Cline again requests hearing delay

On Monday, suspended Durham District Attorney Tracey Cline won a one-week delay in the inquiry that could remove her from office. On Thursday, after hiring lawyers, she again said she needed more time.

Cline's attorneys are seeking a delay, saying that Cline had been sick with pneumonia, and despite efforts to retain an attorney, she had difficulty finding anyone without a professional conflict and availability to take the case.

Cline hired James Van Camp and two other lawyers from his Pinehurst firm late Wednesday. On Thursday, the lawyers asked for the delay. A hearing has been set for 3 p.m. today, when Judge Robert Hobgood will consider whether to put off the proceeding again.

Cline, who took office in 2008, has been under fire for weeks after she took aim at chief Superior Court Judge Orlando Hudson, saying that he is biased against her. Cline has tried and failed twice to remove Hudson from criminal cases in Durham; she has attacked Hudson, saying he has the "reprobate mind of a monarch."

Her assault on Hudson could cost Cline her job. Kerry Sutton, a Durham lawyer, petitioned a judge to remove Cline, saying that her behavior was "prejudicial to the administration of justice which brings the office into disrepute." Sutton, who has hired Fairview lawyer Stephen Lindsay to help with her case against Cline, has said Cline's language contains "venom."

On Monday, Hobgood delayed the hearing for a week after seeing that Cline was not sufficiently healed from a bout with pneumonia. She was not represented by a lawyer at that session.

Cline's attorneys say a second delay is critical "because this case is both unique and special, and because of the dramatic, personal tensions inherent to allegations set forth in the Affidavit, an unnecessary and expedient hearing can only risk Ms. Cline being merely prepared to offer a mercurial defense based on emotional rather than a calm, rational defense based on facts."

Cline asserts that Hudson and a reporter and editors from The News & Observer conspired against her to report "Twisted Truth," a series of articles published last September that showed Cline had withheld exculpatory evidence from defendants and had made misstatements in court. Hudson and the newspaper have disputed Cline's claims.

Cline has subpoenaed an N&O reporter and two editors to testify at the hearing. Attorneys for the newspaper are asking Hobgood to throw out those subpoenas; lawyers and a judge whom Cline subpoenaed also are asking Hobgood to quash their subpoenas.