Richard Bevan | |
---|---|
Chief Justice of the Idaho Supreme Court | |
Assumed office January 1, 2021 | |
Preceded by | Roger Burdick |
Justice of the Idaho Supreme Court | |
Assumed office September 27, 2017 | |
Appointed by | Butch Otter |
Preceded by | Dan Eismann |
Personal details | |
Born | George Richard Bevan May 5, 1959 Twin Falls, Idaho, U.S. |
Spouse | Pamela Bevan |
Children | 5 |
Education |
Brigham Young University ( BS, JD) |
George Richard Bevan (born May 5, 1959) is an American attorney and jurist who currently is the chief justice of Idaho. [1] He previously served as an Idaho district court judge from 2003 until 2017, [1] when he was appointed to the supreme court.
Born and raised in Twin Falls, Idaho, Bevan graduated from Twin Falls High School in 1977, [1] and then attended Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah. He earned a Bachelor of Science in business management and finance in 1984, and completed a Juris Doctor at the J. Reuben Clark Law School in 1987. [2]
Bevan served as the Twin Falls County prosecuting attorney from 1993 to 1997 as a Republican. [3] He was a partner in the law firm Hillifield & Bevan from 1997 to 2003. [1]
In 2003, Governor Dirk Kempthorne appointed Bevan as a state judge on the Idaho District Court for the 5th judicial district, which covers the south central portion of the state. He was re-elected in 2006, 2010, and 2014. [4]
Bevan was considered by Idaho's Senators Mike Crapo and Jim Risch for a possible nomination as a federal judge, but David Nye was selected in 2016. [2]
In April 2017, Idaho Supreme Court justice Dan Eismann announced that he would retire on August 31. [5] The Idaho Judicial Council provided Governor Butch Otter with four replacement candidates to choose from: Bevan, then-state district judges John Stegner and Greg Moeller, and attorney Rebecca Rainey. [6] Otter announced on August 29 that he had selected Bevan for the vacancy. [6] Later, both Stegner and Moeller joined Bevan on the Court.
Bevan was sworn in as a justice of the supreme court on September 27, 2017. [7] Unopposed in the 2018 election, [8] his current term expires in January 2025; the nonpartisan election is held within the statewide primary election in May. [5] Through a vote of his peers on the supreme court, he was elected chief justice in November 2020 and began serving in that capacity on January 1, 2021. [9]