While Joe Lombardo was Clark County sheriff, a man died after four Las Vegas police officers restrained him at the county jail in 2019, a death the coroner ruled a homicide, and the department's yearly settlement payouts rose to just under $6.5 million.
As Nevada's governor, Lombardo vetoed a 2023 bill to seal eligible criminal records automatically, leaving people with old convictions to petition a judge.
Joe Lombardo's Record as Sheriff and Governor on Policing and Criminal Records
- A Man Died After Metro Officers Restrained Him at the County Jail in 2019, While Lombardo Was Sheriff. On March 31, 2019, while Joe Lombardo was Clark County sheriff, four Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department officers put Nicholas Farah into a restraint chair at the county jail; the coroner ruled his death a homicide, caused by asphyxia during the restraint. Metro's Fiscal Affairs Committee approved $1,885,000 in 2022 over Farah's death, and in 2020 a $929,284 settlement over the death of Tashi Farmer, whom Officer Kenneth Lopera had shocked with a Taser several times and held in a neck restraint, the Nevada Current reported.
- Metro Paid $250,000 After Withholding Records of the 2017 Strip Shooting While Lombardo Was Sheriff. While Joe Lombardo was sheriff, Metro paid $250,000 to the Las Vegas Review-Journal over its failure to release audio, video and reports about the 2017 mass shooting on the Las Vegas Strip, and in 2020 Lombardo gained authority to approve settlements of up to $200,000 on his own. Settlements Lombardo approved on his own no longer appear in the reports Metro's Fiscal Affairs Committee posts, so their amounts are unknown, the Nevada Current found.
- Lombardo Vetoed Automatic Sealing of Old Criminal Records in June 2023. On June 16, 2023, Joe Lombardo vetoed AB160, which would have had the state identify people eligible to have certain criminal records sealed and seal those records automatically, with prosecutors still able to object. Sealing in Nevada instead requires petitioning a judge and then sealing the record in each jurisdiction, and people with old marijuana convictions face limited job and housing options, the Nevada Independent reported in August 2023.
What Joe Lombardo's Policing Record and Sealing Veto Cost Nevada
- Metro's settlement payouts rose more than fivefold in Lombardo's last two years as sheriff. Settlements with Metro, including auto accident claims, averaged $1.1 million a year in Lombardo's first five years as sheriff, then rose to just under $6.5 million in fiscal 2021 and almost $5.9 million in fiscal 2022; Metro also paid $4.1 million in outside legal fees in fiscal 2022.
- Tens of thousands of eligible Nevada records a year stay unsealed without automatic sealing. Metro's lobbyist testified that the bill could take the department from sealing 1,600 records a year to more than 48,000, a measure of how many eligible records the petition system leaves untouched.
Frequently Asked Questions About Joe Lombardo on Criminal justice
What is Joe Lombardo's record on policing and criminal justice under Trump?
Joe Lombardo led the Las Vegas police department as sheriff when a man died in officers' restraint at the county jail and its yearly settlement costs rose to nearly $6.5 million. As Nevada's governor, he vetoed automatic sealing of eligible criminal records in 2023.
What happened to police misconduct settlements when Joe Lombardo was sheriff?
Joe Lombardo's Metro settlement cost per officer more than doubled from a 2012-2014 study, to $1,957 in fiscal 2021, the Nevada Current found, and the ACLU of Nevada said the department had not shown significant accountability.
Why did Joe Lombardo's record-sealing veto matter for Nevadans with old convictions?
Joe Lombardo's veto of AB160 ended an effort Clark County had paid Code for America $200,000 to develop, the Nevada Independent reported, and it left people with old marijuana convictions to petition a judge to seal them.
Last updated: 2026-10-26