Former judge banned from bench for handcuffing lawyer

LAS VEGAS (AP) — A former Las Vegas justice of the peace has been barred for life from serving as judge in Nevada for ordering a defense attorney handcuffed when she would not stop speaking in court in an effort to keep a client out of jail.

The Nevada Supreme Court last week posted a Nevada Commission on Judicial Discipline order censuring Conrad Hafen for courtroom incidents between December 2014 and last May.

That's when he had Deputy Clark County Public Defender Zohra Bakhtary detained on a misdemeanor contempt finding after he ordered her to stop talking.

He sentenced her client to jail for petty theft.

Hafen lost a re-election bid.

He represented himself before the disciplinary commission and could not be reached to comment.

Bakhtary says she respects the ruling.