Commissioners to appoint new district attorney in Storey County

Appointment of an interim district attorney is expected at today's special meeting of Storey County commissioners, and local attorney Virgil Bucchianeri is apparently at the top of the list.

If approved, he will succeed former District Attorney Janet Hess, who recently resigned to take a position at the Nevada Attorney General's Office.

He will hold the office for about four months, until a newly elected district attorney takes office in January. Assistant District Attorney Sharon Claassen will face local attorney Harold Swafford in the November race.

Storey County Commissioner Bob Kershaw said he would be comfortable appointing Bucchianeri as an interim replacement.

"The Legislative Counsel Bureau asked that we recommend an interim district attorney," he said. "Bucchianeri is well-known in Storey County and when his time's up, he'll leave -- Virgil knows how it works."

Bucchianeri served as Storey County district attorney from 1971 through 1978 and again from 1987 through 1994.

"I was district attorney for 16 years. I ought to be able to handle it for four months," Bucchianeri said.

He graduated from Carson City High School in 1955, then earned a liberal arts degree at the University of Nevada, Reno and completed his law degree at Hastings College in San Franciso in 1963.

Well known on the Comstock, he operates a one-man law office out of his Virginia City home. He serves on two boards for the Comstock Cemetery Foundation, is a member of the National Trust for Historic Preservation and directs the choir at St. Mary's in the Mountains Catholic Church in Virginia City.

IF YOU GO

What: Storey County Commissioner's special meeting

When: 10 a.m. today

Where: Storey County Courthouse, district court room

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