DA Drops Out of Judge Race Because of Custody Battle; Term Limits

Friday, June 14, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.

"The other side was using this judgeship race to try and get custody of my kids," Pasquale told the Lahontan-Valley News and Fallon Eagle Standard.

"They have been holding up this divorce for over a year until this election," he said. "The bottom-line truth is they were using this race to hold me for ransom and I won't let them."

Pasquale, 40, said the potential of term limits for judges also was a factor in his dropping out the race for the bench being vacated by veteran District Judge Mario Recanzone.

The term limit question will be on the November ballot.

"The decision to drop out of this race was a tough one," he said. "But, besides the custody battle, I didn't want to be 52 years old and out of a job."

Pasquale said he feels he could have won the election.

"I hated to withdraw because I feel I was far ahead of the other candidates," he said. "I would have been a tough row to hoe for anyone to beat me."

Pasquale's withdrawal left two remaining candidates: Fallon lawyer David A. Huff, 56, and former Douglas County District Judge Norm Robison, 58.

Robison retired two years ago and moved to Dayton, within Recanzone's Churchill-Lyon judicial district. He said he has recovered from back problems and has been working as a senior judge throughout Nevada.

Huff has practiced law in Fallon since 1985, after ending a 20-year Navy career that included service as a military judge.