LAS VEGAS (AP) - The death of a former Las Vegas prosecutor on the day her judge-boyfriend was found to have committed judicial misconduct was an accident, the coroner in Las Vegas said Tuesday.
Lisa Ann Willardson, 45, died Dec. 26 of a lethal combination of prescription medications including a sedative, an anti-anxiety medication, an antidepressant and a sleep aid, Clark County Coroner Michael Murphy said.
There was no indication Willardson’s death was a suicide, Murphy said. She didn’t overdose on any individual drugs, but that combined, they formed a lethal mix, he said.
Clark County Family Court Judge Steven Jones reported finding Willardson’s body at her Henderson home several hours after the Nevada Commission on Judicial Discipline faulted Jones for presiding over her cases while they dated.
Jones’ attorney said at the time that Jones had been in Utah with his children, and he went to Willardson’s home to check on her after his text messages went unanswered.
Jones had been suspended from the bench in November 2012 with pay after being indicted by a federal grand jury in an unrelated fraud case.
He was given a public censure by the commission earlier this month and suspended for three months without pay for failing to disclose his relationship with Willardson.
Commission members said Jones was asked by attorneys in contested cases to recuse himself because of his romantic ties to Willardson, but he refused.
Then-Clark County District Attorney David Roger removed Willardson from handling child abuse and neglect cases before Jones after the relationship became public in October 2011. Roger later fired her.
Willardson had worked as a prosecutor without pay from 2009 to 2011 before she was hired.
Murphy said blood toxicology tests revealed that Willardson ingested the sedative diazepam, sometimes known as Valium; the anti-anxiety medication clonazepam, also known as Klonopin; the antidepressant citalopram, sold under the brand names Celexa and Cipramil; and zolpidem, a sleep aid known by the trade name Ambien.
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