Chief justice will seek re-election

Wednesday, May 1, 2002 | 9:34 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- Chief Justice Bill Maupin said Tuesday he will run for a second six-year term on the Nevada Supreme Court.

Maupin, 55, already has billboards up in the state's urban areas and says he has raised more than $50,000.

Official filing for office starts Monday.

Maupin won election six years ago, beating Ken Hall to succeed Justice Tom Steffen, who decided not to run for re-election.

Maupin was appointed a District Court judge in Clark County in 1993 by Gov. Bob Miller and won re-election to the office in 1994. Two years later he was elected to the Supreme Court.

In his announcement Maupin stressed the benefits of speedy resolutions to appeals.

"When I joined the court we had a backlog of more than 2,500 cases and new cases were coming in every day," he said. "The members of the court, working together, have managed to reduce that number by over 1,000 cases during my first term.

"I've always believed that justice delayed is essentially justice denied."

But there are cases that slip through the cracks. In one recent criminal case, an appeal took three and a half years to decide.