Judge Teuton named to Family Court seat he once held

Gov. Jim Gibbons today announced the appointment of Judge Robert Teuton to fill an open seat in Family Court.

The seat previously was held by Teuton for 15 months, but a State Supreme Court decision ordered it vacated.

Teuton lost the seat not because of anything he did, but because of a gap in state election laws.

Gibbons appointed Teuton to the seat in August 2008 on the assumption that the judge would serve out the last two years and four months of retired Judge Gerald Hardcastle's term.

But the Supreme Court ruled on Nov. 12 that Teuton could no longer serve as judge. The court stated he should have run for the seat in the November 2008 election.

Yet election officials never put the race for the seat on the ballot that year, and Teuton was appointed three days after the deadline for making changes in the general election ballot.

He will fill the remainder of Hardcastle's term, which runs through the end of 2010.