Sandy DiGiacomo and Marla Renteria.
Henderson Assistant City Attorney Sandy DiGiacomo, who won 33% of votes in the primary election, and Clark County public defender Marla Renteria, who won just under 22%, are squaring off in the general election for a seat on the Henderson Justice Court.
Renteria, a public defender for 11 years, cites legal perspective as the biggest difference between herself and DiGiacomo.
“I operate from a perspective that a defendant is innocent until proven guilty,” she said during an interview. “Prosecutors in general have a fundamental belief that they must seek prosecution at all costs. They operate from an inherently negative belief that the police have arrested someone who’s committed an offense. You see the perspective from the beginning of the bail argument – the person is guilty, so you must continue to hold them.”
Prosecutors, she says, rely on investigators rather than interacting with defendants. “Defense attorneys tend to be more hands on. I am dealing directly with my clients and their family.”
Renteria adds that in representing “some of the most vulnerable members of our community, I’m intimately familiar with that struggle and I think it gives me a greater perspective on when compassion needs to be employed, when alternative sentencing may be an option or incarceration is the solution.”
“I don’t even know how to respond to that,” says DiGiacomo, a prosecutor for more than two decades. “On the defense side, her whole goal is to do what she can for her client. Whereas my whole goal is to seek justice and what’s right.”
DiGiacomo says she can “easily dispel” the notion that she would bring prosecutorial bias to the bench.
“As a prosecutor, my job is not to win. You don’t just look at your case. You have to look at the other side for negotiation,” she says. “You have to look into the defendant’s background, addiction issues, what they do for a living. I have to consider both sides and try to come up with something that’s fair for both and would be considered justice.”
Both candidates have previously sought public office.
In 2013, DiGiacomo won the primary race for Henderson Municipal Court, but was defeated in the general election run-off.
Renteria applied for appointment by the Clark County Commission to Henderson Justice Court in 2023, but was not chosen. She says she favors judicial elections over the appointment process.
“I think it’s important the public has an opportunity to vote on who their judges are,” Renteria said, adding she’d like to see more public forums for judicial candidates. She considers campaign fundraising “a necessary evil.”
Judicial elections and appointments “each have their own issues,” says DiGiacomo. “Honestly, I don’t think one is better than the other because it depends on who appoints. Political party stuff can come into it, even though it’s nonpartisan.”
Renteria raised just under $45,000 as of July and has about half of that remaining. DiGiacomo has raised about $68,000 and has $6,000 in the bank.
DiGiacomo says individualized bail hearings, required by the Nevada Supreme Court in its Valdez Jimenez ruling, are a “good idea, but I think the way they’re forcing hearings to happen so quickly hurts both sides, especially defendants,” she says, referencing the requirement that bail hearings be held within 48 hours of arrest. “It doesn’t give time to pull the defendant’s records and there’s no legislative funding to accommodate the process by hiring extra clerks and prosecutors.”
Renteria says one of the benefits of the decision is greater options for judges, from “less-restrictive apps that track defendants, all the way up to house arrest, incarceration, and bail. It’s based on the fundamental belief that you are entitled to be out pending your criminal proceedings, unless clear and convincing evidence can be established that a more restrictive means of pretrial detention is warranted.”
DiGiacomo has mixed feelings about remote court hearings, which have become permanent since their inception during the pandemic.
“For a status check or setting a new date, it’s fine. But if you’re going to do any sort of argument, sentencing, motion work, I personally think it’s better to have parties in court,” she said, adding the technology can be cumbersome.
Renteria says legal professionals often forget how intimidating standing in front of a court can be for litigants and defendants. Remote hearings, she says, have resulted in fewer of her clients failing to appear in court.
“They are able to make it to the court appearance. They aren’t having to wait for hours in a courtroom,” she says. “It’s increased the efficiency and accessibility for a lot of individuals who otherwise would not have been able to make it to court.”
Both candidates have won a slew of endorsements, with most of DiGiacomo’s from law enforcement and district attorney organizations, as well as the Teamsters Union, the Latin Chamber of Commerce, and County Commission chairman Jim Gibson, a former mayor of Henderson.
Renteria is endorsed by a number of unions, including the AFL-CIO, Culinary Local 226, and SEIU, as well as the National Latino Police Officers Association, Hispanics in Politics, and the National Organization for Women (NOW).
“I’m hoping voters can see the different perspectives we bring to the bench,” Renteria said. “We need to be fair. We’ve got to keep our community safe. But we also need to be applying the law fairly. We have to have the courage to enforce the constitutional principles of the law, and to treat the human beings that appear before us with dignity and respect. When people feel the process is fair, and like they’ve been heard, they’re more likely to accept the decision, even if it runs contrary to their position.”
“I’ve been doing this for almost 25 years,” DiGiacomo said of her career as a prosecutor, including a long stint with the Clark County District Attorney’s office. “I think it’s just a perfect next step. I love the city and have dedicated my career to public service and I want to continue that on the bench.”