A St. George attorney's offer to settle with the Utah State Bar is on hold until his complaint against a judge is settled.

Gary Pendleton, 47, wants to settle the Utah State Bar's complaint against him for a 1997 conviction.He also has asked that Senior Judge Boyd Bunnell be disqualified from presiding over any bar trial. Pendleton contends the judge is prejudiced against him.

Pendleton is suspended from practicing law until the case is resolved.

His suspension stems from a 1997 conviction for methamphetamine possession, for which he is serving three years' probation.

A recently filed conditional admission and proposed stipulation asks that Pendleton be suspended for six more months, starting Nov. 30. In return, Pendleton would admit that in 1995 he used meth-am-phetamine.

The proposal provides that he would have a monitor to help supervise his caseload and that he would perform 100 hours of free legal service.

The bar's Office of Professional Conduct was supposed to have responded last week to Pendleton's offer.

"There's not a judge who can rule on it, so there's a hiatus," said prosecutor Charles Gruber.