Las Vegas- Family Court Judge Steven Jones said Thursday that he felt “relieved and vindicated” after a fellow member of the bench acquitted him of a domestic battery charge involving his live-in girlfriend.

Henderson Municipal Judge Ken Proctor made the ruling a day after Jones’ girlfriend, Amy McNair, [pictured] took the witness stand and recanted the previous statements and testimony she had given in the case.

“I’m very familiar with domestic violence,” Proctor said. “It’s not unusual for a victim to recant when they come to trial.”

Nevertheless, the judge said, evidence in the case portrayed McNair as the primary aggressor in the June 20 dispute with Jones.

“He tried to avoid the fight by going to the bedroom and locking the door,” Proctor said. “Ms. McNair brought the fight to him.”

Jones, 48, and McNair, 34, hugged and kissed outside the courtroom after Proctor announced his decision.

“I always had confidence in the legal and judicial system,” said Jones, who was joined by two of his sisters.

McNair said she viewed the conclusion of the criminal case as a “fresh start” for the couple’s relationship, which began six years ago.

Assistant City Attorney Dave Mincavage said he did not know whether prosecutors would appeal Proctor’s verdict. Because the case involved a misdemeanor, a judge decided the outcome, rather than a jury.

Proctor said Jones retreated from McNair after their argument began, “because he knew she was intoxicated.”

“My rhetorical question is: What else could he do?” Proctor said in making his ruling.

Attorney James Jimmerson, who represents Jones, asked Proctor to decide the case after prosecutors finished presenting their evidence Thursday, the second day of the trial. Proctor granted the request.

“He did not even require the defense to put on a defense,” Jimmerson said.

Mincavage said he doubts the case would have had a different result if a jury had weighed the evidence.

“When a victim changes his story, it’s kind of an uphill battle for us,” the prosecutor said.

Proctor’s ruling echoed that of Washoe County District Judge Charles McGee, who refused to extend a temporary protective order against Jones after a hearing in late June. Like Proctor, McGee described McNair as the primary aggressor in the incident.

McNair testified under oath during the hearing in front of McGee and accused Jones of shoving her to the ground during the dispute, which led to Jones’ arrest.

The woman told similar versions of the story to authorities several times after the incident.

Detective June Castro of the Henderson Police Department said she met with McNair on June 28 and recorded her statement. The audio recording was played in court Thursday.

McNair told Castro that the fight with Jones ensued after he refused to buy her a taco when he went on an outing for fast food. McNair said Jones came home, went to the master bedroom upstairs and closed the door.

After McNair knocked twice, Jones opened the door a few inches. When she tried to force her way into the room, McNair said, Jones picked her up by the neck and arm and “chucked” her down the hallway.

McNair told the detective that her face was injured when it struck the banister.

Although McNair refused treatment that night, she showed up at a hospital emergency room the next morning.

Denise Paup-Woodcock, a registered nurse who cared for McNair, testified Thursday that the woman’s blood-alcohol level was 0.214 percent, more than twice the legal limit for drivers in Nevada.

The nurse said McNair received a shot of morphine after she described her pain as a “10” on a scale of 1 to 10.

In court Wednesday, McNair said she had caused her wounds by rubbing her face against carpet. She said she made the false allegations out of anger after Jones decided to end their relationship.

McNair, who admits to suffering from alcoholism, said she is now in a rehabilitation program and has stayed sober for more than 40 days.

Mincavage said prosecutors have not decided whether they will charge McNair with perjury, although he suggested that doing so would amount to “victimizing the victim.”

Jones said he hopes McNair will not face prosecution.

“Anytime you have an individual who is willing to come forward and tell the truth, I think that’s a commendable act,” Jones said.

Jones, who has received high marks in surveys of the lawyers who appear before him, is in his third term as a Family Court judge. He said he does not expect publicity surrounding his personal problems to turn voters against him when he comes up for re-election in 2010.

He said that voters are “real people” and that he never has claimed he is perfect.

“I’m not,” he said. “I’m a real person.”

In 1996, Jones called police during a fight that ended with his then-wife being sent to jail. Five months pregnant, Deborah Jones allegedly hit him with a flower arrangement and a shower curtain rod.

When Jones sought to unseat Nevada Supreme Court Justice Cliff Young that year, the incident became the basis for a negative campaign commercial in the bitterly fought contest. Jones blamed Young’s mudslinging tactics for his loss in that race.

Jimmerson said McNair has two arrests on her record involving domestic violence.