A Durham lawyer on Wednesday asked a judge to decide whether Durham District Attorney Tracey Cline should be removed or suspended from office, alleging that her behavior has brought the court system "into widespread disrepute."
Lawyer Kerry Sutton, citing a rarely used provision in state law, wrote in an 11-page affidavit that ongoing attacks Cline has made against Superior Court Judge Orlando Hudson are prejudicial to the administration of justice.
Sutton's filing also alleges that Cline has met several grounds the law says would require removal, including "habitual intemperance" and causing assistant prosecutors to take actions that also merit her removal.
Cline, 48, was elected to a four-year term without opposition in 2010. She could not be reached for comment but has denied wrongdoing and says she has been doing what she believes is right.
Over the past three months, Cline made a series of allegations that centered on Hudson, alleging he turned on her after she would not dismiss a murder case. Cline claims Hudson ruled against her in at least two cases with no basis and that he fostered "media mayhem" in causing The News & Observer to begin reporting about her last year, an assertion the N&O and Hudson deny.
Cline wrote in more than 600 pages of filings that Hudson's actions, among other things, involve "moral turpitude, dishonesty and corruption."
Judges have considered Cline's accusations twice.
Superior Court Judge Carl Fox of Orange County called her documents "woefully inadequate" and dismissed her claims in December. Last week, Superior Court Judge Henry W. Hight Jr. of Henderson also dismissed Cline's effort, saying she failed to provide a factual basis to conclude that Hudson was prejudiced or that his objectivity could be questioned.
It cleared the way for Hudson to preside over a hearing in a sexual molestation case. Sutton was a lawyer for the defendant involved in that case.
Cline has been under fire for months. An N&O series, "Twisted Truth," reported in September that she had withheld key evidence from defendants and made repeated misstatements in court.
The affidavit by Sutton also includes the details of a report in Sunday's N&O that showed one of Cline's major allegations - that Hudson had decided a case against her before a hearing was over - is not correct. Cline appears to have based her claim on the time stamp of a document that was filed in the case while the hearing was still going on.
But court clerks confirmed that the clock was slow and incorrect on that day. The clerk's office said the document in question was filed properly, after the hearing was over.
Asking for contempt
Sutton and lawyer Stephen Lindsay of Fairview also asked Hudson on Friday to conduct a separate hearing to determine why Cline should not be held in contempt of court for her actions. Hudson said he would consider it but said he was reluctant.
Sutton, 50, was appointed in 2009 by Gov. Bev Perdue to the Governor's Crime Commission, a board that advises Perdue on crime issues. She left that seat last year. Sutton unsuccessfully sought election as a District Court judge in 2010.
She has indicated plans to run for a state Senate seat in Durham this year.
Under state law, the removal petition is sent first to Hudson for his consideration because he is the senior judge in the county. Hudson can assign the petition to another judge, a likely course given his recent comments and actions he took to refer Cline's claims about him to other judges. By filing the affidavit, Sutton would be a likely witness in any future hearing.
Burley Mitchell, a former chief justice of the N.C. Supreme Court, said in an interview that he is not surprised by the filing of a removal petition but said he could not shed light on whether it is merited.
Mitchell wrote the court's opinion in a major case from the mid-1990s involving removal of a district attorney. The Supreme Court determined that a Superior Court judge has the right to oversee the removal process, one Mitchell said is intended for the rarest circumstance.
One DA removed
"The fact that we've only removed one DA in the history of the state tells you that it is for extreme cases," Mitchell said. "The ballot box is generally how we remove DAs."
In that case, the district attorney for New Hanover and Pender counties was removed from office after an altercation in a bar in which he used a racial slur in referring to an African-American professional football player. His use of the word was determined to have met the standard of conduct that is prejudicial to justice and brings the office into disrepute.
In 1997, the state Supreme Court ruled that if a judge finds grounds for removal have been met, the DA shall be removed.
"Removal is the only sanction available and is mandatory," the court ruled then.
At least three other district attorneys have been the subject of removal efforts, including one started by a Durham resident against former prosecutor Mike Nifong over his handling of sexual allegations made against members of the Duke lacrosse team. Hudson delayed action on that effort as the State Bar was investigating. Nifong was eventually disbarred.
The bar has also requested documents related to Cline's court filings in recent weeks, according to court officials.
