A Las Vegas judge just ordered a convicted killer back onto your streets.
Clark County Sheriff Kevin McMahill looked at that order and told Judge Eric Goodman pound sand.
Now the Nevada Supreme Court has to settle something that shouldn't require a court to settle: whether a career criminal with 35 arrests, a manslaughter conviction, and a habit of mocking his ankle monitor on Snapchat belongs behind bars or back in your neighborhood.
The Man Judge Goodman Wanted Walking Free
Joshua Sanchez-Lopez is 36 years old.
In those 36 years, he has been arrested 35 times.
His record spans vehicle theft, assault, drug sales, robbery, firearms charges, and an involuntary manslaughter conviction – plus more bench warrants than most people have parking tickets.
In 2020, Sanchez-Lopez ran from officers while armed with a gun.
He got caught.
He went home, posted a photo of his ankle monitor on Snapchat, and bragged that he "got chased again."
That is the man Judge Eric Goodman decided needed to be released from jail in January.
Goodman set bail at $25,000, then ordered Sanchez-Lopez placed on "high-level electronic monitoring" – essentially house arrest – once bail was posted.
Sanchez-Lopez posted bail on January 24.
Sheriff McMahill's department said no.
They cited three specific reasons: his history of failing to appear in court, his prior bench warrants, and his documented violations of electronic monitoring – including that 2020 Snapchat incident.
On January 29, police formally refused to release him.
On February 5, Judge Goodman ordered them to comply and threatened contempt proceedings if they didn't.
McMahill still said no.
The Sheriff Who Remembered His Job
Most politicians fold the moment a judge threatens contempt.
McMahill went the other direction.
On March 9, his department filed a petition with the Nevada Supreme Court asking for a writ of prohibition – a court order that would stop Judge Goodman from forcing the sheriff to release Sanchez-Lopez and block any contempt action against law enforcement.
Nevada statutes NRS 211.250 and NRS 211.300 give the sheriff authority to determine whether placing a defendant in the electronic monitoring program would pose an unreasonable risk to public safety.
McMahill invoked that authority directly.
"Based on the totality of the circumstances," McMahill wrote in the petition, "including Sanchez-Lopez's unsuccessful prior history in the Program and his multiple parole violations, ATI supervisors as my designees determined that Sanchez-Lopez poses an unreasonable risk to public safety if placed on High Level Electronic Monitoring."
The department didn't mince words about what this is really about.
"Sheriff McMahill will not violate the law to appease the Las Vegas Justice Court and let out people who he deems to be dangerous," the department said in a statement.
Nevada Governor Joe Lombardo stood squarely behind the sheriff.
"Sheriff McMahill and the men and women of Metro are doing exactly what they're sworn to do: protect the public," Lombardo wrote. "When repeat violent offenders are ordered back onto our streets, law enforcement has a duty to speak up and push back."
The Ankle Monitor Con
Here is what Judge Goodman refuses to acknowledge.
An ankle monitor does not stop a crime.
It records where someone was when they committed one.
In January 2026, a Texas teen paroled for murder cut off his ankle monitor, robbed a store, and then his crew violently escaped jail – attacking a jailer so brutally the officer was left unconscious with a broken nose and deep bite marks.
The monitor was in a bush outside his house.
Sanchez-Lopez already proved he treats electronic monitoring as a joke – ran from police while armed, got arrested, then celebrated his ankle bracelet on Snapchat like it was a trophy.
Judge Goodman knew all of this and ordered the release anyway.
A Clark County district judge named Erika Mendoza recently sided with Metro in a nearly identical case, ruling the sheriff has the authority to make that call.
That precedent is what McMahill is betting on at the Supreme Court.
What Nevada's High Court Is Really Being Asked to Decide
This isn't about Joshua Sanchez-Lopez.
The Nevada Supreme Court is about to decide whether a sheriff who knows a career criminal will hurt someone can stop it – or whether he has to hand over the keys and hope for the best.
The public defender's office called McMahill's stand "flat wrong."
Steve Grammas, president of the Las Vegas Police Protective Association, called it common sense: "When someone has dozens of prior arrests and a history of violations, public safety has to come first."
One of those men will be right when the court rules.
If it's the public defender, every soft judge in Nevada just got a blank check – and the next victim Judge Goodman creates won't get a hearing.
Sources:
- Stepheny Price, "Vegas Sheriff Refuses Judge's Order to Free 35-Arrest Repeat Offender," Fox News, March 16, 2026.
- David Manney, "Nevada Sheriff Defies Judge to Keep 35-Arrest Violent Offender Behind Bars," PJ Media, March 16, 2026.
- "Las Vegas Police Asks Nevada Supreme Court to Block Ankle-Monitor Release," Fox5Vegas, March 16, 2026.
- Ward Clark, "Vegas Sheriff Defies Judge, Keeps 35-Arrest Thug Locked Up," RedState, March 16, 2026.
- "Repeat Offender on Parole for Murder Tied to Brutal Jail Assault," Fox News, January 27, 2026.
