79.1 John McGroarty
Born in Clonmel, Co. Tipperary, Irish Republic.
Educated at St Joseph's College, Cahir, Co Tipperary and College of Commerce, Rathmines, Dublin, Ireland.
Served lifelong career in An Garda Siochana (Irish National Police) which included such postings as Head of Drug Squad and Chief Superintendent in Charge of International Liaison which embraced twin portfolios as national head of Interpol and Europol. Carried out assignments and projects at EU Headquarters in Brussels, as well as in United States, South Africa (SADEC Project) and Italy. EU Team Leader of Technical Mission to Latin America and the Caribbean in 1996 to enhance co-operation with all member states of the European Union. Contributor to the E.U. Falcone Programme.
Holder of an Aviation Crisis Management certificate granted by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (I.C.A.O.) based at Montreal, Canada.
Has contributed innumerable articles on crime, drugs and security to public and trade magazines and has made presentations in many countries in regard to drug law enforcement.
Qualified criminologist and acknowledged beneficiary of the Irish Management Institute (IMI)
On retirement from Irish Police in 1999 was appointed a corporate security consultant with Ireland's leading risk management company providing services to an international consortium of companies trading worldwide.
Hon. John S. McGroarty
State of Nevada, District Court, 8th Judicial District
Born 1941, Los Angeles, California, United States of America
Judge, since 1983
Howard University School of Law, Washington, District of Columbia, 1969J.D., Juris Doctor
University of Notre Dame, South Bend, Indiana, 1963 A.B., Bachelor of Arts
Honors: Dean's List; Publicity Chairman, Senior Prom; Publicity Co-Chairman,
Honors: Notre Dame Social Commission; Badin Hall Representative
Major: Communication Arts
Published Works
Handbook on Landlord/Tenant and Mobile Home Laws
Benchbook (Contributing Editor), Nevada Judges Association
Appellate Advocacy Handbook (Contributor)
Nevada Family Court Practice Manual (Editor-in-Chief), Nevada State Bar Association
Honours and Awards
Executive Board, Council for the International Lay Apostolate, University of Notre Dame
Professional Associations and Memberships
Too many to record here
Dec. 05, 2005
Las Vegas Review-Journal
Judge prepares to end distinguished career
District Judge John McGroarty hasn't forgotten the values his parents instilled in him growing up in Las Vegas in the 1950s.
"Leave the world a better place," McGroarty said. "Do the right thing because if you do the right thing, you never have to look back.
"And don't fear failure. Just fear not trying hard enough," McGroarty said.
Those aren't just anecdotes to McGroarty. They are the bedrock of his 27-year career as a judge, which will come to an end in January when he retires from the District Court bench.
"I'm going to take my wife on a vacation," McGroarty said.
By most accounts, it has been a remarkable run for the 64-year-old. He was born to a contractor and a housewife in Los Angeles. When McGroarty was a child, the family moved to Las Vegas. McGroarty was part of the first freshman class at Bishop Gorman High School. "The school was so small, I made every team," he said of Gorman's football, basketball and baseball squads.
His mother emphasized education, and he dreamed of being a nuclear physicist given Nevada's involvement in nuclear testing during his youth. "I'd wake up early in the morning and watch the flash, the tracer lights in the sky," McGroarty said. "I wanted to develop an inexhaustible source of energy, but 50 years later, they are still working on it."
Because a family friend had gone to Notre Dame, McGroarty gravitated to the prestigious university. His family spent every Saturday afternoon in the fall listening to radio broadcasts of Notre Dame football games. "Yes, we listened to the games," McGroarty said. "I'm that old." But shortly before McGroarty shipped off to college in Indiana, he was involved in a devastating car accident in the Las Vegas Wash that left him with a severe brain injury. "I didn't know who I was for three months," McGroarty said. "I couldn't remember anything. I was a total mess."
McGroarty took a year to recover before attending Notre Dame, where he majored in communications with a focus on journalism. But during a visit to the South Bend newspaper, he was given some life-altering advice about his planned career as a journalist. "They told me it doesn't pay anything," McGroarty said. "I'd either have to write books or marry the boss's daughter."
So McGroarty decided to pursue a career in the law. He attended law school in Washington D.C., and worked the graveyard shift as a Capitol policeman. He soon landed a job in the office of Sen. Howard Cannon, D-Nev., and he attended the notorious 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago as an alternate delegate. "I saw the kids getting beat up by (Mayor Richard J.) Daley's police," McGroarty said. "I got tear-gassed. I also saw how politics can be used to help people. It can be a tool for good or evil."
McGroarty worked for the Democratic National Committee and the 1968 presidential campaign of Hubert Humphrey, and he remembers how close Humphrey came to beating Richard Nixon. Shortly before the presidential election results were returned, a Humphrey campaign aide walked up to McGroarty and talked to him about his future. "If we (Humphrey's campaign) win, there will be a job for you in the White House," McGroarty said. "And we lost." Instead of going to the White House, McGroarty returned to Nevada and practiced law with Richard Bryan and Oscar Goodman.
When Mike O'Callaghan swept into the governor's office in 1971, McGroarty followed and became the legendary governor's administrative assistant and adviser. "A brilliant man," McGroarty said of O'Callaghan. "We increased the benefits for injured workers, maintained the benefits for the poor while leaving the largest budget surplus in Nevada history at the time."
McGroarty was appointed a justice of the peace in Las Vegas in 1978, and he was elected to the position later that same year. He became a District Court judge in 1982 and never looked back over the next two decades.
He is known for his commitment to children and the disadvantaged. He took over what was then the juvenile court and supervised it for six years. And he was a driving force behind the formation of Family Court. As a man who adopted his own children, he felt the children of Clark County deserved better. "I had seen what my children had gone through," he said. "I knew I could make a difference."
He also is viewed as the driving force behind Southern Nevada's mental health court, which seeks to provide resources to the mentally ill charged with crimes instead of just sending them to jail. "We try to bring the resources together in the system to their benefit, and most of them respond," McGroarty said.
McGroarty said he will do some work as a senior judge, and he is also looking forward to spending more time with his wife, Nancy, whom he described as his inspiration.
"I'm moving on to bigger and better things," he said.
JUICE VS. JUSTICE
A Judge Who Isn't Playing by Fast and Loose Rules
By Michael J. Goodman, Times Staff Writer
Los Angeles Times - June 8, 2006
LAS VEGAS --- Judge John S. McGroarty did it differently.
In the last Nevada election in which all district judgeships in Las Vegas were on the ballot, 13 incumbents ran unopposed. Unlike others, McGroarty returned his unspent campaign contributions. "I sent the money back. It wasn't mine to keep," McGroarty said in an interview. "I didn't have an opponent, so I didn't need it. I don't want slush funds -- money burning a hole in my pocket."
Particularly, McGroarty said, when the money comes from those who are likely to appear in court before him. "It can seem like a quid pro quo," he said.
Not every state judge in Las Vegas plays fast and loose with conflicts of interest. McGroarty, 64, has been a state judge since 1982. He retired as a regular judge this year and was commissioned as a senior judge to fill in and ease the caseload. He says he does his best to avoid conflicts.
"It is not always easy. Being a judge in Las Vegas," McGroarty said, "puts personal integrity to the test. This is a fast track, a fast town -- very fast," he said. "This isn't Des Moines, Iowa." He rubbed his thumb and forefinger together to indicate money. "This is a juice town," he said. "Go out there and start messing with that juice, and it will come back and get you. There are crosscurrents. Go out there with impunity, and you will get burned."
McGroarty said he would never knowingly seek a campaign contribution from anyone with a case pending in his courtroom.
When that sort of thing happened, he often found out. "Somehow," he said, "the big contributor is always brought to your attention." Then, McGroarty said, "I'll take extra time, do more research" to make absolutely certain that all of his decisions in the case are well-supported by the facts.
The 2002 judicial election illustrated how far McGroarty was willing to go to avoid conflicts of interest. The 13 unopposed incumbents, including McGroarty, raised a total of nearly $1 million in contributions well before any challengers could file papers to run against them.
At least 90% of their cash came from lawyers, law firms and casinos that frequented their courtrooms, according to a comparison of court and campaign records. Some of the judges collected contributions, the records show, even while they were deciding a contributor's case.
The incumbents, including McGroarty, spent part of their campaign money for early displays of determination to scare off potential competitors. "I put up signs around town right away," McGroarty said, "like everybody else."
When the filing period closed, all 13 remained unopposed. Their victories were assured. But they all had leftover campaign funds. In their campaign filings after the election, other unopposed judges reported that they were still holding a total of $634,000.
McGroarty was the only one who gave his leftover money back. "Don't get me wrong. If I had an opponent, I'd use the money," McGroarty said. "I know other judges keep the money, and that's their business."
McGroarty had received 96 contributions, ranging from $20 to $5,000, for a total of $31,666, campaign records show. That was a comparatively small amount of money. Seven unopposed judges had amassed war chests ranging from $69,531 to $166,401, the records show.
McGroarty listed campaign costs totaling $14,759, largely for fundraisers, advertising, campaign staff and office expenses. He reported that he had $16,907 left when the filing deadline passed and he was unopposed.
The following month, he returned his leftover campaign contributions, prorating the returns to each of his 96 contributors. "I think it worked out," McGroarty said, "that everybody got back about 56 cents on the dollar."
A $20 contributor, for example, was refunded $14. McGroarty's lone $5,000 contributor, Coast Hotels and Casinos, was refunded $2,800, records show.
McGroarty said he returned his leftover contributions in 1996, as well, when he also ran unopposed.