A Trump-appointed federal judge in Idaho is facing criminal charges after a heated confrontation over parking which saw him snatch a man’s glasses from his face and stomp on them, according to reports.
Judge Ryan D. Nelson, who sits on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, is facing one misdemeanor count of battery and one of malicious injury to property for allegedly knocking another man’s glasses off his head and throwing them across the parking lot during the incident, The Idaho State Journal reported.
The confrontation occurred in early April when a driver pulled into a parking space and allegedly verbally criticized the judge’s parking twice, the unnamed man told the Idaho State Journal.
“That’s when [Nelson] went crazy,” the man told the newspaper. After the verbal spat, Nelson allegedly took the man’s glasses, threw them across the parking lot and stomped on them.
Nelson pleaded not guilty to both charges in May, according to a court docket.
Curtis Smith, a lawyer for Nelson, told the Idaho State Journal that his client “maintains a presumption of innocence” and “will work through the judicial system to resolve these personal charges which allegedly resulted in a pair of broken sunglasses.”
Smith said the charges are “unrelated to his professional position.”
The Independent has asked Zachary Jones, the Idaho Falls prosecutor, as well as Smith, for comment.
Security footage of the incident, obtained by the Idaho State Journal, appears to show the escalation of the interaction after the unnamed man pulled into the parking lot space next to the judge’s truck, which was parked askew.
The man allegedly told Nelson twice to “learn how to park”.
The video showed the two men talking before the judge grabbed the man’s glasses off his head and threw them across the parking lot. As the man went to retrieve his glasses, Nelson is heard calling him “crazy” and “an a**hole.”
Nelson then appears to run ahead of the man to stomp on his glasses, the Idaho State Journal reported.
The alleged victim reported the incident to the Idaho Falls Police Department the following day, allegedly telling police that Nelson was challenging him to a fight, according to an affidavit of probable cause seen by the newspaper.
The law enforcement officer who took the report noted that Nelson “admitted to knocking his glasses from [the man’s] head but stated he did not touch him,” according to the affidavit obtained by the Idaho State Journal. The officer also noted Nelson admitted to stomping on the glasses.
Nelson has been on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals since 2018. President Donald Trump nominated him to serve on the appeals court, a lifetime appointment, despite Nelson having no prior experience as a judge. He previously worked as an attorney in D.C., assisting the Senate Judiciary Committee in Supreme Court nominations as well as serving as deputy general counsel to the White House Office of Management and Budget.
At the time of his nomination, The Wall Street Journal reported Nelson had racked up eight speeding tickets over seven years and at least 28 traffic citations over 20 years. A Justice Department spokesperson told the Journal that traffic citations were a typical part of the background investigation process.
Nelson has ruled in several high-profile cases, including a challenge over Trump’s deployment of National Guard troops in Portland last year.
In October, Nelson sided with the president, allowing him to deploy the National Guard because of anti-immigration enforcement protests that had “turned violent.”
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