District Court Department 7

Thursday, Aug. 15, 2002 | 9:17 a.m.

Eight seats are contested in District Court election, with several candidates competing for the open seats created by two new departments.

Valoria J. Vega, Ron D. Parraguirre, Joseph Bonaventure, Lee Gates, Jennifer Togliatti, Michael Douglas, Michelle Leavitt, Mark Ralph Denton, Sally Loehrer, John S. McGroarty, Michael A. Cherry, Nancy M. Saitta and Allan R. Earl are all running unopposed for re-election.

Department 7

Current District Attorney Stewart Bell and consumer advocacy attorney Grenville T. Pridham vie for the spot left open by Mark Gibbons' candidacy for the Supreme Court.

Bell practiced law for 21 years as a senior partner at a private practice that handled numerous criminal, civil, business and domestic cases before his election to the district attorney's office in 1995.

He plans to use his experience and work with colleagues to "make the court system as efficient and user friendly as possible."

Pridham worked in business and commercial law for three years in Las Vegas before serving as a state deputy attorney general. As a deputy, he prosecuted DUI license suspensions, investment fraud and other white collar crimes, including working with the FBI to prosecute telemarketing fraud.