Roger files court challenge to justice of peace candidate

District Attorney David Roger on Friday filed court papers to compel Department 14 Justice of the Peace candidate Amber Candelaria to prove she meets the legal requirements to seek the judgeship.

The challenge was filed last week by one of Candelaria's opponents, Chief Deputy District Attorney Bernie Zadrowski, who bases his challenge on the allegation Candelaria has not been a licensed Nevada attorney for five years, a prerequisite for the bench.

According to the Nevada State Bar, Candelaria is a 2006 graduate of UNLV's Boyd School of Law.

She is the project manager of Family Court's Self-Help Law Center. Prior to that, she clerked for Chief Judge Arthur Ritchie.

Zadrowski said he is "sure (Candelaria) is a fine person ... but she's simply ineligible to be on the ballot."

The statute calls for justices of the peace to meet the five-year threshold by the date they are elected. Candelaria would be about 11 months shy of that mark by the November election date.

Candelaria did not return a message seeking comment.