DURHAM -- Suspended Durham District Attorney Tracey Cline sat quietly Monday, barely looking up as a few of her fellow lawyers told a judge she had no business prosecuting defendants any longer. To her left, a projector screen displayed her words - bold and inflamed accusations lobbed in recent months at Superior Court Judge Orlando Hudson.
Staples Hughes, the state's appellate defender, came to the witness stand and read aloud several passages that Cline included in filings targeting Hudson. Hughes spoke slowly, and in a deep voice; the words made dozens of spectators squirm in their seats. Language such as "cowardly" and "callous misconduct" and "selfish satisfaction" seemed jarring against the restrained language the lawyers chose in their presentations Monday.
"I've just never even heard anything like that," Hughes said. "It is regarded that she's simply, for whatever reason, completely out of control."
Cline is fighting for her career, nurtured over two decades and pushed to top prosecutor in Durham County in 2008. She is at the center of a rare inquiry to determine whether her behavior is "prejudicial to the administration of justice which brings the office into disrepute." Only once has a North Carolina district attorney been ousted through the state law establishing such inquiries.
Cline's future is in the hands of Superior Court Judge Robert Hobgood, a second-generation judge from Franklin County, who listened quietly Monday as Durham attorney Kerry Sutton made a case that Cline needs to go.
Damaging accusations
Cline, 48, has been under fire for weeks since she took aim at Hudson, Durham's chief superior court judge, claiming repeatedly in lengthy court filings that he is biased against her. Cline has tried twice to remove Hudson from criminal cases in Durham, saying he has the "reprobate mind of a monarch."
On Monday, Sutton, who initiated the effort to oust Cline, called upon two lawyers who are well-connected in the legal community in Durham and across the state. Hughes is a career defense attorney who now manages attorneys representing indigent defendants on appeal.
Thomas Maher, a longtime defense attorney and director of the N.C. Office of Indigent Defense, also testified; both offered their assessment of the damage Cline has done to her office and the Durham court system with her attacks on Hudson. David Ball, a trial consultant who studies jury behavior, also testified, saying Cline's attacks on Hudson will make people distrust the courts.
"It has raised very inflammatory accusations about how justice is administered in this county without, to my knowledge, any factual support," Maher said.
Sutton asked: "Do you have any confidence in the District Attorney's Office right now?"
Maher answered simply: "No, I do not."
Suspicion about court officials such as prosecutors and judges weakens the entire system, said Ball, a national expert on jury behavior.
"If you don't have confidence in the person presenting the law to the jury ... justice becomes a crap shoot," said Ball, a Durham resident who advises lawyers on jury behavior.
And, Cline's attacks on the judge will damage his ability to manage and guide jurors, too. A judge's sole source of power, Ball said, is in his reputation; Cline's attacks have eroded that, he said.
Cline is known as a fierce and impassioned prosecutor. A desire to represent poor defendants drove her to law school, but after four years as a public defender in Fayetteville, Cline switched sides. She came to Durham in 1994 as an assistant district attorney and has spent most of her career prosecuting those charged with the most violent offenses.
She had suffered setbacks in recent months. She has been criticized by the N.C. Court of Appeals for her prosecution of a defendant charged with rape. And, Hudson, who many say she considered a mentor, dismissed charges against some defendants after finding fault with the cases; he also ordered a retrial for a convicted murderer despite Cline's protests. Late last year, after The News & Observer published "Twisted Truth," a series outlining Cline's mishandling of several cases, Cline began complaining that Hudson was conspiring with the newspaper to embarrass her.
Hudson and The N&O deny this.
A risky move
Sutton, a criminal defense attorney, took up the cause earlier this year. She has no personal ties to Hudson or Cline, though she occasionally appears before Hudson and, occasionally, Cline prosecutes a defendant she represents.
In January, Sutton filed a motion asking that Cline be removed from office, invoking a rarely used statute.
For Sutton, this was a risky move. If she loses, Sutton will face Cline and her staff in court again and again.
For the past two months, preparation for the unique proceeding has absorbed Sutton. She has taken this on without compensation and has whittled time away from her other cases to pursue Cline's removal. Sutton, who recently announced she is running for state senate, is losing time to this instead of raising money and campaigning.
She declined to comment further Monday about her motivations and hopes for the outcome.
On Monday, Sutton sat alone at a table about 3 feet from Cline and her trio of lawyers, speaking flatly and carefully as she questioned witnesses.
Defense comes Friday
Cline came to court last week, nearly voiceless and a few moments late, asking for time to recover from pneumonia and to hire a lawyer. Late last week, she hired James Van Camp, a seasoned criminal defense lawyer from Pinehurst, and two of his associates.
Last Friday, they asked for more time to prepare, but Hobgood ordered they start Monday.
Van Camp will offer some sort of defense or explanation Friday, though he spent little time questioning Sutton's witnesses Monday.
Van Camp offered what may be a taste of his possible defense when questioning Ball, the jury consultant.
Van Camp asked Ball his opinion on whether it's OK for a prosecutor to attack a judge publicly if she's prevented from doing the job she was elected to do.
Ball said there are rules for complaints to be dealt with privately so it doesn't disrupt the whole judicial system.
Van Camp pressed further, asking what should happen if there was no other way.
Ball relented: "If there were no other way to do it ... I fold, I'm with you."
