These candidates are running for Henderson Justice Court Department 4

Four candidates have entered the race for a newly created seat presiding over Henderson Justice Court.

The court hears cases related to traffic citation, small claims and landlord-tenant issues, protective orders, misdemeanors and civil matters. Justices of the Peace also handle gross misdemeanors and felony cases from initial appearances through preliminary hearings and help set bail and determine probable cause, and their terms last six years.

The primary field for Department 4, which was established to help deal with the court’s growing caseload, consists of a pro tem justice, an assistant Henderson city attorney, a deputy Clark County district attorney and a longtime attorney who has ran previously for other local judicial vacancies.

Contract and business litigation attorney Trent Richards has filled in on the Henderson Justice Court bench as a pro tem justice since 2020, a role that he said has allowed him to gain limited judicial experience that no other candidate has.

“I just really enjoy the work,” said Richards, a United States Marine Corps veteran, who is also the founder of Sagebrush Lawyers and is a court-appointed arbitrator for District Court. “I already do the work from time to time when they need someone to cover for them, and I just get a big feeling of personal satisfaction doing it. I particularly like doing justice court. It’s down in the trenches.”

Another Marine Corps veteran, Michael Allmon, is a special victims unit prosecutor for the Clark County district attorney’s office since 2021. He has earned endorsements from District Attorney Steve Wolfson, the Henderson Police Officer and Supervisor unions and several other law enforcement groups across Nevada.

Allmon said the most important thing the new Justice of the Peace will do is help set bail amounts, an area he argued he’s the most qualified compared to the other candidates because he’s worked on thousands of cases in the justice court system.

“There are some candidates who have never even appeared in Justice Court, and I have the most experience and background in that,” Allmon said. “My two goals are public safety and fairness.”

Assistant Henderson City Attorney John Cory is a fourth-generation Nevadan who, before coming into his current role in 2022, served as a deputy city attorney for neighboring Las Vegas. As a prosecuting attorney who has worked on all types of cases heard before Henderson Justice Court, Cory said becoming a justice of the peace would be the best use of his skill set.

“This particular position of being a judge for justice court is the best place that I can think of to serve my community,” Cory said. “It’s that perfect combination of what I feel would be genuinely fulfilling to me as a person in my professional career, and also it’s the place where I feel like I can do the most good.”

Attorney Harvey Gruber said he’s been working on civil and criminal defense cases in Southern Nevada since 1997, including many cases that were heard in Henderson Justice Court. Gruber owned his own law practice, which for two decades was located Water Street, before joining the Hall & Evans law firm.

Gruber said he has run unsuccessfully for a Henderson Justice of the Peace three times, in 2008, 2016 and 2024. He’s not accepting campaign donations, he said, but hopes to make an impression on voters by knocking on doors and by holding personal meet-and-greets.

“I’ve handled every case that could come before the Henderson Justice court myself, which I think gives me a leg up on all the other candidates,” Gruber said. “My experience, both civilly and on the criminal side, stand out from everybody else.”

The candidates for the nonpartisan race will appear on the June 9 primary ballot, though an early voting period will run from Saturday, May 23 until Friday, June 5. If no candidate receives more than 50 percent of the total vote, the top-two vote getters will appear again on the November 3 General Election ballot.