Nevada Supreme Court Justice Douglas Herndon Must Resign: Justice Demands It!

“The gavel of justice in Nevada is stained—and the stain bears the name Douglas Herndon”.

A man entrusted with the highest responsibility of our legal system—the solemn duty to uphold justice without fear, favor, or failure—has long presided over a legacy soaked in wrongful convictions, prosecutorial overreach, and indifference to the human cost of broken lives.

As a former prosecutor and now a Justice on the Nevada Supreme Court, Douglas Herndon’s past actions demand public reckoning. It is time for him to resign.

To understand the depth of the moral failure, start with Fred Steese. In 1992, Steese was convicted of murder, sentenced to life, and tossed into the hell of a Nevada prison for a crime he didn’t commit. For over twenty years, he sat behind bars while prosecutors, including Herndon, buried or ignored exculpatory evidence. A key piece? Proof that Steese wasn’t even in the state when the murder occurred. It took the tireless work of pro bono attorneys and an unrelenting press to expose what the state wanted buried: Fred Steese was innocent.

When the truth finally came out, what did the state offer? A so-called “Alford plea”—a cynical legal maneuver where defendants maintain their innocence but plead guilty for release. It’s the legal trick to protect the system from lawsuits and accountability. Herndon was part of the prosecutorial machine that offered it. They didn’t want Steese to be exonerated—they wanted him to disappear quietly so no one had to answer for his wrongful imprisonment.

Steese spent 21 years behind bars for a crime he didn’t commit. Not one apology. Not one dime in compensation. Just a “get out” card with fine print attached.

In a gut-twisting twist of irony, Herndon’s daughter passed one of Nevada’s most critical justice reforms: a bill granting financial compensation to the wrongfully convicted. For every year stolen by the state, innocent people can now receive restitution. It’s a law born from pain and stands in direct contrast to Herndon’s legacy of ignoring, delaying, and denying justice to those most failed by the system.

His daughter saw the cracks in the system. Herndon helped build them.

Fred Steese is not the only scar. As a longtime Clark County prosecutor, Herndon developed a reputation not for seeking truth but securing convictions. Former colleagues have described his office as a place where winning trumped justice, where evidence that could help a defendant was viewed as an obstacle. His decisions affected individuals, their families, futures, and humanity.

When he moved to the bench, there was hope he might change. He didn’t. His rulings often favored the prosecution, continuing the bias of his earlier career. As a Supreme Court Justice, every decision he makes is tainted by a past that has never been accounted for.

Justice is not only about laws; it is about trust. And how can Nevadans trust a man who helped destroy innocent lives? How can any wrongfully convicted Nevadan look at the state’s highest court and feel they will be treated fairly when Herndon sits there?

It is not enough to pass laws after the damage has been done. True justice means accountability. Douglas Herndon must step down—not because it is convenient but because it is right, not as an act of shame but as an act of reckoning.

Fred Steese lost 21 years. Others have lost more. If Herndon values the integrity of the court, of the law, and of his conscience, he will do the only honorable thing left:

Resign.

The people of Nevada will not forget. And we must not wait for Herndon to do the right thing and resign. If he refuses, then let 2026 be the year he is replaced.

This is a call—no, a demand—to every attorney, judge, and legal professional in Nevada who believes in truth, accountability, and the transformative power of justice: run for this seat.

Step forward, speak out, file the paperwork, and give Nevadans a choice between the past and the future. Herndon represents everything we must leave behind if we are to rebuild trust in our legal system.

Fred Steese and countless others were denied justice. We can’t change the past, but we can change the court.

Let the campaign for accountability begin now.