Judge Ryan D. Nelson, a Ninth Circuit judge born in Idaho Falls, has been charged with misdemeanor battery and malicious injury to property after an April 2 parking lot altercation in the Gem State city. He pleaded not guilty on May 13, and a pretrial conference is set for June 18.
The charges were filed April 22 in Idaho Falls, putting a federal appellate judge on the wrong side of a local criminal case tied to a scene that has now become public. Nelson, who has sat on the bench since his confirmation in 2018 after being nominated by President Donald Trump, is identified in the case under No. CR10-26-03905.
Interest in the case sharpened after video published by the Idaho State Journal showed Nelson acting aggressively in the parking lot, a detail that adds weight to the charges while leaving the full account of what happened that day unresolved. The underlying records describing the incident were not immediately obtained, and neither Nelson’s attorney nor the Idaho Falls prosecutor’s office immediately returned requests for comment.
What comes next is straightforward but important: the June 18 pretrial conference will be the first formal chance to test the evidence and narrow the issues in a case that has already landed a sitting Ninth Circuit judge in misdemeanor court in the city where he was born.
