US Judge Nelson Hearing in Idaho Battery Case Continued to July

US appeals Judge Ryan D. Nelson got a four-week delay in resolving misdemeanor charges he faces in connection with a parking lot altercation in his Idaho hometown.

Nelson elected Thursday morning to continue his pre-trial conference at the Bonneville County Magistrate Court in Idaho Falls to “further discuss” an “offer” with his counsel, according to a hearing and subsequent order. The proceeding, which Nelson wasn’t present in the courtroom for, took place in the same city in which he worked as general counsel for a personal care products company for nearly a decade before being nominated to the federal bench by President Donald Trump in 2018.

The next conference is scheduled for July 16.

Counsel for Nelson didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. The city prosecutor declined to comment.

Nelson, who sits on the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, is charged with misdemeanor battery and malicious injury to property. The charges stem from an April 2 dispute outside of BRiO Home Health and Hospice in Idaho Falls where Nelson was seen in a video published by the Idaho State Journal acting aggressively towards another man who apparently made a remark about Nelson’s parking skills. Nelson then is seen taking the man’s glasses off of his head, and then tossing and stomping on them.

The battery charge holds potential penalties of a fine up to $1,000, or six months in county jail, while the property-related charge has a similar fine of up to $1,000, according to Idaho Falls City Attorney Zachary H. Jones.

Ninth Circuit Chief Judge Mary H. Murguia on June 8 announced the court was conducting a misconduct review.

Factual Allegations

Nelson allegedly attempted to swipe the phone out of the other man’s hand during the confrontation, according to an April 3 Idaho Falls Police Department affidavit of probable cause. Nelson also allegedly challenged the other man to a fight as the victim walked away, asking him “if he wants to go.”

“When I spoke to Nelson he admitted to knocking his glasses from his head but stated he did not touch him,” the affidavit said. “He also admitted to stomping on the glasses.”

A no contact order against Nelson was entered May 14, requiring him to have zero contact with the victim until May 2028 or until the case is dismissed. No contact orders are entered when a court finds it appropriate in assault and battery cases and can be imposed under Idaho criminal law.

The judge has also faced more than a dozen traffic infractions, mostly for speeding violations, since 2008, which became a topic of scrutiny during his confirmation hearings. Nelson was most recently cited with going 76 mph in a 65 mph zone on April 4, 2024, in Minidoka County, about 120 miles southwest of Idaho Falls. The charge was ultimately dismissed after Nelson paid $150 that following May.

Nelson was born in Idaho Falls in 1973, according to his federal judiciary biography. A graduate of Brigham Young University and its J. Reuben Clark Law School, he clerked for DC Circuit Judge Karen LeCraft Henderson, then at Iran-US Claims Tribunal at The Hague; did a five-year stint in private practice before joining the Justice Department in 2006, the Office of Management and Budget two years later, and then Melaleuca Inc. in Idaho Falls in 2009.

The news of the charges against Nelson weren’t made public until a June 5 Idaho State Journal report.

The Idaho Falls City Prosecutor’s Office represents the state. Smith Woolf Anderson & Wilkinson represents Nelson.

The case is State of Idaho v. Nelson, Idaho Dist. Ct., No. CR10-26-03905, pre-trial conference 6/18/26.