Christy Craig

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Christy Craig

Nonpartisan

Nevada 8th Judicial District Court Department 32

Tenure

2021 - Present

Term ends

2027

Years in position

4

Report an officeholder change

Elections and appointments

Last elected

November 3, 2020

Education

Bachelor's

University of Nevada, Las Vegas, 1993

Law

California Western School of Law, 1996

Personal

Religion

Protestant

Profession

Public Defender

Contact

Campaign website

Campaign Facebook

Christy Craig is a judge for Department 32 of the Nevada 8th Judicial District Court. She assumed office on January 4, 2021. Her current term ends on January 4, 2027.

Craig ran for election for the Department 32 judge of the Nevada 8th Judicial District Court. She won in the general election on November 3, 2020.

Craig completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2020. Click here to read the survey answers.

Biography

Christy Craig was born in Fort Benning, Georgia. She earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV), in 1993, and a J.D. from the California Western School of Law in 1996. Her professional experience includes working as the Clark County public defender and as an adjunct professor at UNLV Boyd School of Law. She was also a medical technician for more than a decade. Craig is a member of the Local Law Enforcement Advisory Committee and the Social Services Citizen's Advisory Committee.

Elections

2020

See also: Municipal elections in Clark County, Nevada (2020)

General election

General election for Nevada 8th Judicial District Court Department 32

Christy Craig defeated incumbent Rob Bare in the general election for Nevada 8th Judicial District Court Department 32 on November 3, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Christy Craig (Nonpartisan)	55.0	391,947
		Rob Bare (Nonpartisan)	45.0	320,448

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 712,395
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Nonpartisan primary election

The primary election was canceled. Incumbent Rob Bare and Christy Craig advanced from the primary for Nevada 8th Judicial District Court Department 32.

Campaign themes

2020

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Christy Craig completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2020. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Craig's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

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Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

I have been a trial lawyer for more than two decades. I am a trial attorney with more than 2 decades of trial experience from jury selection through verdict. District courts are the trial courts and require judges with deep and significant trial experience. I am Nevada Supreme Court Rule 250 certified to handle capital homicide cases. If elected, I would be the only Rule 250 qualified judge on the bench. I have spent my entire career representing the most vulnerable in our community. I discovered that mentally ill criminal defendants were languishing in jail waiting for transfer to a forensic mental hospital for treatment, I took action. I sued the State of Nevada and won. As a result, the state built Stein Forensic Hospital in Clark County. The first such facility built in the entire state in more than 50 years. As team chief of the Complex Litigation Unit in the Public Defender's Office, I supervised a team of attorneys in developing impact litigation strategies addressing systemic problems in local justice system. After two years of work, filing hundreds of writs and motions within the Eighth Judicial District Court and Federal District Court, the Nevada Supreme Court issued a historic ruling declaring that every person arrested in Nevada has a right to a constitutionally valid detention hearing before a court can require a pretrial detainee to post bail. This decision ended decades unconstitutional detention of the poor in the entire State of Nevada.

Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

• I have the right experience with more than 2 decades as a trial lawyer. The District Court is a trial court and needs experienced trial lawyers on the bench.
• I will work with the Eighth Judicial District Administration to ensure that the public has access both in person and electronically and that the courts continue to anticipate and prepare for the future.
• I will work hard to be a good judge and strive to be a great one.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

Appropriate treatment of mentally ill and intellectually disabled citizens. I successfully prosecuted at Section 1983 civil rights claim against the State of Nevada challenging delays in the treatment of mentally ill pre-trial detainees in conjunction with McLetchieShell LLC. As part of the consent decree, the State of Nevada agreed to build a forensic hospital in Clark County. Stein Hospital opened in 2015.

I participated in the establishment of the Mental Health Court diversionary program. Understanding the importance of the program, I agreed to represent every defendant in the program in additional to my main job on the murder team. I continued that work for more than a decade. I am a founding member of the Lake's Crossing Task Force(LCTF) charged with charged with identifying solutions to various problems associated with the treatment of mentally-ill, incompetent defendants in Clark County. Issues considered by the LCTF included the backlog of in-custody defendants awaiting treatment; triaging defendants awaiting treatment; alternative treatment/placement options; legal and medical barriers to treatment; and treatment of profoundly disabled detainees.

Co-Creator, Clark County Competency Court which involved the designation of a singular court and development of a singular protocol for adjudicating competency issues in criminal cases. Competency court now functions as the sole arbiter of competency-related matters, thereby increasing the efficiency of the sys

Who do you look up to? Whose example would you like to follow, and why?

With regard to local judges, I admire, Judge Stew Bell and Judge Sally Loehrer. Both of them shared many of the same qualities. They ran great courtrooms-efficient, timely, and always prepared. They were practical, consistent, and understood and applied the law fairly. Both had the ability to apply the law to the facts and to understand how a judicial decision will affect the human beings appearing before the court. They were able to communicate with counsel, jurors, witnesses, and parties calmly and courteously, and were always willing to listen to and consider what was said on all sides of a debatable proposition and make timely, legally appropriate rulings.

I admired their judicial temperament. Their patience in often trying circumstances, open-mindedness, courtesy, tact, courage, punctuality, firmness, understanding, compassion, humility and common sense.

Is there a book, essay, film, or something else you would recommend to someone who wants to understand your political philosophy?

no.

What characteristics or principles are most important for an elected official?

Courage is to do what the law requires the judge to do even though the course the judge must follow is not the popular one.

Integrity to not be influenced by the identity, race, gender, political status, wealth, or relationship of the party or lawyer before the judge.

Doing what is right. A judge should possess empathy, courage, and integrity.

What qualities do you possess that you believe would make you a successful officeholder?

I am an experienced trial attorney well versed in the language of trials. I am qualified pursuant to Nevada Supreme Court Rule 250 to represent persons charged with capital murder when the state is seeking the death penalty. If elected I would be the only District Court Judge who is Rule 250 qualified.

What do you believe are the core responsibilities for someone elected to this office?

Well researched and well thought out decisions based solely on the law.
Timely decisions.
Efficient and effective courtroom.

Working with the Eighth Judicial District and the Nevada Supreme Court to improve the entire judicial system statewide.

What legacy would you like to leave?

If elected I would like to be thought of as fair, a listener who will hear and listen and understand the legal and factual arguments that each party presents before making a timely, well thought out decision that is firmly grounded in the law.

What is the first historical event that happened in your lifetime that you remember? How old were you at the time?

Neil Armstrong's walk on the moon occurred on my birthday in July 1969. I was nine years old. I can recall taking a break in the birthday festivities to gather around our new console TV to watch.

What was your very first job? How long did you have it?

I worked in an ice cream shop in Ohio when I was 16 years old. I worked there for about a year and then moved to a local restaurant as a waitress.

What is your favorite book? Why?

The Discoverers by Daniel Boorstin. It is the best history book ever written. He is a lovely writer with lyrical prose. What makes this book special is his approach to world history. Instead of following a strict timeline, he starts with ideas and their impact on the world. He starts with the discovery of the clock. What life was like before the ability to measure time, to its impact on society. He then moves on to calendars. It is a compelling and engaging review of world history and how science and humankind have come to know the world. I have read it several times.

If you could be any fictional character, who would you want to be?

Harriet M. Welsch from Harriet the Spy.

What was the last song that got stuck in your head?

Happy featuring Derek Martin.

What is something that has been a struggle in your life?

To balance raising a family with quality work for my clients.

Are there any little-known powers or responsibilities held by this office that you believe more people should be aware of?

While the day to day running of the individual courtroom is the most obvious duty of a judge, each court is part of a larger whole that is the Eighth Judicial District Court and the entire Nevada legal system. It is important for judges to be involved in the smooth running of the entire system, from volunteering for various committees to participating in the trial overflow system. Trials can be set in a courtroom that is busy with another trial. That trial goes to the Overflow Judge for assignment to another open courtroom. Many judges do not participate or accept overflow cases. I think it is a duty of district court judges to do trials and to accept overflow trials.

How would you describe your legal philosophy?

To apply the law fairly, consistently, and timely. To know and apply legal rules, analyses, and procedures to different facts and circumstances, and the ability quickly to perceive, comprehend, and understand new concepts and ideas.

Is there a particular judge, past or present, whom you admire?

See earlier answer.

Do you believe that empathy is an important quality for a judge?

Empathy is essential in an adversarial system, where each side is given an opportunity to present its best legal and factual arguments. The judge is charged with selecting the better of those arguments to hear and listen and understand the legal and factual arguments that each party presents. "The ability to empathize-to experience, feel, and understand what another person experiences, feels, and understands-says nothing about what a judge should do with the information gained from her empathy. Empathy does not tell a judge to decide in a particular way." Thomas B. Colby, In Defense of Judicial Empathy, 96 Minn. L. Rev. 1944 (2012).

Have you ever been rated by a Bar Association? If so, what was the rating?

No

Why are you running for this particular court seat?

In the Review-Journal 2019 Judging the Judges, my opponent received a dismal retention rating of only 67% down substantially from his 80% rating in 2013. He received low scores in areas indicating he often errs in basic trial functions. The low scores were in the following areas:

3.5 It was evident that the judge weighed all evidence and arguments fairly before rendering a decision.

3.4 The judge accurately applied the law, the rules of procedure, and/or the rules of evidence.

3.6 The judge's explanation of the basis for their decision was clear.

His lack of significant trial experience shows. According to the website Our Nevada Judges, nearly half of Mr. Bare's published opinions have been reversed. This is not only a travesty of justice for the litigants but a huge expense to taxpayers who foot the bill for the remand.

For example:
Paulos v FCH1, 136 Nev. 18 (2020) (Hardesty) finding that the district court failed to make any findings of facts or conclusions of law on the issues before the district court the Nevada Supreme Court was unable to conclude that the court's ruling was legally correct.

Grupo Famsa, S.A. DE C.V. v Eighth Judicial District Court and Judge Rob Bare, 132 Nev. 334 (2016) (Hardesty) which found that the "district court failed to conduct the necessary fact-finding to determine whether service was constitutionally sufficient."


https://www.reviewjournal.com/news/the-complete-2019-judicial-performance-evaluation-results/
http://www.reviewjournal.com/news/judicial-performance-evaluation

https://www.ournevadajudges.com/judges/rob-w-bare/cases

Do you believe that it's beneficial for a judge to have previous experience in government or politics?

No.

What is your primary concern about today's legal system in your state?

Lack of independent, transparent data-driven, evidence-based reviews of the courts to determine if sentences are fair, if individual courts are free from conscious and unconscious bias, to determine if individual courts are efficiently doing business and if rulings are timely.

What do you consider the greatest opportunity for the legal system in your state?

New judges who will work hard to make the system work smoothly, efficiently, and fairly for all of Nevada's citizens.

Would you be interested in serving on a higher court in the future? If so, which court appeals to you?

No.

Do you believe that Bar Association ratings are an accurate reflection of a judge’s ability?

No opinion.

Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.

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Candidate

Nevada 8th Judicial District Court Department 32

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Footnotes

Nevada courts

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Federal courts:

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals • U.S. District Court: District of Nevada • U.S. Bankruptcy Court: District of Nevada

State courts:

Nevada Supreme Court • Nevada Court of Appeals • Nevada District Courts • Nevada Justice Courts • Nevada Municipal Courts • Clark County Family Court, Nevada

State resources:

Courts in Nevada • Nevada judicial elections • Judicial selection in Nevada