A fatal shooting looms over the Department R Clark County Family Court primary race.
Attorneys Marilyn Caston and Nick Petsas are trying to unseat Judge Bill Henderson, who was elected in 2008.
Henderson presided over the custody battle between Dylan Houston and Ashley Prince.
At an April 2024 deposition in that case, Houston’s father, attorney Joseph Houston, fatally shot Ashley Prince and her husband, Las Vegas attorney Dennis Prince, who was representing her. Joseph Houston then killed himself.
“Everybody who practices family law knows exactly where they were when they heard about that,” said Caston. “It was, to us, as bad as 9/11.”
After the shooting, Ashley Prince’s mother, Julie Page, said her daughter endured a “slow-moving court battle” that “ultimately failed her.”
Henderson, who did not have an opponent when he ran for re-election in 2020 or 2014, believes the Houston and Prince case may have something to do with the fact that he now has challengers.
Both Caston and Petsas jumped into the race late in the afternoon of Jan. 16, the last day candidates could file.
Petsas — who switched from another Family Court race to file against Henderson — said the Houston and Prince case did not play a role in his decision to challenge Henderson.
Caston said she respects Henderson but thinks being a Family Court judge takes an emotional toll. She’s seen a difference in him since the shooting and a little bit before it, she said.
“I’m afraid that the shooting really affected him,” she said. In that last few years, she thinks Henderson has shown “hesitancy and indecision and second-guessing himself” in his rulings.
Henderson said his record shows that he remains decisive and when possible, issues rulings at a hearing. He said the case that preceded the shooting did not change his judicial performance in standard cases but might help him to sense danger sooner.
He agreed that the Houston and Prince case affected him significantly on a personal level.
“It was very horrific, very depressing. It remains so, and I don’t want it exploited for political purposes,” he said, adding that he did not know if that was what his opponent was trying to do.
‘A very, very complex case’
Henderson said he could not discuss specific decisions in the case between Houston and Prince but generally believed his actions were appropriate.
“It’s a very, very complex case that’s going on for years, and people might see a little five- or 10-second snippet out of any context, not knowing all of the hearings and paperwork that led up to that,” he said.
He added that he opened himself up to criticism from the public about his handling of the case because he “took the incredibly unprecedented step” of granting the Las Vegas Review-Journal access to the entire case file shortly after the shooting.
His colleagues told him not to do that, but he believes in transparency and followed his principles, he said.
“That’s the ironic part,” he said. “I said, ‘If my reputation takes a hit, it’s mainly going to be because I provided the fodder for that.’”
Asked about complaints of the slowness of that case, he pointed out that attorneys for both sides repeatedly agreed to delays.
Henderson’s scores in the Review-Journal’s Judicial Performance Evaluation also plummeted after the shooting. His retention score, based on anonymous attorney feedback, dropped 22 percentage points to 50.5 percent in 2025, meaning that only about half of the lawyers who responded thought he should remain a judge.
At the time, he attributed that drop in part to his role in the case between Houston and Prince.
“That’s the one that keeps me up at night for a year and a half,” he said. “… What if I had done this instead, or should I have done this instead? It’s constant.”
Henderson said he his proud of his work implementing a settlement program. His work helping bring cases to a resolution motivates him to want to stay on the bench, he said.
“I tend to attempt settlement each time, and if the parties aren’t represented, then I take a very informal, interactive approach,” he said.
He’s learned that it’s necessary to take a different approach in each case.
“Trying to match someone’s energy level and being just as difficult as them is seldom effective,” he said. “You try and talk to them first. You try and get through to them to some degree of mutual respect. … In other words, it’s something you work through almost in a quasi-therapeutic fashion in some cases.”
Drawn to public service; Wants to fix systemic issues
Petsas said he contracts with Clark County to represent parents in cases where Child Protective Services has determined a child should be removed from their home.
He said he is drawn to public service and has “spent a little bit of time in a lot of areas” of the law. He wants to reduce animosity in the legal process and help people understand the process, he said.
A prior application for a judicial appointment shows that he has worked as a teacher, public defender in Washoe County, civil attorney, prosecutor and attorney for children in dependency cases.
He stayed in some of those jobs for just a few months.
“There’s been different circumstances in life, where I’m either moving or there’s been family things or whatever reason,” said Petsas. “Sometimes, you change and you’re trying to figure out what you want to do and where you want to fit it.”
He added that he hasn’t had negative experiences but has tried to figure out what was right for him and his family.
Caston said she decided to run in Department R because she had concerns about Petsas’ level of experience. She said the law office shooting only influenced her decision to run against Henderson in the sense that she thought it changed him.
She said she had 12 years of experience with family law and wants to fix systemic issues in the Family Court. She has observed delays in holding hearings on urgent issues, under-prepared judges, overwhelmed litigants representing themselves without a lawyer and a slowness to issue orders, she said.
“No one describes Family Court pleasantly,” she said.
Contact Noble Brigham at nbrigham@reviewjournal.com.
If you’re thinking about suicide, or are worried about a friend or loved one, help is available 24/7 by calling or texting the Lifeline network at 988. Live chat is available at 988lifeline.org. Additionally, the Crisis Text Line is a free, national service available 24/7. Text HOME to 741741.
