Cline gets a judge's warning over false motions

DURHAM -- A Durham judge Wednesday issued a "public admonition" to Durham District Attorney Tracey Cline, warning the county's top prosecutor to be truthful in court after finding that she presented false motions to him earlier this year.

Superior Court Judge James E. Hardin expressed concern about motions from Cline that he acted on in ordering confidential prison records produced about three inmates.

Cline withdrew her requests at Wednesday's hearing, and Hardin specifically tossed out his earlier orders. He directed Cline to "scour" her office for any of the prison records and said those, plus some in his office, would be destroyed.

Hardin also elicited a courtroom apology from Cline, whose explanations about why she filed the false motions continued to puzzle defense lawyers.

Hardin, a former prosecutor who twice hired Cline to work in his office, told Cline from the bench that she is aware that lawyers "shall not knowingly make a false statement of a material fact" to a court under rules of professional responsibility, and that the requirement is necessary to ensure integrity in the court system.

"Please ensure that they are factual, they contain no material misstatements of fact, and you will consider this a warning, a public admonition, as it relates to that," Hardin said.

Hardin could have issued more than a warning, legal experts said. His action does not prohibit the N.C. State Bar, the state agency responsible for regulating lawyers, from taking its own action. Bar investigators have been seeking documents related to cases Cline has handled.

Misstatements by Cline - in court and out - have fixed attention this year on her conduct in a range of cases. Most recently, she attacked Orlando Hudson, the senior judge in Durham, in lengthy court filings that called him a "monarch" who does not base decisions in fact. Hudson disputed her claims, and a judge dismissed them.

'I apologize'

The issue Wednesday was confidential prison visitation records that Cline has been seeking for three inmates who were featured in a News & Observer series published in September.

In motions she presented to Hardin in October, Cline wrote that all three had filed motions for appropriate relief, which would have placed all three in her jurisdiction, as well as Hardin's. In fact, only one of the inmates had filed such a motion.

In court Wednesday, Cline offered explanations for why she sought the documents that do not match up with records requests made by her office's investigator or in the motions she presented to Hardin.

Cline said all the prison records were being sought as part of an ongoing legal dispute in one of the inmate's cases. Cline said the motions should have referenced only that case, involving convicted rapist David Yearwood, and that it was a clerical error that it didn't.

"It was a clear mistake," Cline said. "I apologize to the court for the wrong heading in those. I should have looked at it more closely, and I apologize to the court."

Settling scores?

But lawyers for the defendants - Yearwood and convicted murderers Keith Kidwell and Angel Richardson - said they still didn't understand Cline's effort.

Lawyer David Neal, representing Kidwell, said Cline or her office had now given at least three reasons for why the records were sought and that none of them made sense for why his client's prison records were needed.

"I'm just struggling with what's the logical relevance, even if this third reason is now the actual reason," Neal said.

Neal told the judge that Cline's investigator at first had said the prison records were needed to ensure the inmates were in compliance with visitation policies of the prison system. The system says Cline has no authority over visits.

Cline told the judge she was unaware that her investigator had ever said that.

Neal then said that it was in a written letter and that he had sent it to Cline last week. "That's an exhibit," Neal said. "That's in writing."

Prison officials have said they refused the investigator's request, but told him that they would respond to a court order.

Cline then went to Hardin with her motions. On Wednesday, she said she needed the documents for all three inmates because a pattern of misconduct by Cline was alleged as part of Yearwood's ongoing appeal. Yearwood's lawyer, Heather Rattelade, disputed that and said Kidwell and Richardson have nothing to do with Yearwood's case and are not in his appeal.

Rattelade said Cline was seeking the records to "settle scores" over unfavorable news coverage or in regard to her complaint against Hudson.