Ninth Circuit Judge accused of breaking man’s sunglasses in altercation outside Brio Home Health and Hospice

IDAHO FALLS, Idaho (KIFI) – Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Ryan D. Nelson faces two misdemeanor charges after an April altercation in a parking lot outside of Brio Home Health and Hospice.

The argument between Nelson and another man occurred on April 2, 2026. The dispute between the two men over a parking job quickly escalated, with Nelson grabbing the other man’s sunglasses, throwing them across the parking lot and trying to knock a phone from the other individual’s hand.

The affidavit of probable cause states that “Nelson challenged him to fight."

Nelson then crushed the glasses with his foot.

Nelson later told the Idaho Falls police officer investigating the incident that he knocked off the other man’s glasses, but said he “did not touch him.”  He also confessed to “stomping on the glasses.”

On May 13, he pled not guilty to charges of misdemeanor battery and misdemeanor malicious injury to property.

Video published by the Post Register on Friday appears to confirm the incident.

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals released a statement Monday that Chief Judge Mary H. Murguia is conducting an inquiry into a “complaint of judicial misconduct” based on “recently received” information.

The order was published publicly and distributed to media to “maintain public confidence in the judiciary’s ability to redress misconduct.”

Nelson was appointed by President Donald Trump to the Ninth Circuit in 2018.

The Ninth Circuit’s pending misconduct proceedings will be confidential, in accordance with federal law.

On the “Original Jurisdiction” blog, an unnamed former clerk of Judge Nelson said the incident was “incredibly out of character for the man I know and have come to admire and respect.”

Another previous clerk, who was not named, shared that the judge’s “father recently had a heart attack (which he thankfully survived), and other family members have been dealing with cancer. I haven’t spoken to him about the incident, so I don’t know if any of this played into it, but I can certainly imagine it.”

The clerk said, “He was a terrific judge to clerk for–kind and helpful, and a great mentor. The video does not reflect the judge that I know.”

Any individual accused of a crime is presumed innocent until proven guilty.

Local News 8 has reached out to Nelson, his lawyer Curtis Smith, of Smith Woolf Anderson & Wilkinson this afternoon, for comment, as well as the Idaho Falls City Prosecutor Zachary H. Jones’ office and will update this story if additional information comes available.