9th Circuit judge charged with battery and injury to property after heated clash in Idaho Falls parking lot
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IDAHO FALLS — Ryan Douglas Nelson, a judge for the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, is facing two misdemeanor criminal charges after allegedly grabbing a man’s glasses, throwing them, and stomping on them in April during a dispute over a parking space.
Nelson, a 52-year-old from Idaho Falls, was nominated by President Donald Trump for judgeship and confirmed by the U.S. Senate in 2018.
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According to court documents, the incident originally happened on April 2. Nelson was involved in a verbal dispute over parking when he allegedly grabbed another man’s glasses from his head and threw them across the parking lot.
He then allegedly tried to grab the man’s phone from his hand, and as the man tried to walk away, Nelson challenged him to a fight. When the other man tried to pick up his glasses, Nelson allegedly stomped on them.
In the court documents, an officer stated that Nelson admitted to grabbing the man’s glasses and stomping on them, but said he did not touch him. Nelson has been charged with misdemeanor battery and malicious injury to property in Idaho’s 7th Judicial District Court.
Security camera footage obtained by the Idaho State Journal appears to corroborate the allegations in the court documents.
The case against Nelson was originally filed on April 22. Nelson entered a not guilty plea on April 23.
The case is being prosecuted by the Idaho Falls City Prosecutor’s office.
Idaho Falls City Attorney Zachary Jones told EastIdahoNews.com that Idaho prosecutors have ethical responsibilities regarding what they can disclose, so he could only confirm that Judge Nelson has been charged with misdemeanor battery and malicious injury to property.
Nelson is represented by Curtis Smith of the law firm Smith, Woolf, Anderson and Wilkinson.
“This conduct isn’t representative of who Ryan is, and we are going to see the process through,” Smith told EastIdahoNews.com.
Following reporting on this incident by the Idaho State Journal and other media outlets, Nelson is also facing a judicial misconduct inquiry by the court’s governing body. This is according to an order released Monday by Chief U.S. Circuit Judge Mary Murguia of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The order was made public to maintain public confidence in the judiciary’s ability to redress misconduct or disability, the order states. But all subsequent misconduct proceedings will be confidential.
According to the U.S. Courts webpage, during an investigation of judicial misconduct, a special committee of judges is appointed to investigate the complaint and submit a report with recommendations to the circuit judicial council. Remedies for misconduct can include the circuit judicial council censuring or reprimanding the judge, publicly or privately, and temporarily withholding cases from the judge.
If the circuit judicial council concludes that the judge engaged in conduct that might constitute grounds for impeachment, the council must refer the complaint to the judicial conference. If the judicial conference finds possible grounds for impeachment, it submits a report to the U.S. House of Representatives. District judges can only be removed from office through impeachment and conviction by Congress.
Nelson is scheduled for a pre-trial conference on June 18.