Circuit Judge Andrew C. Baker of Charleston issued a statement Monday in which he said he will not be seeking another term on the bench.

“I have elected not to run for re-election, but I will complete this term, which ends Dec. 31, 2010, said Baker, the senior judge of the 17th Circuit Court District, comprised of DeSoto, Panola, Tallahatchie, Tate and Yalobusha counties.

Baker, 73, said he will “go on senior status,” which means he will continue to be available  to  the  chief  justice of the Mississippi Supreme Court for special judicial assignments throughout the state.

Baker was first elected to the bench in June 1978 for a term which began in January 1979.  

However, when  incumbent Circuit Judge Dick R. Thomas, who was retiring, declared himself physically unable to complete his term, then Mississippi Gov. Cliff Finch appointed Baker in July 1978 to fill out the remaining five-and-a-half months of Thomas’s term.  

Baker has been re-elected without opposition ever since.