Fiore plans to appeal suspension from bench

Michele Fiore has filed a notice that she is appealing a decision to continue to suspend her from her position as a Pahrump justice of the peace after she received a presidential pardon.

Fiore, a former Las Vegas councilwoman, was found guilty of conspiracy and wire fraud charges by a federal jury in October.

Federal prosecutors said she defrauded donors of tens of thousands of dollars raised to build a statue of Alyn Beck, a Metropolitan Police Department officer shot and killed with his partner in 2014.

Fiore spent the money on personal expenses like plastic surgery, rent and her daughter’s wedding, prosecutors said. And while the statue was built, it was paid for by developer Olympia Companies, according to trial testimony.

President Donald Trump gave Fiore a full and unconditional pardon on April 23, staving off a May 14 sentencing hearing that could have sent Fiore to prison.

After her indictment, the Nevada Commission on Judicial Discipline suspended Fiore.

“On Monday, I will walk back into my courtroom as the elected Justice of the Peace — not because man permitted it, but because God ordained it,” Fiore wrote after the pardon.

But the judicial discipline body indicated that it indented to continue suspending Fiore despite the pardon and did so on Monday, writing that it had received additional complaints about her since the pardon and believed she was a threat to the public.

Fiore’s attorneys filed the notice of appeal Wednesday with the Nevada Supreme Court.

The filing does not explain her grounds for contesting the suspension, which specified Fiore would be paid while she remains off the bench.

Defense attorney Paola Armeni said the commission did not reference positive public comments about Fiore. The commission also did not provide Armeni with complaints made after the pardon about Fiore, other than seven emails from members of the public that raised mostly general concerns, she said.

“They don’t care that there’s a presidential pardon,” Armeni said. “They don’t care that Nye County voted her in.”

She added: “I don’t think it’s very fair.”

Fiore has said the commission’s suspension order “is based on unverified public perception and allegations that predate my time as a judge — alleged conduct that is explicitly beyond their jurisdiction.” She has also claimed the discipline body violated her constitutional rights.

“Their actions are not about ethics or justice, but about retribution and control,” she wrote in a statement.

Armeni argued at a May 9 hearing that the commission could not police accusations of misconduct from before someone becomes a judge. Fiore’s federal case was based on her time as a city councilwoman.

The commission said Fiore’s “continuing deceit of the charitable donors and her unjust enrichment at the expense of the slain police officer statue harms the public’s perception of the judicial system and its confidence in the system’s legitimacy, creates the appearance of impropriety, reflects adversely on (Fiore’s) honesty and character, and undermines her ability to impose justice and to apply the law fairly.”

Contact Noble Brigham at [email protected]. Follow @BrighamNoble on X.