that does not mean that they do not consider him to be an activist judge! Like, what if he awarded custody to a lesbian mother? If you do that, no matter how much that is in the interests of the child, you are an activist judge.

[onenote]

17. sadly, family judges have been the targets of attacks for years

Trying to connect this to the repubs over the top rhetoric concerning activist judges simply indicates how ill-informed some people are. Nearly a decade ago...that's while Bill CLinton was president, by the way...the Las Vegas Sun ran a story about the state's family court and the stresses and strains it faces. That story contained the following line: "A judge in Las Vegas has an average caseload of 2,302 compared with the national average of 1,103. "Family courts handle the most emotional, stressful, heart-rendering, contentious cases of any court," Gaston said. "That's why more Family Court judges are shot by litigants than any other court."



http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/text/1997/jun/04/505963343.html

[benburch]

22. And the ones who become violent...

...are predominantly Conservative Republicans.

[onenote]

33. So were Brian Davis and Bart Ross freepers?

Davis is the guy who shot the judge in Atlanta. Ross was the guy that killed Judge Lefkow's family. Nothing that I've seen indicates that they were "conservative republicans". Just angry, disturbed people. Most such people are apolitical.

[Cerridwen]

26. You're comparing Vegas in Clark County with Reno in Washoe County

the figures are not the same...

"Clark County is the most populous of Nevada’s 17 counties with 1.7 million residents and 70 percent of the state’s population." Link

Washoe County has a "population of nearly 380,000." Link

Caseloads in Vegas do not compare to caseloads in Reno.

edit: not to say that judges haven't been targets, just to note that Reno in Washoe County is tough to compare to Vegas in Clark County.

and to add one more blurb...

"Clark County’s District Court continues to manage the largest caseload of any general jurisdiction court in six western states. The number of cases per judge in the Eighth Judicial District Court totaled 2,726 in 2005, more than 43 percent higher than Washoe County’s Second Judicial District Court." Link

[Freedom_from_Chains]

27. All judges, who do not enforce God, ban gays, and trash the

Constitution, are considered by the right to be activist judges. In today's America judges who do not tow the party line live in fear for their lives.

[skiddlybop]

15. except...

Here's a link to a wingnut site that seems to have attracted these father's-rights maniacs that mentions him by name. Maybe these guys need to be investigated.

(couldn't post it, just google "Chuck Weller" + "O'Reilly" and you see it right away. )

http://stopthebleating.typepad.com/stop_the_bleating/2004/12/more_bad_judges.html

This is what happens when Ann Coulter suggests poisoning a Supreme Court judge.

Here's text, in case he scrubs it...

« Judges gone bad? | Main | What's wrong with me? »

Dec 14, 2004
More Bad Judges?
Drudge linked this story about a Mass. judge who is suing a Boston Herald reporter for stuff he said on the O'Reilly show. The story if true is quite shocking - apparently a misquote of the judge snowballed into this national campaign to destroy a judge's life. And of all people to broadcast the charges - the very man who cries now that his own personal affairs were dragged into the public eye. I have already said enough about judges and O'Reilly, so I was also amused when I read this story (linked by WND) that claims that Bernard Kerik had two simulatanous affairs, one was with Judith Regan - the book publisher and also host of a talk-show on FoxNews. Man - FoxNews is slowly becoming the news version of FoxEntertainment.

Posted by Old Skool on Dec 14, 2004 at 01:29 in Law | Permalink
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Comments
There is a family court judge by the name of Chuck Weller in Reno Nevada
that is only one year on the
bench and is fast becoming number one on the list of worst judges in
America. I have a link below to a website from the San Francisco Legal
Reader and other sites listed below which have become a forum for victims of
Weller and others talking about the outright abusive behavior that Weller is
dishing out. In Reno the hearings are on computer CDs and I have viewed some
of these in my investigation. If I hadn't seen this with my own eyes I could
not have believed their horror stories. I have seen some of the CDs and what
they are all telling me directly and posting to the legal reader is true.
Completely outragous

I want to get the word out as much as we can to help these organizations
that are working to stop this kind of abuse and hopefully, if we can get
this posted on as many internet sites as we can it might be noticed and
prevent an unsuspecting person from falling into Weller's court and being
destroyed like many of the ones who have already gone before him.

Please post this on your site as a story or post it to your blog in
connection to the statements on the legal reader. The link is below.

http://www.legalreader.com/archives/001590.html

http://www.fathersunite.org/Judicial%20Abuse/Bad_Judges.htm

http://rebel101.com/bad_judge_award.htm

http://nevadansforequalparenting.blogspot.com/2004_07_01_nevadansforequalparenting_archive.html

Thanks for all you are doing to stop this kind of behavior in our judicial
system.

Posted by: John | Apr 07, 2006 at 01:15

I am now a victim of Judge Weller's bizarre interpretation of the law and fear my daughter is soon to become one too. The first order he gave said that it is perfectly legal for a spouse to deplete retirement accounts, hide at least 3 bank accounts that can be proven to date, not pay court ordered support, not claim all income, and openly support a significant other while still married then refuse to pay community proberty bills. His ruling told me that the laws concerning financail restraining orders and community proberty were printed in error.

I believe I am in serious need of an appeal process that not only works but is affordable by a person who can't get support paid by a spouse that obviously doesn't have to follow court orders issued by the judge hearing the case because the Judge said the spouse didn't really have to obey them.

Posted by: Mitch | May 10, 2006 at 01:00


Post a comment

[benburch]

16. Link busted.

make a tinyurl.com url out of it. DU's message board software messes up come complex links.

[onenote]

18. sadly, this has been happening to family court judges for a long time

Long before Coulter started running off her mouth..

"A judge in Las Vegas has an average caseload of 2,302 compared with the national average of 1,103. "Family courts handle the most emotional, stressful, heart-rendering, contentious cases of any court," Gaston said. "That's why more Family Court judges are shot by litigants than any other court." http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/text/1997/jun/04/505963343.html

[Norquist Nemesis]

10. Judge Charles Weller

is about all I can find out at the moment. He was endorsed for re-election in 2004 by the Reno newspaper. Other than that, coming up zip on a google.

It may turn out to be another case like we had around here with Judge Lefkow, though.

[Freedom_from_Chains]

11. It was just a matter of time

See my run in with the fundies yesterday.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=2673342&mesg_id=2673342

Turns out the guy who leads this group is a convicted felon who went to prison for armed robbery, sodomy, murder. This is the environment that Bush & Company has been trying to create so they can do away with the judiciary.

Ah, the moral values crowd, that is today's America.

[slackmaster]

30. Not sure you can call Judge Weller an activist, BUT...

He does have at least a few people pissed off at him. See this page for a list of potential suspects.

http://www.legalreader.com/archives/001590.html

...If you live in Washoe County (Reno Nevada) and you are of voting age pay close attention. There is a judge on the bench in family court Chuck Weller. He just got elected but has already proven to be faulty. While trying to get elected he had a go to boy and mouth piece name Jeff Veasley. Jeff Veasley just happens to be good friends with my daughter's father. I believe Jeff was telling Chuck about our family court case throughout the whole election and after Weller took the bench. Yes. I think Weller is on the take. He has been very angry and agressive towards me due to his preivious one sided knowledge of our case. Instead of doing the right thing and removing himself from the case he is staying on the case and favoring my Ex. Pactically undoing everything the honorable Judge Jordan (ret) did before Phuck Weller was elected. There has to be other cases he in bed with one of the parties. Let it be know and post it.

Posted by: Toni Yvette Horne at November 16, 2005 04:30 PM

Toni you need to contact me ASAP. This Judge and his conduct needs to be addressed. We have rights and resources. I too have experience with this Judge and his obvious bias against women. I just need your support. [e-mail]

Posted by: Alecia at January 13, 2006 05:38 PM

Family court Judge Chuck Weller of Reno NV lied to everyone by saying he was going to defend father's rights to get elected. Once on the bench he has single handed destroyed more GOOD father's with his (shoot from the hip) punishing motions. He takes all statements against fathers as true despite all evidence opposing them and then makes impossible orders which the fathers can never comply with. Then punishes the fathers for not following his impossible order. Everyone should outraged at his bias behavior and do everything that can legally be done to get this HITLER off the bench.

Posted by: Reggie at February 17, 2006 08:35 PM

The NEW TERRORISM! Judge Chuck Weller of Washoe County Family Court has people (both men & women) running from his courtroom in TERROR. He threatens to take your children, your freedom, your property!

Weller uses whatever tactics to force you to submit to his imperial demands and tyrannical orders. Every story from each person that I have talked to in my investigation has similar experience. They are terrorized and don't understand why he is being so aggressive when they've done nothing wrong.

Does Weller ever rule on the law or does he just rule on his whims?

Contact Nevadans for Equal Parenting by clicking the link or by email to begin a dialog in Washoe County at [e-mail]

Posted by: Nevada Parent at March 18, 2006 01:51 PM...

...Anyone who wants to read more about family Judge Chuck Weller's abusive behavior cut and paste the following links to your google. He is making himself quite a horrible repututation throughout the U.S. (well deserved I might add).

If anyone has other stories or have found other sites just post them here.

http://rebel101.com/bad_judge_award.htm

http://nevadansforequalparenting.blogspot.com/

http://www.fathersunite.org/Bad_Judges.htm

Posted by: John at April 2, 2006 07:39 PM...

...Judge Weller was one of 5 judges but most important he was there for the Settlement Hearing. Judge Weller allowed Excel produced spreadsheets to be presented by my x-wife as legal financial record of spending down 70K in home equity ( which the court signed on my behalf because of the financial restraining order I was served two weeks prior), allowing the sale of our paid off SUV to purchase a vehicle without my name on the title, loans to my x-wife and total spend down of her retirement account, tax refunds of a joint return, all home contents including my personal things like military records, underwear and a jacket. I understand why they allowed her to pay off her school loans and leave mine unpaid since she finished college while we were married and I just finished mine before the union. What I don't understand is what education degree supported our family while she stayed home with our first born for two years to finish her one year of school. How does anyone in their right mind be so abusive and unfair with the administration of the entrusted legal power they bestow? On the bases of human dignity and the scale of justice to be blindfolded from all feeling and raise your biased gavel toward the strongest entity of any society, the man. We may describe the United States as a “melting pot” but not doubt clouds my mind that you singularly circumscribe it as a “boiling pot”. After 40 years of hard work and the hardest during my 10 years of marriage I wasn't awarded enough to even call a cab, but then I didn't have far to walk since I call the street my home. Once a productive citizen, now just a homeless piece of shit. One who threw away a childhood dream to own a business and provide a better life for his own by beating his wife and molesting his children in the last year of marriage. The hardest to overcome and what the 2nd district can never give back is, the small boy in me who cried because I had no father to play catch with, now cries as a father who has no son to throw a ball to.

“I will not fight with weapons,
As to shed the blood of my brother.
I will stand steadfast with the truth,
My sword absent of its scabbard,
At my side and prepared
To become erect and
To defend my name and legacy.”


Posted by: Reknow at May 16, 2006 06:38 PM...

[Judi Lynn]

32. Good grief! I've got to run,am coming back later to study this!

I had no idea this kind of stuff gets aired on the internetS! Simply amazing.

[slackmaster]

34. My first take is that it goes with the territory for Family Law judges

Pretty much every case ends up with at least one party who feels they've been treated unfairly.

[leftchick]

2. ah fuck!

this country is so GONE!

:(

[benburch]

4. I'm betting the shooter posts at Free Republic.

A nest of criminals over there.

[Judi Lynn]

7. No doubt you're right, unless he can't write, and has to have someone

do his posting there for him!

He probably wanted to get hisself one of them actee-vist judges.

[leftchick]

8. and encouraged by the fuck wads in congress!

I hate this country! Yes I DO!

[onenote]

9. I'll take that bet ...when a family judge gets shot, its not political

This guy is a family court judge. My guess is that he pissed someone off in a divorce or custody case. No reason to think its has to do with judicial activism or politics generally.

[benburch]

13. Freepers are the sort of well-armed violent fuckwad...

...that does such a thing, though. Democrats might deal with frustration like this by a bender, but unlikely by becoming snipers.

[MrBenchley]

37. Or the Gungeon

How many umpty-ump sick posts has DU had from triggerhappy gumps thumping their chests and vowing to plug somebody in the name of "revolution" and "freedom"

[slackmaster]

45. Suspect is named Darren Roy Mack

According to Washoe County public records, he and his (apparently soon to be ex) wife own a very nice home in Carson City. They transferred it into a trust with a value of $1.8 million in May 2003, and are mortgaged for about a million.

I don't know if he posts on Free Republic, but he presumably has a high income and has a lot to lose.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20060613/news_1n13court.html

[slackmaster]

46. More on suspect Darren Roy Mack - seems he may have killed wife too

http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/06/13/judge.shot.ap/index.html?section=cnn_latest

He owns a pawnshop. Someone told me he heard on TV the business is in bankruptcy.

No word on whether his deceased wife was an activist judge.

[Judi Lynn]

5. Judge Shot At Courthouse In Reno

Judge Shot At Courthouse In Reno

POSTED: 1:52 pm CDT June 12, 2006
UPDATED: 2:22 pm CDT June 12, 2006

RENO, Nev. -- A judge has been shot at the Washoe County courthouse complex in Reno and police are searching for a sniper.

Judge Chuck Weller was shot in the chest as he stood near a window on the third floor of the Mills B. Lane Justice Center around 11:15 a.m. Monday.

Weller was taken to the hospital and is believed to be alive.

Police do not know if the shots were fired inside the courthouse or if they came from outside.


A SWAT team is at the scene. Police have closed off several blocks around the courthouse just south of the Truckee River on the south end of Reno's downtown casino district.

The judge was shot on the third floor of the new Mills Lane Building that houses the Family Court section of the complex.
(snip/...)

http://www.thehometownchannel.com/news/9357435/detail.html

On edit, adding photo:



Judge Chuck Weller

[wicket]

19. (((prayers))) for all

:cry:

[slackmaster]

20. Family Court can get pretty ugly

I hope the judge pulls through, and the perp gets caught promptly.

[Jacobin]

21. You are right about that

When I first started practicing law, I did domestic work and it was gruesome. The adversarial system is awful for domestic conflicts. Fortunately, more courts are working toward a system of mediation involving psychologists, which is good.

[951-Riverside]

23. I don't like Judges

...but I hope he's okay.

[muryan]

24. the only thing stopping the freepers...

from throwing a party is the fact that this poor guy was a family court judge, and they arent claiming him to be an "activist judge."

[Judi Lynn]

25. Judge is conscious, shot four times

Sniper Sought in Reno Courthouse Shooting
From Associated Press
12:55 PM PDT, June 12, 2006


RENO, Nev. -- A family court judge was shot as he stood near a third-floor courthouse window today, and police were searching nearby parking garages for a sniper.

Judge Chuck Weller was hit in the chest about 11:15 a.m. at the Mills B. Lane Justice Center, part of the Washoe County courthouse complex, police said. He was rushed by ambulance to Washoe Medical Center, Reno police spokesman Steve Frady said. He said Weller's family was with him at the hospital, which was under lock down.

"He is conscious and talking with his family," Frady told The Associated Press.

Police do not know if the shots were fired inside the courthouse or if they came from outside, Frady said.

A SWAT team was on the scene. A police helicopter was circling overhead and officers were conducting a floor-by-floor search of the courthouse as well as neighboring parking garages. Police also closed off six blocks around the courthouse, on the edge of Reno's downtown casino district.

Citing another judge as its source, KOLO-TV in Reno reported that Weller was shot four times in the chest while he was in his chamber office but that no vital organs were hit.
(snip/...)

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-061206renoshoot,0,4088892.story?coll=la-home-headlines

[benburch]

28. Sounds like he will be OK, then.

GOOD.

[Megahurtz]

29. Lol hahaha!

When I first read the headline I thought that a Judge shot at the Courthouse! :dunce:

:silly::crazy::silly:

Ooops! Hahaha!

[Nevernose]

31. I used to work at the Family Court in Las Vegas

There are some real frigging psychos out there. I've been threatened in the parking lot, the McDonald's across the street, in the lobby, and even in the courtroom with bailiffs glaring and cameras rolling. And I was mostly just a paper-pusher, occasionally mentioning some obscure bit of missed paperwork in court, but mostly just talking to families and finding out how we could alleviate their child's criminal behavior, then making them sign 30 pages in triplicate.

We had good security -- no outsie windows, lots of bailiffs and metal detectors, but there was always one loophole we watched out for. In Nevada, a peace officer has the right to carry their gun with them at all times. By a poorly-worded law, they can't be asked to surrender their firearms at the metal detectors. We were all just waiting for a cop in a messy, bitter divorce to stroll in through the front door one day...

[CabalPowered]

35. All those psychos are jumping for joy on the Yahoo boards

http://news.messages.yahoo.com/bbs?action=l&board=37138445&tid=apcourthouseshooting&sid=37138445&mid=59506

:puke:

[Nevernose]

42. Wow. Truly frightening.

And a good example of why security's so tight at Family Courts, and why everyone considers the possible dangers. There are few more emotionally charged atmospheres in which to work.

Thank God I never had to work in divorce court.

[slackmaster]

36. AP story says shot or shots came through a window

It certainly doesn't rule out a police officer gone off the deep end.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/nation/20060612-1447-nv-courthouseshooting.html

[Nevernose]

41. That was just a conversational anecdote

Our court has no windows lower than six feet up, and certainly no tall buildings around. THe biggest danger comes from someone smuggling a weapon in. People get caught at the metal detector daily with guns and knives. There's signs everywhere informing the public that it is a felony to threaten or harrass any county employee while in the commission of their duties, but that doesn't stop people. Some people wanted to build a bullet-proof glass shield in the restraining order office, but it was decided that yet another wall separating society's most vulnerable -- battered women -- wasn't a good idea.

I remember one time searching a kid's backpack in the juvenile detention facility and coming across what appeared to be a pipe bomb. Turns out it wasn't it, just some a 12" length of aluminum pipe with PVC caps on the ends and a fuse stuck in one side. It was filled with sand. The kid said he wanted to bring it to school to impress people.

Security's pretty tight; it's no wonder that some psychopath resorted to sniping from a nearby building.

[struggle4progress]

38. Has Senator Cornyn explained that this is "understandable" yet?

[sweetheart]

40. The police state and its agents are evil

Of course they're gonna get shot at... its rather obvious given what they stand for these days.

I'm actually suprised that so few cases of vigilante justice against the system have come up,
likely the future will hold many more "direct action" justice as people increasingly
have nothing to lose.

[NVMojo]

43. the really corrupt judges are in LV ...supporting that strip club

[slackmaster]

47. UPDATE - Reward offered for arrest of Darren Mack

He may have fled to California.

See links in my thread that got moderated over to the Nevada forum at http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=165x772