Lawyers, clerk plead guilty to fixing DWI tickets

SMITHFIELD -- Four lawyers and a former court clerk accused of fixing drunken driving tickets pleaded guilty today, and two of the lawyers were sentenced to prison.

Today's pleas follow a two-year investigation into a scheme that allowed dozens of people accused of drunken driving to avoid punishment in Johnston County.

Those who pleaded guilty today: Chad Lee, a criminal defense attorney once thought to be a rising star among his peers; Lee Hatch, a private attorney who handled everything from malpractice cases to traffic offenses; two other private attorneys, Jack McLamb and Vann Sauls; and Portia Snead, a former deputy clerk of court.

Charges against Cindy Jaeger, a former Johnston County prosecutor said to be at the heart of the scam, are still pending.

Chad Lee will serve four years in prison. Lee Hatch was sentenced to a little more than three years. Sauls, McLamb and Snead were put on probation.

As part of the plea, Lee and Hatch surrendered their licenses to practice law. The licenses of Sauls and McLamb will be severely restricted during the term of their probation.

A team of special prosecutors from the state Attorney General's office began investigating the matter in the spring of 2008, after a Johnston County prosecutor noticed that some drunken driving cases were being dismissed outside the courtroom.

According to indictments brought in March 2009, investigators think that Jaeger, before she left her job at the district attorney's office in September 2007, gave about 70 signed dismissal forms to defense attorneys. The defense attorneys then filled out the forms with bogus explanations for the dismissals. They filed those forms in their client's case files in the clerk's office long after Jaeger had the authority to dismiss cases.

Investigators have explained how the cases were improperly dismissed, but have not explained why. None of the charges allege any financial gain by any of the defendants.