Bush Appointee Killed in Car Crash Outside Federal Courthouse

(UnitedVoice.com) – A federal judge has died in a Nevada traffic accident. US District Court Judge Larry Hicks was hit by a car outside his own courthouse in Reno, Nevada, and died later in the hospital. He’d been working in the court for over 20 years.

Larry R Hicks was born in Evanston, Illinois on December 13, 1943. He earned a BS in 1965 from the Reno branch of the University of Nevada and then a law degree from the University of Colorado’s law school three years later. The same year, he started work as a law clerk in the Washoe County, Nevada, district attorney’s office. Within months, he’d risen to be an attorney, and in 1975, he was elected as Washoe County District Attorney, holding the position until 1979.

After stepping down as DA, Hicks went into private practice. His break from government service lasted until 2001; although he was nominated to the US District Court for the District of Nevada by Republican President George HW Bush in 1992, his nomination didn’t move forward to a Senate vote. However, on September 4, 2001, President George W Bush nominated him again for the same position, and he was confirmed by the Senate two months later.

As a federal judge, Hicks tried the defendants in Operation G-String, a 2006 FBI investigation into bribery involving Clark County commissioners who took payoffs from strip club owners. He also blocked the Bureau of Land Management from removing wild horses from northern Nevada and jailed an Indian national convicted of planning terrorist attacks. Hicks assumed senior status in 2012, but despite this semi-retirement, he continued hearing cases.

Around 2:15 pm on May 29, Hicks was outside the Reno courtroom where he worked when he was hit by a car. He was taken to a local hospital but died there of his injuries. The driver of the vehicle that hit him stayed at the scene and is cooperating with the investigation.

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