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Vegas lawyer’s ‘Black Lives’ protest resembles Ohio case

Erika Ballou, a deputy public defender in Clark County, Nev., speaks with colleagues outside of a courtroom Tuesday, Sept. 20, 2016, in Las Vegas. Ballou sparked a protest in a Las Vegas courtroom where she refused on Tuesday to remove a "Black Lives Matter" button from her blouse despite a judge's request not to demonstrate what he called "political speech." (AP Photo/John Locher)
Erika Ballou, a deputy public defender in Clark County, Nev., speaks with colleagues outside of a courtroom Tuesday, Sept. 20, 2016, in Las Vegas. Ballou sparked a protest in a Las Vegas courtroom where she refused on Tuesday to remove a "Black Lives Matter" button from her blouse despite a judge's request not to demonstrate what he called "political speech." (AP Photo/John Locher) Erika Ballou, a deputy public defender in Clark County, Nev., speaks with colleagues outside of a courtroom Tuesday, Sept. 20, 2016, in Las Vegas. Ballou sparked a protest in a Las Vegas courtroom where she refused on Tuesday to remove a "Black Lives Matter" button from her blouse despite a judge's request not to demonstrate what he called "political speech." (AP Photo/John Locher)

By Associated Press 4 min read

LAS VEGAS (AP) – A deputy public defender in Las Vegas who defied a judge’s request that she not wear a “Black Lives Matter” pin in court has become the latest voice of protest in a national debate over police brutality and race relations.

Erika Ballou’s protest comes two months after a black defense attorney in Ohio was arrested on a contempt of court charge for wearing a similar pin in a municipal courtroom – prompting a debate about where to draw the line between courtroom decorum, political speech and free expression.

Youngstown, Ohio, defense attorney Andrea Burton said Wednesday she settled a federal civil rights lawsuit on Sept. 1 with an agreement that allows her to wear the pin in the courthouse – but not in the courtroom.

“We agreed to apply a dress code evenly, so that officers also can’t be in a courtroom with black tape over their badges,” Burton said during a vacation in Las Vegas.

Ballou, who is black, balked Tuesday at Clark County District Court Judge Douglas Herndon’s request that she remove the small round “Black Lives Matter” pin from her blouse while representing a white domestic battery defendant at a sentencing hearing.