By Kimball Austin Sachs
June 28, 2025
(Reference Nevada Eighth Judicial District Court case C-19-343540-1 and C-19-343540-2 for my wife, Yuxia Zhang)
In a state where the judiciary is supposed to serve as the final guardian of constitutional rights, the Nevada Supreme Court has instead chosen to function as an unaccountable political body —one that selectively applies the law, covers for its own, and punishes those who dare to invoke their rights. My wife and I know this firsthand, because we were on the receiving end of what can only be described as judicial tyranny.
Our ordeal centers on NRS 172.241, a Nevada statute that governs grand jury procedure. This law, especially when viewed through the lens of the Rule of Lenity, is not ambiguous. The Rule of Lenity is a foundational principle of criminal law that holds that any ambiguity in a criminal statute must be resolved in favor of the accused—not the prosecution. This isn’t some obscure legal theory; it’s a safeguard designed to prevent government overreach and arbitrary punishment. It exists to ensure that no one is criminally prosecuted under vague or manipulable laws. When liberty is at stake, the law must speak clearly—and if it doesn’t, the benefit of that uncertainty belongs to the defendant.
Yet even with that legal clarity, the courts in our case chose to ignore it. In his “Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law,” judge Joe Hardy outright parroted the prosecution’s position, stating that “the court finds no issue with the notice provided”—even though our own paid attorneys never told us we were being indicted. That is the entire point of NRS 172.241: if an accused isn’t given reasonable or adequate notice of a grand jury proceeding, then the grand jury shall reconvene. Not may. Not if the judge feels like it. Shall. There is no discretion in that word. But instead of applying the law and honoring the Rule of Lenity, judge Hardy and the courts above him made a calculated decision to side with the state—proving yet again that justice in Nevada is reserved not for the people, but for the powerful.
Despite this, three separate Nevada state district court judges (Hardy, Silva, and Kierny) denied our motion to have the grand jury reconvened, after our right to notice was effectively sabotaged by legal malpractice. We supported our position with detailed legal filings and a sworn declaration, alongside a writ of habeas corpus. The court’s refusal to uphold the statute was an outright violation of our rights. But what followed at the Nevada Supreme Court was far worse — a willful, coordinated betrayal of justice.
To fully appreciate the depth of the corruption and indifference we encountered, consider this: At the district court level, I retained Gabriel Grasso — yes, the same Gabriel Grasso who once represented O.J. Simpson — for $10,000, and my wife hired his son, Christopher Grasso, for $5,000. On August 20, 2019, according to court records, both attorneys were allegedly given the “STATE’S NOTICE OF INTENT TO SEEK INDICTMENT” in person at the Boulder City Justice Court by prosecutor Christopher Laurent. Yet neither Grasso nor his son signed the certification of service at the bottom of the document — the only mechanism by which proper service is recorded. That unsigned form was included as an exhibit in the two- volume appendix submitted to the Nevada Supreme Court with our petition for rehearing to no avail.
And even worse, neither Gabriel Grasso nor Christopher Grasso ever contacted us to notify us that we were about to be indicted. Not a call. Not a text. Not an email. Nothing. Instead, we learned after the fact that we had been indicted on two separate dates — September 3rd and September 24th, 2019. We were completely blindsided. And how did we find out? Gabriel Grasso casually emailed me on September 26, 2019 to say that we had already been indicted. This man — who was paid handsomely and who absolutely knew better — willfully withheld that information. When I emailed him and demanded an explanation as to why he and his son did this to us, he never responded. He never denied it. He just went silent. They screwed us, and they did it deliberately.
This isn’t a technicality. This is a documented breach of due process, a material failure that directly supports our statutory right under NRS 172.241 to have the grand jury reconvened. And the Nevada Supreme Court ignored it completely.
We filed a writ of mandamus—a legal instrument that exists precisely to compel state officials or courts to perform duties that are mandatory under law. This wasn’t a frivolous filing by unprepared individuals. I spent two full weeks learning Nevada appellate procedure from scratch to ensure the writ was properly formatted, reasoned, and supported by legal authority. We made clear this wasn’t just about our case; it was a matter of statewide importance. After all, if a statute meant to protect grand jury rights can be ignored, what protections do any of us truly have?
The Nevada Supreme Court’s response? A summary denial issued by a three-justice panel— Chief Justice Elissa Cadish, Justice Lidia Stiglich, and Justice Douglas Herndon—that cited irrelevant civil case law as binding authority in a criminal procedural matter. Let me be perfectly clear: this wasn’t a mistake. This was intentional. These justices are fully aware of the difference between civil and criminal procedure. They understood the statutory mandate. They saw our detailed filings, outlining years of lower court misconduct. And they chose to deny us justice anyway.
We filed a petition for rehearing, pointing out this glaring misuse of precedent. It was denied— again, with zero explanation or justification. We filed a motion to disqualify the justices for obvious bias, and submitted a petition for en banc reconsideration by the court’s four remaining members. Every effort was met with a two-word insult to due process: “Reconsideration denied.”
Let’s call this what it is: judicial tyranny. When the state’s highest judges knowingly misapply the law, ignore statutory mandates, and refuse to even explain their reasoning, the judiciary ceases to function as a check on government power. It becomes the engine of abuse.
This is not just about our personal fight for justice. This is about the integrity of the legal system in the State of Nevada. Because if the Nevada Supreme Court can look at a non-discretionary statute, knowingly ignore it, and then hide behind silence and immunity, then none of us are safe. Every defendant in this state should be terrified. Every citizen should be outraged.
We are told that courts are sacred institutions. That they exist to uphold the law. That justice is blind. But what we’ve learned—what we’ve lived—is that in Nevada, justice is not blind. It’s willfully corrupt.
And it doesn’t just happen in the shadows. It happens in broad daylight, behind black robes and sealed chambers, where the law is twisted to protect the powerful and punish the persistent.
We’re not going away. And we’re not going silent. Because silence is how corruption survives. This court—and the justices who sit on it—may have hoped their denials would be the end of our pursuit. But in reality, they just confirmed how broken the system really is.
Let this editorial be a warning to every Nevadan: if justice can be denied this blatantly, this publicly, and this confidently, then you may be next.
Finally, this is our seventh STATE OF THE NATION press article tied to a brazen state district court frame-up for felony child neglect and abuse — charges that, in truth, are directly tied to iatrogenic gadolinium poisoning. And we fought so hard to have the grand jury reconvene because let’s face it: who wants to be forced against their will to participate in a show trial? The trial is currently scheduled to commence on September 16, 2025 and can be viewed at this direct link:
Call to Action / Contact Info
If you’re a journalist, legal analyst, civil rights advocate, or simply someone who believes in the rule of law, contact us. We have the full legal record, and we’re ready to share it. Because it’s time the people of Nevada learn what their so-called justice system has become. me at kaustinsachs@gmail.com.
You can read all the NV supreme court filings using the links below:
Nevada Appellate Courts Case Lookup (type in case number 88455): https://nvcourts.gov/supreme/how_do_i/find_a_case
DIRECT LINK:
You can reach Nevada Appellate Case Management System (in the far right “Document” column you can download and read all the filings):