Thursday, Oct. 22, 1998 | 11:59 a.m.
Three new seats have been added by the Nevada Legislature to the District Court bench to alleviate the civil and criminal case loads in Clark County, and the races for each of those seats have been whittled down to two players apiece.
But the strangest judicial race this year -- and probably the strangest race in the entire election -- will be in Department 13, which was vacated by District Judge Don Chairez when he chose to run for U.S. Congress.
Because Chairez waited until the last day of filing to run for the federal post, the only way candidates could get on the ballot for what amounts to a special election was to obtain signatures on petitions equal to one percent of the vote in the last election.
Four candidates have done that, and the one who gets the most votes -- not necessarily a majority of all votes -- will be the winner.
And one of the candidates, Melodie Swanson, will set a record whether she wins or loses. She already ran for District Court Department 18 in the primary election and lost before collecting petitions signatures to get on the Department 13 ballot. Thus she will become the first judicial candidate to have two results in one election year.
The incumbent in the race, however, is District Judge Mark Denton, who was appointed to fill Chairez's vacancy until the November election.
The other District Court seats up for grabs this year -- Departments 17, 18 and 19 -- will become active when the winners in those races are sworn in.
New judges' positions often are filled initially through appointment by the governor, but the Legislature decided to let voters make the selections for the seats that will be filled in January.
DEPARTMENT 13
Denton, 47, was born in Elko and raised in Boulder City before graduating from the University of Nevada, Reno, and Georgetown Law School. He has been in private practice since 1976 when he became a Nevada lawyer.
He has been an alternate Juvenile Court referee, an arbitrator and a settlement judge for the Nevada Supreme Court.
He advocates a mediation program in civil cases to let litigants see whether they can solve their own disputes with the help of a disinterested party before a District Court trial becomes necessary.
Philip Kohn heads the capital-murder team for the Clark County Public Defender's Office, defending those charged with murder, but he said he would not have a problem handing down a death penalty if he were a judge.
Before becoming a public defender, he was a police officer in Santa Barbara, Calif., a deputy district attorney and a private attorney.
He says there should be monthly status-check hearings in major criminal cases to ensure they are on track for trial. Needlessly delays, he said, frustrate victims and witnesses.
Swanson, 41, graduated from Las Vegas High School in 1973 and Southwestern University School of Las in 1980. She has been a private attorney in Clark County since 1982 and for the past five years has been a part-time arbitrator over civil cases in District Court.
Swanson said her experience in District Court cases far exceeds that of her opponents. She said the most important attribute for a District Court judge is "the ability to read, interpret and apply the law consistently, fairly and swiftly."
Donald Haight has been a chief deputy attorney general for the last few years. Prior to that, he was attorney for the Clark County School District and before that he was a partner in a private law firm.
DEPARTMENT 17
This contest pits two veteran and evenly matched attorneys who finished relatively close in the primary election. During the campaign, both have touted their experience and vowed to run a professional court.
But there are a few differences. Michael Cherry supports a strong chief-judge system to provide oversight for judges while Jim Mahan advocates that judges be independent. Cherry said he would be willing to handle all types of cases, including domestic cases, while Mahan said that family cases should be handled by judges elected specifically to do that job.
Cherry, 53, has been a lawyer in Las Vegas for 28 years and for two years has served as Clark County's special public defender, overseeing an office that primarily defends death-penalty and other murder cases. A 1969 graduate of Washington University Law School, Cherry previously was in private practice and also served as an alternate Municipal Court judge and pro tem justice of the peace. He has been the special master overseeing technical and legal issues in the MGM Hotel and Hilton Hotel fires.
Cherry said he wants to "make sure the courthouse belongs to the people and that justice is swift."
Mahan, 54, cites his "temperament and experience" honed through 24 years as a lawyer as the reason he should be elected. He earned his law degree from Vanderbilt University in 1973 before moving to Las Vegas and becoming a private attorney.
"I worry that judges are isolated and that our legal system in this country is failing to address the concerns of ordinary Americans," Mahan said in a news release. "I am particularly concerned that victims of crime are too often victimized again by the legal system."
Mahan is on the board of and serves as lawyer for Habitat for Humanity, Las Vegas.
DEPARTMENT 18
In this race, current Las Vegas Municipal Judge Nancy Saitta easily won the primary election against two challengers and is facing former Las Vegas Municipal Judge Steven Webster in the general election.
Saitta, 47, is seeking to move up to the District Court after only two years on the lower court. An eight-year resident of Nevada, Saitta previously worked as a senior deputy attorney general and is a member of the Juvenile Justice Commission.
Saitta supports judicial specialization as a way to streamline the court system and advocates early intervention and treatment programs to combat crime. She is opposed to a strong chief-judge system and says that strong judges need to be elected.
This is her second try for a state court seat. She lost two years ago in her attempt to be elected to one of the two newly created Family Court jobs. The next year, she was appointed a Municipal Court judge.
Stephen Webster, 48, has been a lawyer in Nevada for 22 years and served as a Las Vegas Municipal Court judge from 1985 until he was defeated in his 1993 bid for re-election amid complaints by attorneys about his demeanor.
In his campaign, he has been critical of Saitta's attempt to jump to District Court after less than two years at Municipal Court.
A 1976 graduate of Brigham Young University law school, Webster was a deputy city attorney in North Las Vegas from 1978 to 1985 and served for two years as a part-time child-support and paternity hearing master in District Court. In 1992 he authorized the legal textbook "Criminal Procedure," which is used at Southern Nevada Community College.
DEPARTMENT 19
In this race, Family Court Judge Gary Redmon, despite recovering from a heart-transplant operation, easily outdistanced four challengers to win the primary election. He is facing veteran lawyer Drake DeLanoy, a founding partner in one of the largest law firms in the state.
Redmon, 63, is seeking what amounts to a lateral transfer to the court that handles civil and criminal cases. He was elected to the Family Court bench two years ago after a 24-year career as an attorney that included a stint as a deputy district attorney.
Redmon said that in addition to domestic law, his private practice included civil and criminal cases. He said he misses courtroom trial work. He said his philosophy as a judge is to be "fair and firm."
DeLanoy, 70, is a graduate of the University of Nevada, Reno, and the University of Denver Law School. He has practiced law in Southern Nevada since 1962 and is chairman of the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency.
He has been a chief deputy district attorney, assistant city attorney and a U.S. Air Force trial judge advocate.
DeLanoy said that as a judge he would work to cut costs for taxpayers and litigants by scheduling court cases so they could be decided after one court session.
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