In two Clark County Family Court races Tuesday, candidates were trying to oust incumbents. In a third, they were competing for an open seat.
As of 9 p.m., Judge Mary Perry was in the lead for the Department P seat with 43.1 percent of the vote. Marilyn Caston was leading the Department R seat, with 45.4 percent of the vote, putting her ahead of incumbent Judge Bill Henderson. Kristine Brewer was ahead in Department S with 48.3 percent of the vote.
In each race, if one of the candidates receives more than 50 percent of the vote in the primary, they will win outright. But if no one surpasses the 50 percent threshold, the two top-performing candidates will advance to a run-off election in November.
Department P
Each Department P candidate has a history of controversy.
Judge Mary Perry, the incumbent, was publicly censured in 2024 after the state’s Commission on Judicial Discipline found that she shouted, used profanity and took a hostile tone during hearings.
Just 35 percent of attorneys said she should stay on the bench in the Las Vegas Review-Journal’s 2025 Judicial Performance Evaluation. That was the second lowest score for all judges evaluated in the poll.
Perry, an Air Force veteran, has said she took medication related to a breast cancer diagnosis that affected her hormones and made her behave harshly. She has reported doing better more recently.
Jennifer Isso, a family law attorney running against Perry who also has a history of shouting in court, received a stayed suspension of her law license in April. Multiple Family Court judges had referred her for discipline.
Isso previously told the Review-Journal that she got in trouble for “being too honest.”
The third candidate, family lawyer Kurt Smith, was reprimanded for commingling funds in 2018 and spent a night in jail after he tried to get out of jury duty in 2015. He denies that he tried to evade jury duty.
Department R
In Department R, a longtime judge who presided over a notorious custody case was challenged by two lawyers.
Judge Bill Henderson, who was elected in 2008, oversaw the custody dispute 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.
Henderson has said the shooting affected him significantly.
“It was very horrific, very depressing,” he said. “It remains so, and I don’t want it exploited for political purposes.”
Opponent Marilyn Caston is an experienced family lawyer who said she wants to address systemic issues in Family Court, like a slowness to issue orders and overwhelmed litigants representing themselves without an attorney.
Nick Petsas, the third candidate, said he is drawn to public service.
He has held a number of jobs, including teacher, public defender in Washoe County, civil attorney, prosecutor and attorney for children in dependency cases. Some of those positions he occupied for just a few months.
Petsas has substantially outraised his opponents this cycle, reporting almost $123,000 in contributions in April, compared to $11,660 for Caston and $5,500 for Henderson.
Department S
The Department S race opened up after Judge Vincent Ochoa decided not to seek re-election.
Henderson attorney Kristine Brewer, making her third attempt at a Family Court judgeship, emphasized her trial experience.
She faced Randall Forman, a Family Court hearing master running for a second time, and Tanner Harris, a criminal defense lawyer.
Forman hears domestic violence protection and juvenile delinquency cases. Harris said he has experience defending children in delinquency cases.
Contact Noble Brigham at nbrigham@reviewjournal.com.
