Judge weighs bias in case of Summerlin student accused in sex assault

An attorney for a Summerlin private school student accused in connection with a sexual assault complained Thursday about what he views as the sensationalization and disparate treatment of the allegations against his client.

“I have had high profile capital murder trials that haven’t drawn this much attention,” said Tony Sgro, who represents Vaughn Griffith, one of two teens charged in the case.

Griffith, 15, faces a count of possession of child sexual abuse material. He and other boys accused in the sexual assault were Alexander Dawson School students in April 2025, when authorities say it occurred on a school trip to Costa Rica.

His attorneys have argued District Judge Christy Craig should be removed from his case, in part because her comments at a prior hearing “call into question the impartiality of the Court.” They were in court Thursday to make their case for that request.

Chief District Judge Jerry Wiese heard the challenge of Craig and said he would review case records before making a decision on whether she would stay on the case.

Basis of disqualification bid

During the previous hearing, Craig refused to delay a hearing over whether Griffith’s indictment should be dismissed until after the resolution of a challenge of a ruling that he would be tried as an adult.

“Why would I care about that?” Craig asked.

She also suggested that even if the challenge of the prior adult certification ruling was successful, Griffith would likely be certified as an adult again.

“Practically speaking, using (former District Attorney and District Judge) Stew Bell’s language, even if that was granted, it would just go to another judge, and they’d hold another hearing, and it’s likely he’d be back up here anyway and I think that’s probably the end result,” Craig said. “But it may not be. I don’t know.”

Griffith’s lawyers argued that Craig’s comments showed her bias and polluted the jury pool in the high-profile case.

“Why take a chance when it appears that this gratuitous comment has the potential of tainting not only the case but also the prospective jury pool?” Sgro asked Wiese as he argued for the removal of Craig.

He added that Craig’s remarks could send the message to a juvenile court judge that she expects Griffith to remain certified as an adult.

Craig denied having bias for the defense or prosecution in a response to the disqualification motion. She also denied having concluded that Griffith belonged in adult court and noted that she also said Griffith might not be recertified as an adult.

Claims of disparate treatment

Sgro spent much of his argument before Wiese discussing the unusual dynamics of the case.

Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson has said local prosecutors do not have jurisdiction to prosecute the assault itself because it happened in Costa Rica.

Dominic Kim, 15, the other teen accused in the case, has been indicted on counts of possession of child sexual abuse material and child abuse, neglect or endangerment.

Additional teens suspected of involvement in the assault are not facing charges because of the jurisdictional issues in the case, Wolfson has said.

“It’s important for the court to understand that the primary, principle actors who are the ones alleged to have committed sexual assaults on the victim have never been charged,” said Sgro. “And so the charges now have been lodged upon Mr. Griffith for allegations stemming from filming an incident.”

Griffith and Kim instructed one of the boys to rape the victim and Griffith recorded a video of the assault, which he saved to Snapchat, according to police.

The victim told police that Griffith went beyond filming and he was one of the teens who played an active role in the assault, according to a report.

Chief Deputy District Attorney Stacy Kollins previously said Kim and at least three other boys “gang raped” the victim, who believed the perpetrators were his friends, on their class trip.

Kim then showed videos to his peers and “continued to torture” the victim with their release, she said in juvenile court.

Sgro also raised the involvement of prominent defense attorneys David Chesnoff and Richard Schonfeld, who represent the sexual assault victim.

“Mr. Chesnoff and Mr. Schonfeld are special advisors to the prosecution,” he said, indicating that he was referring to media coverage of their role. “I don’t even know that that’s permitted.”

Chesnoff said after court that his role is to act on behalf of the victim.

“Richard and I represent the victim, a young man who has suffered about as serious an attack as a person can suffer,” he said.

The attorney added: “We have nothing to do with anything other than representing his best interest and we’ll continue to do so.”

Wolfson did not immediately respond to a request for comment about Chesnoff and Schonfeld’s involvement.

Sgro suggested that the attention on the case has led to the legal process being distorted.

“When you have a high profile case already, where the factual underpinning(s) of that case have been sensationalized by the media, where there’s been a rush to judgment in so far as this 14-year-old boy standing next to me has been certified as an adult and everyone seems to be saying yes, of course he should be certified, man, we have skipped over a huge portion of our analysis, have we not?” he said.