Bell won’t run again for DA

Tuesday, March 6, 2001 | 11:12 a.m.

There most likely won't be a Clark County district attorney named Bell for the first time in 16 years come 2003.

District Attorney Stewart Bell will follow in the footsteps of his predecessor Rex Bell -- no relation -- by serving only two terms in the county's top law enforcement position.

"I generally believe in term limits, and the timing is right."

Bell, who did not run for his first office until he was 50 and ran unopposed at age 54, says he is entertaining potential runs at District Court judge or Nevada Supreme Court justice.

The two names that are being bandied about to replace Bell are longtime private attorney Bill Terry, who at one time worked in the U.S. attorney's office, and Deputy District Attorney Mike Davidson, who currently supervises the civil and family support divisions.

"Both are fine, quality guys and either would do a good job in this position," Bell said today.

Bell said he wants to go out while he is "at the top of my game."

"I feel that a change at the top keeps an organization moving forward."

Bell said he followed "a man whom I have the highest respect for" in Rex Bell, who now is in private practice.

Stewart Bell says the completion of the Downtown Regional Justice Center is high on his list of accomplishments.

In addition Bell said the two most important cases his office has handled -- murder trials of Jeremy Strohmeyer and former Metro Police officer Ron Mortenson -- have a central theme, equitable justice, and both resulted in suspects being convicted and sentenced to prison.

"The State vs. Mortenson was vital because it demonstrated to the public that the same justice applies to a white police officer who shoots and kills a poor Hispanic," Bell said. Mortenson is in prison for the 1996 drive-by slaying of Daniel Mendoza, 21, near Flamingo and Paradise roads.

"The State vs. Strohmeyer again demonstrated that a rich white person who kills a poor black girl gets treated the same as a black person who kills a white person." Strohmeyer is serving a life sentence for the 1997 sexual assault and slaying of 7-year-old Sherrice Iverson in a Primm casino.