Ep20 Lance Hendron—Why Local Judges Impact Your Life More Than You Think

Lance Hendron  0:00  
There is something to be said about judges that have followed the rule of law, have just some general background of life experiences and have that compassion, and I think that's something that I bring to the table, and I would love to, as a public servant, bring that to our community.

Scott Groves  0:22  
Welcome to Henderson. HQ, this is the podcast where you get all the stories behind the businesses that make our community tick. Don't forget to subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Hey, Henderson. HQ, it's Scott groves here. Met my new friend Lance at the Crab Shack when we were doing a Henderson Chamber of Commerce mixer watching UNLV win their bowl game. So that was pretty cool. And Lance is running for a judge here, uh, Justice Court, department three in Henderson. He's like, Hey, can I come on and just talk about why people should care about voting for their judge? And I'm like, Yes, I need to know why people should care about voting for their judge. If you want to find out more information, go to Lance. The number four, the word judge.com, so Lance for Judge, the number four.com and we'll talk all about it. So maybe we'll start there, like, why should people care about who they vote for for Judge? Because, you know, there's a lot of partisan people that just go down blue, no matter who, red, no matter who, and then you get to judges, and you're like, well, these aren't partisan positions. I don't know any of these people personally. Who am I going to vote for? Right? So, so why does it matter who you vote for in a judge ship? Is that what we call it?

Lance Hendron  1:24  
Yes, that's that's absolutely and and first and foremost, Scott, thanks for having me on it's really a cool thing you've got set up. And I'm grateful that way I can communicate with our fellow community members out here in Henderson. So absolutely, what you're explaining is absolutely right. You go to the ballot, you're voting, and then ultimately you get that ballot fatigue. And for a lot of the partisan positions, you see a lot of information about them, but then when it comes to the judges, you tend to see not a whole lot. So I think it's important that the individuals get out there and establish themselves with the community, with regards to the judge position itself for Justice Court and for judges just across the board, people the voters should recognize. I mean, really, that's kind of the most important step, because that may be kind of life altering decisions that people may get somehow involved with. With the judicial system for Justice Court. For instance, we handle all types of civil matters under a certain jurisdictional monetary threshold. And then also for we handle criminal matters as well, and evictions. And these can be again, like life altering issues for people that are dealing out here in the community.

Scott Groves  2:39  
Yeah, you know it's crazy, because, obviously, it's in vogue to complain about whoever the President is. You know, 90% of YouTube content is Biden this, or Trump that or whatever. But when I talk to people, I'm like, Can you name your mayor? Like, if you can't name your mayor or your local congressman, those are the people that actually affect our day to day life. I fall into this trap too. I love to talk about, you know, global politics and giant socio economic problems. But what really affects me is like, is I don't know boulder highway construction gonna be done one day at some point, right? So it's like, these are the things that matter, and I try to do my best to research at a deeper level, the local issues, the local propositions, the local people for city council and board positions and whatnot. But you're right. I've never thought of that term before, but ballot fatigue has got to be like a real thing, right? By the time you get to the bottom of the ballots, like, I don't care. They're they're not, they're not partisan. I'll go with this person's last name, which, by the way, having the last name which rhymes with Henderson, or is close to Henderson, I think that's going to help you. So I think you're gonna win. But why? Maybe you can talk a little bit about why people have ballot fatigue and why people don't connect to like understanding that their local representatives are the ones that are gonna affect their life the most.

Lance Hendron  3:53  
I think it's a couple of things probably, you know, first is we all have limited time, right? In other words, we have busy schedules, we have our daily jobs or families to take care of. And so when you're going to the booth to vote, there may be so many names out there, you know, you only have so much of a limited time available to actually do do the research. And so I understand that even you know, for myself running, you know, I see names out there, and I have to double check and figure out, Okay, I've never heard of this person, so I need to do a little bit of my own homework and figuring out what's going on. And then that kind of goes to the next step as far as, how much is that individual that's on the ballot being out there, active with the community? Are they going out there face to face? Are there signs out there? Are they engaged on social media and the Internet where you can actually look and kind of do your own research and figuring out, you know, what is this individual all about? And so I think collectively, I get it, I understand, but it's one of those things where you know it. It is important, because these are going to be individuals that could potentially somehow impact your life, whether directly or indirectly. Yeah, so we talked a

Scott Groves  5:08  
little bit about the why. Like, if somebody is thinking about, like, Okay, well, how do I do that? Right? Because you don't have, like, a voting record, I can look up, right? Or, you know, it's a big talking point now, of like, Oh, they're appointing all these advocate judges, you know, and they're and they're trying to make policy instead of interpret the laws that are already in the book. So, like, how would somebody even go about that? Like, if you didn't happen to come on this podcast, how would I find out what Lance believes, and is he tough on crime or soft on crime? Or, like, how would somebody even go about doing that research?

Lance Hendron  5:37  
Well, maybe a couple of things that could be done is, again, just doing kind of just a general overview search of the individual. How long have they been a member of our community? I've been out here in Southern Nevada for 35 years. I went to public elementary school, middle school, high school. I graduated from Silverado out here in 1999 so I think at least there's a lot of background from already some of our local citizens who I grew up with, that helps out. Additionally, if you go on the internet, you may get an overview of the individual right. In other words, if they're running for judge, most likely than not, there's a couple of jurisdictions in Nevada where you actually don't even need to be an attorney to run for justice of the peace, for justice court. Wait, were you an attorney? I am an attorney.

Scott Groves  6:26  
Okay, you can be a judge without having been an attorney. Correct?

Lance Hendron  6:31  
There's certain areas, for instance, like Laughlin, I believe Searchlight, good springs, the jurisdiction there, the population is small enough to where you don't actually need to be a licensed attorney to be a justice of the peace out there in some of these areas,

Scott Groves  6:47  
that blows my mind, because, like, procedurally, I other than having to go to court because I got a traffic ticket that I forgot about, and so they issued a bench warrant for me. Funny story, by the way, okay, I got to tell a funny story. I get pulled over on the way to Long Beach one time, going to see my girlfriend, and the cop comes up, hey, you were speeding, yada yada, license and whatever, and comes back, comes back with his gun drawn. And he's like, out of the car handcuffs, so I'm sitting on like the side of the 710 freeway, and he goes back to his car, and he comes back laughing. He's like, I'm so sorry. He's like, you had a bench warrant out for your arrest, and I didn't recognize the code for which you had a bench warrant, and I had to, like, call it in, or look it up on the computer or whatever. You have a jay walking ticket from like, five years ago in the city of Long Beach that either you didn't get the ticket or you didn't pay the $87 you have, like, a warrant out for your arrest. I'm supposed to arrest you, impound your car, take you to jail. He's like, You're a moron. I'm like, Yes, sir, I'm a moron. I'm so sorry. I thought it was like, a mistaken identity or something, because, like, I wasn't driving drunk. I wasn't like, I have any criminal charges. He's like, You need to get to the Long Beach court and take this, take care of this immediately, because if it wasn't me, you'd be spending the night in jail. So I go to the court, the judge and like, I'm sitting there, and they have, like, all the docket numbers, and I'm sure I was like, last priority. So I'm sitting through these cases where, like, somebody got in a bar fight and then tried to gouge the guy's eyes out so he couldn't identify him, like, Dude driving around on his bike with an ice chest with like, four pounds of cocaine in it. And then I come up here and the judge looks at he's like, Jay walking. Are you shitting me? You're wasting my time with this. He's like, pay your fee. Get out of my court, don't ever come back again. So it was just funny. Anyway, I wouldn't know procedurally how to go through like a legal case. So that blows my mind, that there's certain areas where you don't have to be a lawyer. What type of law have you studied practice? Because I know it's so so diverse on what you can do

Lance Hendron  8:36  
as a lawyer. So for roughly the 18 years that I've been practicing, my primary focus has been criminal defense. I handle both state cases and federal cases, anything from like you talk about, if there's a jay walking issue, all the way up to the higher end, you know, the type of crimes where people are being alleged to have commit violent felonies, murders. And you know, I'm proud of being part of this process. You know, it's looking out. It's all part of the process where, you know, our country, we're blessed to have that opportunity, where we have the due process. People have their opportunity to be heard, and they're making sure that people's individual constitutional civil liberty rights are protected and that we abide by, you know, the presumption of innocence, which was, again, one of the things that's just really a beautiful thing about our country that I'm really grateful for, and I take that extremely serious. You know, it's an oath that I've taken. I'm zealous and ethical about the whole process. And again, it's just something where we, just as as the community, need to be grateful, and we also need to recognize, from the standpoint of attorneys that do practice practice criminal offense of whites, such an important piece of the puzzle, if you will, for our civil liberties.

Scott Groves  9:55  
Yeah, I feel like defense lawyers get like, a bad rap until you know somebody that's. Needed to be defended by a defense attorney. Then all of a sudden, it's a blessing.

Lance Hendron  10:04  
It's interesting from that standpoint, and I've had some interesting cases where there's been no doubt. I mean, it's been publicized that I've represented individuals who were actually innocent and accused of serious, serious crimes, as far as, for instance, acting as undercover vice law enforcement, where ultimately was determined that, based upon a faulty six pack, in other words, like a photo lineup, that they had the wrong individual, and they and that individual had very similar physical characteristics as far as the actual perpetrator. So, you know, somebody's looking at spending the rest of their life in prison. This is the check and balance that we have, and completely recognizing from the standpoint of, hey, I've got a wife, I've got kids, I want to have, you know, strong law enforcement laws that protect myself and my family from crimes. So it's, it's just one of those balance of the scales, if you will. But it's so important for people to have that due process, yeah,

Scott Groves  11:09  
so why would somebody want to go from the defense attorney side to even run as a judge? I cannot imagine it's a pay raise. So there must be some other motivation for you, like, Why does somebody decide that they want to go on the other side, where they call it, the other side of the table, the

Lance Hendron  11:22  
other side of the bench? Well, I would consider maybe the middle side, if you will, right. So I think the judge is calling the balls and strikes, and then you have your prosecutors, and you have the defense attorneys that are involved with it. From the criminal standpoint, the reason why I decided to run was, ultimately, I just believe that I'm very active community engagement wise, that's something that I find extremely important. I also really have a strong stance with access to justice. I enjoy seeing individuals being able to overcome adversary in their lives, and also trying to find ways to when people are in difficult situations, to get over that hurdle, I think it's a community effort, and I certainly love what I do, being a criminal defense attorney and representing those that have been accused and making sure that they have The proper due process, but also from being a judge, I do believe I can bring that being impartial and also recognizing as well, there is something to be said about judges that have followed the rule of law, have just some general background of life experiences and have that compassion, and I think that's something that I bring to the table, and I would love to, as a public servant, bring that to our community. Again, I've been out here with my family in Southern Nevada since I was eight years old, and I've been blessed with very, very humble beginnings. You know, when we moved out here, my my parents and I, they had gotten job opportunities. We came from the Midwest. They got job opportunities at The Mirage. And we started living in an apartment from from the jump, and gradually were able to be blessed and humbled to, you know, grow ourselves, grow our family. And I was, you know, blessed to get the education and things to give me where I'm at today that I just I just feel that there's something inside of me that being able to further help our community is something I have I'm passionate about and would take again that that humble pride of wanting to just make our community an ongoing greater place.

Scott Groves  13:44  
So you mentioned something there, kind of about interpreting the laws, or however you phrase it, probably better than I can. Can you talk a little bit when you're a judge, right? And there's obviously the letter of the law, there are certain criminal penalties or financial penalties. Can you talk a little bit of like, this is the letter of the law. This is the spirit of the law. This is the interpretation of the law. Because, you know, people are familiar with the very high profile cases where it's like, Whoa, he could be facing anywhere from five years to life in prison. It's like, well, that's a pretty big spread, right? I'm a little older now. I'm losing some of my hair, but let's say I make it till 85 years. Okay? I get out at 50 and like, maybe I can still make a life for myself the rest of my life, dying in prison. That's, that's, that's, that's as life altering as it can get. So can you just talk a little bit about that, like on the judge side, or maybe even on the lawyer side? How you start to think about that, like, letter of the law versus interpretation of the law versus variability in sentencing? Because it seems like judges are given a lot of room to interpret stuff?

Lance Hendron  14:43  
No? And that's, that's a great question too, and I think it's something that allowing the community to have a better grasp of. So, for instance, you know, our legislature, our state legislature creates, you know, want to wear it in case that involves a state criminal allegations. For instance, um. They define, they show what the criminal laws are, for instance, and also, as far as what potential punishments come into play based upon that, that's obviously decisions that are made when the whether it's the district attorney's office or the city attorney's office, elects to charge somebody with the offenses they may have been arrested for, and at that point in time, that's where the individuals that are representing the the attorneys representing individuals accused of those crimes come before the court, and then the court will have certain discretions that need to be taken into consideration, for instance, when, like, setting bail, or if ultimately, the person is convicted of the crime, what the potential punishment is now, with regards to like, when you highlight the more serious cases, and those are the ones I typically get, like, you know, press coverage, for instance, the judges are within the confines of what the sentencing structure would Allow. Some offenses are non probationable, and so that individual, if they're convicted or they plead guilty, they'll be going to prison. And it's just a matter of, for instance, how long? But when we take kind of a step back, and we look at it not from the standpoint of maybe the the crimes that have that media sensation, but more so on kind of what you would say is, like the petty offenses, right issues of dealing with like possession of drugs or petty larceny, those kind of cases, I think, require, you know, a judge, really, to look at it from the standpoint of discretion, where, hey, is this somebody's first offense, their first rodeo in the criminal justice system, and are there alternatives that may exist because that person's dealing with some struggles and hurdles in their life, for for instance, financially, drug addiction, mental health issues. You know, when we look at it from our veterans dealing with PTSD, and I think a judge then should look at it from the standpoint of, can we try to get them on a track that would allow them the opportunity to kind of show themselves that, you know what? That's not a reflection of who I am as an individual. And are there alternatives specialty courts, for instance, dealing with like substance abuse in our drug courts, or our veterans dealing with PTSD issues going into a veterans court, or mental health issues, which has become, obviously a big, you know, epidemic nationwide and in our state, included, how do we try to address that? Because if we simply just put them in jail, for instance, is that going to help out our community? Have we? Have we addressed the underlying issue. And those are things, I think, where judges do have discretion and need to take into consideration that our legislature has has allowed, by allowing these courts to be created, giving the judges those opportunities to take a look at,

Scott Groves  17:54  
and maybe not so much about you personally, or the you know, the department three that you would be serving. But I'd love to just hear kind of globally, like, give me some education. One of the reasons we moved out of LA five years ago and moved up to here, and we're so happy we did, is like LA and California in general had basically taken this stance of, like, we're going to be a no bail state. We're going to not charge any criminal with basically anything, unless there's blood involved. So it just got to this point where, like, you know, friends of mine, they'd be sitting out at a restaurant and they get whacked over the back of the head in their wallet, their wallet, or their watch stolen, right? Because it's like, wow, it's, it's under $1,000 it probably won't be even a chargeable offense, right? Or the, I'll just call it what it is, in my opinion, the looting of stores. And it's like, we're not talking about, like, Whole Foods for baby formula. We're talking about, you know, target for PlayStation fives or whatever. And I was just looking around at the landscape, and I was like, We need to move to a community where the police are empowered to actually investigate and arrest and stop crimes. So can you talk a little bit about, like, where, kind of globally, Henderson, and then Vegas, and then maybe the state is as far as their stance on crime or bail, or, you know, I think you know what I'm getting at here, like we're not becoming California. Are we where, like, nobody's gonna be charged with anything?

Lance Hendron  19:15  
No, I don't believe that's the case. I believe we have a strong legislative system that keeps tabs on this. We have, you know, a strong media outlet that focuses attention on these type of issues. So I think we are staying on top of it as a state as a whole. Again, there are issues that come into play where, if an individual such as you describe, commits these serious kind of offenses, there is a hammer that can be dropped. And there was also, for instance, during the past special session that we just had a crime bill that was enacted and makes these more tough on crimes, if you will, to making sure that the recidivism of the more high end serious crimes are properly addressed. And I can. Completely understand that. Look, you want to have a community we're blessed in Southern Nevada with having, you know, a strong economy, having, I think still what we feel almost like, even though it's our population has grown from when I moved out here. I don't even think in 89 we were anywhere near like the million. And I think we're in around 2 million now, but you still talk with, you know, your fellow neighbors, and there's always like, that six degree of separation of like, how you know somebody from somebody else, right? And I think that's really what makes our area, here in Southern Nevada, so unique too, is that we do look out for each other with regards to that.

Scott Groves  20:38  
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Lance Hendron  21:37  
You know, in addition, I also believe that when we have, you know, concerns of, again, kind of things that you may touch upon, like with California, we we as the community, I think stay on top of those kind of issues as a judge. It wouldn't be appropriate for me to say this is how I'm going to stand, because every case presents different kind of optics. Every race does, right? And again, that's why it's the important of that whole due process, so the individual that's, you know, accused has that opportunity to be heard and have a better understanding, as far as kind of what their background is, if you will, looking at it from even like the issues with mental health, substance abuse, you know, dealing with our veterans, I think we tried to do our very best here in the state of Nevada, of making sure that we also are focusing collectively on looking out for our fellow community, you know, neighbor,

Scott Groves  22:37  
if you will. Yeah, it makes sense that every case would present differently, because behind every defendant podium is a human and they, they all have different stories, right? So like, you having that discretion to be like, whatever. I'm not trying to put words in your mouth, but first time offense, like, maybe there's a path into rehab. Or, like you said, PTSD, I have a lot of friends from my time in the military and kind of groups that I'm in where it's like, yeah, this is, this is not, I'm going to use a name of somebody that I don't know in the military. This is not Chuck anymore. Like, you know, you get blown up a few times and concussions, and you see some stuff that no human being should have to see. They they might have a little bit different outlook on life, and might respond to things a little bit different. So I'm, I'm glad that there's other off ramps, other than, let's just put them in a cage and see what happens. And it's like, I don't know, does that really help anybody? I'm sure plenty of people need to be there. But there's, like you said, there's a there's a different human behind every, every, every case,

Lance Hendron  23:28  
I'm sure, well, and even taking it from the the other side, because look, if there's a crime committed, presumably somebody's been impacted by that on the other side, right? You know, you have your victims, and that's obviously a serious concern as well. You know, we here again out of here in the community. We have our family, we have our close friends, and if they are cost, if they're victims of a crime, you know, you want that justice, and you want to make sure that that stuff is not, you know, ongoing recidivism out here where you never feel safe. So I do, again, think there has to be that protective outlet, if you will. And that's also why, you know, making sure that law enforcement has that opportunity to, like you described, properly investigate the case, and making sure that they they are getting bad guys off the street, they have a very, very intense job, high stressful law enforcement. Does I recognize that in addition to doing the being a criminal defense attorney, I participated in the Henderson police Citizens Academy, 12 weeks long, and was in there and getting kind of a general overview of how Henderson police operates. I think that's, you know, extremely important. And again, something that I bring forth to the table, running as a judge, having just a general overview. And look, the uniformed officers have body cams that are constantly active, which is, which is a blessing, from the standpoint of for them, saying, hey, if this person that I arrested is accusing me. Of doing X, Y and Z, well, you just hit play and making sure that that wasn't being done, right? But, you know, if we think about it, I mean, right now we're here on video, but just imagine, you know, we walk out there and we're still, you know, on video, if you will, that that stressful and of itself. You know, I do think it's, it's an important check and balance, if you will, because officers, obviously, they have the ability to arrest somebody, you know, take away somebody's liberty by putting them in jail. Is something serious in nature, so I understand it from that standpoint. But I think look at the end of the day, you know, the vast majority of law enforcement, these officers, are out there wanting to just protect and help out our community again. Sometimes you get like, you'll hear of the one bad apple, if you will, and that, unfortunately, sometimes gets overly publicized, which I get. But let's also take it and put it into context of how many good men and women, first responders, police, firefighters. EMT all those individuals out there and some of the stuff that they go through their own trauma wise, as far as what they have to observe and be involved with, which you know, you and I don't even have to worry about. So it's it's just that check and balance.

Scott Groves  26:16  
I could not do that job. Good friend of mine is a fireman, and the first time he saw, you know, a family smeared across the 210 freeway, and he was the first responder that call it traumatized him for weeks, and he had to get some professional help, because he's like, this is the part of the job. You know, I'm thinking, I'm going there to put out fires and, like, the movies and whatnot. And he's like, I just didn't realize how many car accidents we would be responding to with deaths. And he's like, the first time I saw a car seat where the child didn't make it. He's like, I was a wreck for, you know, a long time. And I'm glad he got the help that he needed.

Lance Hendron  26:49  
That's human nature, you know what I mean. So I mean, and that's the one thing is we as citizens, just general community members, when you know, individuals out there doing their profession and wanting to do a great job at it as well, maybe we always take a step back and reflect for a minute and thinking, wow, this person is really out there trying to do it for the greater good, and think about it from the standpoint of what they have to endure. It's just, you know, the ability to process and be mindful of our fellow, you know, brothers and sisters, our neighbors out there that are, again, trying to help out our community.

Scott Groves  27:21  
Yeah, I've got a ex girlfriend, actually, who was on LAPD, and she since, she's amazing. She since got promoted to Detective, and I still keep in touch with her father, because we became great friends. And same with her. But I remember when the body cams came out for LAPD, I was like, Oh, how great for the criminals, like, if they get abused or whatever, like, we now have video evidence of it, and when in talking to her, she's like, No, this is the greatest thing that ever came along for cops, because 99 out of 100 times we're doing the right thing, but we get a lot of false accusations. And now that it's on video, the criminal can't say, oh, they beat my head against the car as they were putting me in the backseat. They're like, No, it's all on video. Just push like you said, Just Push Play. And I imagine body cams have solved hundreds, if not 1000s of problems per department where they might have been looking at a lawsuit or false allegations, and you know, if they did something wrong, great, they should be, they should be taken care of in whatever way is appropriate. But I think, I think body cams have been a huge blessing to cops, no,

Lance Hendron  28:18  
I think just across the board as well. And that's why you know from from my standpoint, just making sure, because there are scenarios where body cams are not active, and I think the important thing would be that it they continue to remain active. I know there's some issues that I have, like, for instance, some ongoing litigation with where officers will turn off their cameras when they go into the detention facilities. And, you know, sometimes that can become problematic, and it's kind of like, well, why are they deactivated? And then also, for instance, non uniformed officers don't have that, that requirement of having to have their I have a body cam. Yeah. And so I think making sure that those body cams are active, making sure that when the case then proceeds from the arrest now over into the actual charging process and disseminated to the attorneys on both sides, that it helps out tremendously. So it's one of those things that I think, like you've described it, it clears up a lot of the He Said, She Said, type of an ordeal immediately, right? That'll help out for all sides, for everybody. So I'm in complete agreement

Scott Groves  29:33  
with you on that. You mentioned it a couple times this term veterans court. Can you explain what that is? Because this is the first time I've

Lance Hendron  29:39  
heard about it, certainly. So there's a couple of veterans courts. There's some that are in our Justice Courts and some that are in our district courts. Henderson justice court right now does not have a specific veterans court available. That would be something that I'd be looking into. I know probably have to work through the grant process, if you will. But individuals that have served in our. Military have the option as as a diversion, if you will, of going through veterans court, where it's a specialized court that focuses on issues of, hey, what may have been the trigger, if you will, for what caused the underlying offense that that individual committed, and they get various help making sure that if there's, you know, mental health issues, you know, there's there's Veterans Affairs, VA assistance that may be available to them, that maybe they weren't taking advantage of going through the proper therapy, if there's maybe a co occurring with also substances, looking at how they can work On getting away from using those particular drugs or whatever it is that they're using to cope with and ultimately, if that individual successfully completes the veterans court, it also may be an avenue where, in certain circumstances, they can have that offense that was committed sealed, taken away from their Record. Because, again, if it's one of those things where these are isolated instances of where we kind of figure out, hey, this was because somebody who, God blessed, served our community, is dealing with some kind of trauma event. Or, you know, sometimes it's difficult transitioning from being a veteran to now coming back into our community and going through just the day to day life, and trying to transition doing just everyday normal work, if you will, allowing us to kind of find out and figure out what those issues are, and if they're able to address it. Why would we want somebody who served our country if there's, you know, certain circumstances that allow that they should have that, you know, offense held against them, if you will. So it's kind of that second chance opportunity, if you will, and it's something, I think again, that our veterans respectfully deserve for their commitment and sacrifice

Scott Groves  32:01  
for our country. Yeah, I can tell this story because my friend clay Martin, former Marine sniper, former Special Forces in the army, he told the story on the Jocko podcast, which is a little larger than ours. You know, they get a few more downloads. He told the story, so I feel comfortable repeating it, even though the first time he told me it was just the two of us, and for people that might be like, Oh, well, why are we gonna be soft on crime, on veterans and, you know, a crime to crime, yada yada. I remember clay explaining to me he's like, for the first 10 years that I was out of the military because he did some wild Special Forces stuff. He's like, I never, like, did it, but every time I walk past a firearm, and he was doing a fire like, firearm training as a living week out of the military. Like, yeah, just like, Isn't it normal? Every time you walk by a firearm, you just think about putting in your mouth and pulling the trigger. He's like, that was my default thought process for a decade, until he got some medical help and whatnot. So luckily, he didn't have any scrapes with the law. But you can imagine, if that's your mindset post serving in Iraq and Afghanistan for a decade, that person's got a different thing going on, wired differently. They're wired differently. And they're wired differently because what the government had them do, so it's like, I totally understand why. If he had ever gotten into some type of violent altercation or whatever, there might be some different mitigating circumstances for somebody that went through that. Because, like, when he told me that, I started crying. I'm like, are you okay now, man, and luckily, like I said, he's gotten some help. But I just can't imagine, you know, I'm a firearm owner. I can't imagine, every time I walked by a firearm, being like, oh, I should just put that in my mouth and pull the trigger. But that was, like, that was his default setting for a decade. And it was, you know, it was brutal.

Lance Hendron  33:35  
And I think for our community as well, when we see that, hopefully when, you know, veterans see it's not an outlet for somebody to get away with something, if you will. It's that compassion aspect and our community as a whole saying we're doing our best to recognize and appreciate the sacrifice and commitment that our veterans went through. We can't put ourselves in the shoes of those individuals, but we want to make sure that they understand, that our veterans, understand that we have their back for all the blessings we have again, even just the whole process. We're talking about, that whole due process, without them, we're nothing. So it's just just a huge blessing, and that's why it's extremely important to have these kind of specialty courts and services available that they wouldn't otherwise know. You know, hey, as opposed to looking into that your fellow brothers and sisters are out there wanting to make sure there are avenues there you are being heard, and there are things available to try to work with you. So we talked about

Scott Groves  34:40  
it briefly, right before we started recording. You're like, hey, one of the things that I would be doing is for the, you know, higher level criminal case, and what cases and whatnot you would be presiding over. I'm guessing it would be probable cause or something of that nature. Can you talk a little bit about, okay, somebody comes in for an offense, whatever it is, and you it. The moment, probably because there's a certain amount of time that they legally have to be processed and or arrested and or tried or whatever, have to decide if there's probable probable cause for the case to continue. But that doesn't mean they're guilty, but it means there's enough this. Can you talk a little bit about that as like, I get arrested for a crime, I come see you first, and then you're trying to determine, is there enough juice here for the squeeze or whatnot. Can you talk a little bit about that probable cause process, or sure that's called, I might be

Lance Hendron  35:26  
calling it something wrong. And maybe take one minute I can just take a rewind, kind of explain for running for Henderson Justice Court department, three types of matters that I would be hearing. So it's kind of a hybrid court, from the standpoint of I would be hearing civil cases, in other words, non criminal cases dealing with, think of it like the People's Court. So think of like this person was me $5,000

Scott Groves  35:49  
they ripped me off, or whatever, something like that.

Lance Hendron  35:51  
Yeah, absolutely. You know, kind of the minor contract disputes that exist, you know, issues of, hey, this, this particular thing that this person sold to me doesn't cut, you know, doesn't work out, and they're having their civil disputes. So for that, it would be a jurisdictional standpoint from the civil cases, in other words, things that I could hear if it's under $15,000 and then also hearing small claims as well. It's hearing kind of a different set of civil cases as a Henderson Justice Court judge. Additionally, I would be hearing landlord tenant issues, in other words, like the eviction process as well. Somebody's not timely on paying their rent, or if there's issues of, for instance, like habitability is the place you know, have the air conditioning running, and if it's out during the summer months and nothing's going on, I would hear those kind of cases as well, and then going on to the criminal cases, the Henderson Justice Court hears for misdemeanor offenses, in other words, where the person is looking up to potentially six months in jail, those would be decided by a bench trial. In other words, I would be deciding if there was if the government had proved their case beyond a reasonable doubt, and whether that individual is guilty or not. And then also there's what's called the preliminary hearing, probable cause hearings, preliminary hearing, and those deal where the offenses exceed the six months in jail. So in other words, we have also what are called gross misdemeanor offenses, and those carry up to a year in jail, and then also our felony cases, which entail potential prison time, in other words, beyond a year going to prison. And in those preliminary hearings, me, as the judge would hear whether the government has shown that there is slighter marginal evidence that has existed. It's not beyond a reasonable doubt, it's not determining guilty or not guilty, and if there is slight or marginal evidence shown, then that individual would be what's called bound up. In other words, they would be transferred to the District Court. And our district courts here are located in downtown Las Vegas at the regional Justice Center.

Scott Groves  38:03  
Yeah, so you're deciding, basically, have the police and the prosecution done enough research, have enough evidence to make this a real case that should be seen in front of a judge for a guilty, not guilty verdict,

Lance Hendron  38:14  
something like that, correct? And what would happen, though, on the so if it was like, for instance, the gross misdemeanor or a felony offense that would go to District Court. In those cases, the individuals that are accused of that are entitled to a jury trial. So the interesting thing here in Nevada, we're one of the few states for misdemeanor offenses that we don't have jury trials, except for when somebody is accused of a battery, domestic violence. A lot of other states have six or 12 jurors, even for like traffic offenses, if you

Scott Groves  38:45  
will, like a DUI or something, you could get a jury trial in other

Lance Hendron  38:48  
states, in other states correct so for our DUIs out here, there are misdemeanor offenses, up till a certain number that an individual has accumulated over a period of time that could make them felonies. Or if there's somebody that's significantly injured or unfortunately, you know, sadly, passes away as a result of it, then those would be come felony DUIs. But for all, the vast majority of those misdemeanors, except for battery, domestic violence, is the individual is going to have a judge that determines whether the person's guilty or not

Scott Groves  39:21  
guilty, and how long is the term like once you're elected? Because we'll just assume you're going to be once you're elected. Is it like a forever position? Or do you have to do this whole dog and pony show every two years? Or what does it look like?

Lance Hendron  39:32  
So for this particular justice of the peace, they customarily carry a six

Scott Groves  39:39  
year term. Okay? So you don't have to, you don't have to, you don't have to go through this whole podcast circuit

Lance Hendron  39:43  
again in two years. Well, look, I'd be grateful to continue to go through the podcast just to talk about our community. And you know how great things are and ways that they're improve it. Rest assure that one of the things I think, that I also take great pride in is being actively involved in the community, and I'll continue to do so. I. Um, you know, I think it's an important part of just being a community citizen. I go help out a group of who I consider brothers and sisters going into the flood channels here in Southern Nevada, where people are living in those flood channels and trying to help get them assistance to get them out of there. I go and provide assistance with what's called the just one project. They hold these pop up mobile markets. I go out there and help out by handing out food distributions to our fellow brothers and sisters here in the community. So I don't think it's one of those things where you'll see me, if I'm you know, fortunate and humbled to be elected to the position of Henderson Justice Court where I'm not going to continue to be actively involved with our community. I think it's an important process.

Scott Groves  40:50  
And when does the vote come up? Because I know, sadly, you know, every four years there's a big turnout, because there's a presidential election, and then you look at some of the numbers for like the primary or the midterms, and it's, like, anemic. It's so sad, because I'm like, again, going back to my original thought, yeah, voting for the president is important. I think you should do it. But the elections that come around every two years for your local people, that's where you actually see change in your community. So when is actual voting day? Or y'all probably do a mail in ballot, but when do people start to vote? And like, when does this all come to fruition in in Henderson?

Lance Hendron  41:22  
So for for my department, Henderson, Justice Court, department, three, you will see my name on the ballot in the primary in June. So it's important, and it does look in the primary some, I think sometimes people are like, well, you know, if I'm non partisan, for instance, and when you start looking at the numbers, percentage wise, I think a good amount of individuals aren't necessarily registered Republican or Democrats. They sometimes don't think about that June election, and they simply in that primary, and they simply vote in the November general election for this upcoming year. But what they they just need to recognize is that June dates just as important, even if you're not, you know, having the ability to vote down, you know, for a particular party line, because those individuals may not be listed, since they're nonpartisan, those judges are still going to be in there. Yeah, and, and ultimately, that, in that June election, it could the position for the particular judge department could be decided in the June election and not even make itself over to the November election. So it's extremely important just to remember, hey, don't, don't forget about the June election coming up. Yeah, please,

Scott Groves  42:34  
please register to vote and then go vote in the June primary. The stuff is like, like, ultimate, ultimately important learning a little bit more about you outside of law and outside of what you do professionally. What are you passionate about? Like, obviously, you do a lot of community service. I can tell that's just who you are. But like, I won't hold it against you if you play pickleball, even though I think that's the worst sport ever created. What do you what do you like to do personally?

Lance Hendron  42:59  
One of my favorite things that I've found, as far as being able to unwind from the day in and day out of the profession, is I play chess. I My father taught me in an extremely young age. I played a lot of it in grade school. Sadly, I started to get away from it. You know when I was in college, and then kind of my 20s and 30s, but over the last couple of years, I've just taken a real good grasp of wanting to play chess. There's a local chess club. I'm a really exciting guy, right? So there's the local chess club. I still collect stamps, coins and stuff like that. No, I I just have that focus on chess, and I go try to do it every Saturday afternoon. There's a local group nearby the Henderson, Vegas border, where this grand master out there has created for our community to play. And I play against all sorts of ages of individuals, and these kids, man, are just kicking my butt, and it's a very humbling experience. Just gets moped, get your butt kicked by these kids that, you know, they're telling me about. Yeah, you know, I've got, you know, third grade or, you know, this kind of little thing coming up, and I'm like, man, it really puts myself in.

Scott Groves  44:21  
So what are you rated? Like? I know just enough about chess to to evaluate where people

Lance Hendron  44:25  
were at, so I don't have that official rating. It's been since I was in junior high, since I went that far again. I'm only doing it as like a weekly hobby de stressor, but I play against some of these kids that are extremely formidable, that are rated, and they go to all these tournaments. I figure at some point where I'm able to kind of maybe swallow a little bit of this humbling defeat, that I might try a tournament and then try to get the get find out where I'm rated at, where would you guess in the negative numbers?

Scott Groves  44:55  
I mean, if you, if you know the openings, and you, Oh, brother, you got to be somewhere 1516, $18 Oh no,

Lance Hendron  45:01  
that's that's on the higher end. Again, I'm respectful. I mean, there's probably going to be somebody on your podcast that watches it, and the next thing you know, they're going to send me a message and challenge me on like chess.com and then kick my butt, and then put in the comment question or the comment section. This guy can't play chess worth a lick. So I'm extremely humble with that. Sometimes, you know, what is it? The Broken clocks, right? Every two times out of the day, right? Sometimes, I'll be fortunate and get that win, but it puts myself in place knowing, you know what it's, it's, it's, it's nice to have gotten that one.

Scott Groves  45:34  
And, you know, it's funny because, um, I, I read this book a long time ago about, like, the two types of thinking, like, think fast or think slow, and people kind of tend to, they just deviate to one side or the other. And nothing became more true than when I started playing chess on chess.com because I know, like, one opening for white, one opening for Black. I kind of know how the pieces interact. I got a couple lessons in training from a friend of mine who's brilliant and like same thing as a hobby, playing once a month. He's somewhere in the 2200 2300 range, and he's brilliant. It's really humbling to play him when he blindfolds himself and beats me blind. He actually beat three of us playing concurrently, three games blindfolded. So anyway, think fast, think slow in like, Blitz, like under a minute, I can get up to about 12 or 1300 on a rating. But if it's like a 10 minute game, I fall off to like, eight or 900 points because, like, I just lose track of, like, what I'm moving. So I'm like a 300 point deviation, which has got to be pretty hefty at that level, where I can't even, like, break 1000 on like an hour game. But if we're just playing in a minute, I can, like, under mistake, somebody who over mistakes and like, I have a fighting chance. No, I get it, but yeah, so my brain does not think slow and strategic. I'm just like, do it fast and I'll figure it out. If I could

Lance Hendron  46:52  
just give a plug too to the Grand Master Richard, who runs it over at Star wizard chess over on Eastern if anyone is a fan of chess and wants an outlet, I know they're open on Saturdays and have kind of these informal tournaments where we play against each other, but he runs it throughout the week, and he's just an extreme, great gentleman. And I think it's important just, you know, for me, I just when I learned it at such a young age through my dad playing chess, how I think just great of a game it is to just, you know, help an individual with processing strategize. I'm just very grateful. So by the way,

Scott Groves  47:31  
I'm going to need an introduction to Richard before you leave, so we can have one on the podcast. Absolutely, we're definitely kind of biasing towards business owners on the podcast, but I want to talk to just great people in the community about what they're doing. And, yeah, maybe I can, maybe I can, like, sneak a few free lessons over the table here, if I have them in on the podcast and highlight his chess group.

Lance Hendron  47:49  
Yeah, no, I think that would be awesome. And then also, you know, when we talk about just some of my other hobbies with that community service, if you haven't already, because I did say that's one of the things that I really take, you know, I just find great passion for is shine a light. And that's where we go in those the flood tunnels. Here in Southern Nevada, there's 600 miles of flood tunnels, and about they, I think they approximate about 15 to 1800 people that are displaced, that live there. Oh, wow. And there's some great guys. I you know one of my brothers. I call him my brother is Rob banghart, and when you hear his story, it's it's kind of a like life changing when you hear some of their stories and what they've been able to overcome in life, and then also them wanting so much to be able to connect to those dealing with those situations. Now that also may make a good podcast for you. Like, a second

Scott Groves  48:43  
introduction I'm going to need before

Lance Hendron  48:44  
you leave. Yes, sir, absolutely. Give me the

Scott Groves  48:47  
pitch on like, why you right? We talked a little bit about what people might want to evaluate when they're thinking about, hey, which one of these judges do I vote for? It's not as easy as just going down the partisan line. Like, tell us specifically about Lance. Like, why Lance for this judge position? And what's like, some of your relevant background on like, people could connect to you and be like, oh, yeah, it's not just because his name almost is spelled Henderson. Why would they vote for Lance hedron?

Lance Hendron  49:13  
You know, the one thing again is that community engagement and the Access to Justice kind of circling back, you know, again, being out here for 35 years, having seen a lot of the growth here in our community, the changes in our community, just being actively involved, small business owner with my law practice, now that I've ran for over 18 years, it's your business. It's my business. So what are you gonna do when you win? I hope

Scott Groves  49:39  
you have a partner. You can head off these cases do,

Lance Hendron  49:40  
there are a lot of colleagues and see, that's the thing is, when we say, like a solo practitioner, there's a huge network of attorneys as well, and we try to assist each other with, you know, strategizing, and I have a lot of great colleagues that I certainly would talk about with if, you know, again, if I'm blessed to be elected. To the position that I would wind down my practice and making sure all of my clients are taken care of, because that's obviously the most important thing for me now, and even with dealing with this election, my clients are extremely important to me, but kind of going back with being the small business owner for roughly 18 years and primarily doing the criminal defense work, but I do have, you know, some limited experience I was I had the opportunity through undergrad to do an internship at the major violators at the district attorney's office for about two months or so during summer, which gave me kind of that initial experience into becoming an attorney and practicing in criminal law, and then having the ability I've not only done criminal defense, but I'm very actively engaged with the legal aid center of Southern Nevada that's run by Barbara Buckley, and through that outfit, it's the access of justice, trying to help out individuals who may otherwise not have had the opportunities to have legal representation. I've handled all kinds of cases through Legal Aid, and some of those include the landlord tenant eviction issues. I try to participate in what's called the ask a lawyer, and if you go on their website and you have certain questions that you may be intimidated for just calling an attorney up. You can actually reserve like, a 15 minute spot, and these attorneys who sign up to do ask a lawyer will call you and try to help you at least get an overview of that issue you're dealing with. So I've been heavily involved with Legal Aid Center. I've been, I'm an active member of their pro bono council. So I've got that experience, both dealing with the evictions and I've also handled the these kind of small claims, smaller civil suits, if you will, through my practice as well. So I think I bring, collectively, everything that's been presented to the table. I've acted as a down in Las Vegas, Justice Court, a small claims judge. I was appointed and did that for several years for me, having that community experience, having been involved with the Henderson police Citizens Academy, I've done ride alongs with Henderson police. I've acted as doing their skits, role playing for their recruits, which are interesting, because a lot of my experience on that is watching, like, the body cams of what they've gone through, right? So acting like that a hole that ass, if you will, dealing with that, you know, it's, uh, I've had the ability of doing that, and so I just think I bring a lot respectfully to the table that I think could, could benefit the our community at large, and it's something that I humbly would would take great, great pride in perfect.

Scott Groves  52:47  
Well, now I'm gonna really put you on the spot. Ask you, what's your favorite spot in Henderson, either to eat or relax, like, what's your favorite restaurant in town that you find yourself going to over and over again, even though you say you're gonna find something new. I do this with my family all the time. It's like, let's try something new. No, let's go to one of our three standbys. So just for the Henderson residents, what's your what's your go to restaurant or

Lance Hendron  53:06  
coffee shop? Well, you know my go to restaurant, see, my my wife gets frustrated with me because I just have that, you know, husband, Dad mentality of when she sends me a message, hey, what do you want to do for dinner? I say, Let's get Anthony's pizza. Let's just get cheap cheese pizza. And she's like, You said that last week. You said that the week

Scott Groves  53:25  
before, men are such simple it's like, I'm the same way. I've been getting the same order at Subway for like, 38 years. And my wife's like, you don't want to try anything else. There's, like, a lot of stuff here. I'm like, why would you change if the subway club is the best sandwich on the menu? She's like, you have no clue if it's the best subway on the menu because you've never tried anything else works for me. All right, so Anthony's

Lance Hendron  53:43  
pizza, that's one I go. If your wife was

Scott Groves  53:44  
picking Where would she make you take her?

Lance Hendron  53:47  
Probably somewhere at the district. We usually go there. And, I mean, like, King's fish house is usually a prime spot for us to go. I also like Toro sushi, yeah, that's a big one. And I love, you know, sushi. I think their actual the Toro tuna sushi itself is I'm a big fan of, so that's a spot, I think, if nearby our house that you know, if I let her know, just, you know, kind of a short date night with our 15 year old daughter and eight year old daughter at home nearby, we will go sit down there and check it out.

Scott Groves  54:20  
And what's a business? I always ask this, and it stumps people, what's a business or a service that Henderson is missing? I will tell you what mine is, while you ponder on this, we need a good non franchise, like amazing bagel shop, because I love, like, fresh bagels and Einstein's. It's okay, but it just doesn't like hit the spot for me. So if somebody wants some entrepreneur wants to open a great bagel shop on Water Street, I'll be there every morning for like, bagel and eggs and avocado and I don't know something, but is there a business or a service that Henderson's missing that you really wish we had, or that we could, you know, clone a location from the greater

Lance Hendron  54:59  
Vegas area? I know there was a period in time when it was on the border, and unfortunately, the location on that border no longer exists, but a frequent spot that I go to, it's just on the other side of town for me, is payments restaurant and Hookah Lounge. Okay, so I really like payman's, the Mediterranean food and then hanging out. I've got some friends that I see every time I head down there when I get a chance, over in the Hookah Lounge as well. Okay, so another

Scott Groves  55:28  
thing to bring to Water Street,

Lance Hendron  55:30  
if they if there was an opportunity there. I mean, I've just and payment has been a long time friend. I mean, when his original shop opened on Maryland Parkway, I think I was eight or nine years old, meeting him then, and the friendship through my parents and him have been everlasting.

Scott Groves  55:45  
That's awesome. Anything I forgot to ask you about the law, about this position, about being a judge, anything that you you want to say to the residents of Henderson, I would

Lance Hendron  55:55  
humbly and respectfully appreciate support of our community. They can reach out. We'll provide all the information for contact. They can call, text me on my cell at 702-483-8181, or send me an email. Oh, you're serious

Scott Groves  56:11  
about connecting with the community, absolutely.

Lance Hendron  56:13  
And my email is Lance at Lance, the number four judge.com and if there are things they want to discuss, I want to make sure that I'm able to talk with them, introduce myself, obviously, just, you know, these broad, specific, like legal questions, or how do you handle this or that? Again, understanding that as as a judge, you can't just make, like, a certain statement, how you would do this or that. It's it becomes extremely difficult. But just wanting them to know that I'm out there, if there are any kind of community service projects or things that are I could be involved with, I love hearing about them and just, you know, it's one of those things where I just really appreciate even being able to get into this position of having a campaign and running for Henderson Justice Court department, three, I just really blessed and humbled that we have these opportunities, and that's I want to make sure others have opportunities as well. So you know, again, looking at it, educate yourself on the names of who's going to be on the ballot with faces and Hendren for Henderson. Like we've talked about, Hendren for Henderson,

Scott Groves  57:25  
that's the way to the podcast. Man, thanks for

Lance Hendron  57:27  
being on Thanks, Scott. Appreciate you, brother. That's awesome.

Scott Groves  57:31  
Hey, it's Scott groves with the Henderson HQ podcast. I hope you got something out of that episode. If you enjoyed it, please don't forget to like, comment and subscribe to the podcast. It really helps the show grow. And by the way, if you are a business owner, or you know, a business owner who has an interesting product, service or just an interesting backstory, please, please get in touch with us. Email us at the Henderson hq@gmail.com we would love to interview you, because that's what this show is all about. It's about building community, supporting local, individually owned businesses, and just making Henderson a great place to live. And don't forget, go to Henderson hq.com and make sure you sign up for our newsletter. We send out a once a week newsletter, no spam, about the most interesting local businesses, hot spots, restaurants, community events, thanks for watching the show. Really appreciate you. You.