LAS VEGAS — Without help from a friend, James Mahan might never have become a Las Vegas state judge. Certainly he wouldn't have gotten one of the top judicial jobs in town: a lifetime appointment to the federal bench.
Then again, without Mahan, his friend George Swarts would never have gotten to run an Internet porn business, a hotel-casino hair salon or a Southern California software company. Indeed, the careers of Judge James C. Mahan, 62, and his friend George C. Swarts, also 62, whom he appointed again and again as a receiver to manage troubled businesses, might be the ultimate example of how juice replaces justice in Las Vegas courtrooms.
In this town, people speak reverently of having juice, or an "in," and Mahan -- bearded, likable but sometimes caustic -- has made it a striking feature in his courtroom. First as a state judge and now as a federal judge, he has approved more than $4.8 million in judgments and fees during more than a dozen cases in which a recent search of court records found no statement that he disclosed his relationships with those who benefited from his decisions.
On the state bench for three years, and since his appointment as a U.S. District Court judge four years ago by President Bush, Mahan has approved many of these fees for Swarts, a certified public accountant who had served as his judicial campaign treasurer and whose political connections got him appointed. Mahan approved additional fees for Frank A. Ellis III, 51, a former law partner with whom the judge still owned property and participated in a profit-sharing plan. Ellis also provided free legal services for Mahan's family and for his executive judicial assistant.
Mahan, like a number of Las Vegas judges, has taken on cases despite state and federal prohibitions against such apparent conflicts. Some Las Vegas judges have ruled in cases involving their friends, even those to whom they owe money.
The practice harms visitors and business people alike, especially Californians, who come here in large numbers to work and play. They fall victim to an untamed style of justice, blatantly tangled in clashing local interests.
Las Vegas is a town of instant millionaires, 60-second weddings, six-week divorces and a sly wink at conflicts of interest, to say nothing of the abuses that go with them. Some California lawyers view Las Vegas justice as just another crapshoot. When they are pressed about it, some Nevada lawyers openly condemn the system. The excuse, says Las Vegas attorney Charles W. Bennion, "is that this is the way it's always been done -- fast and loose."
