CORRECTION

A headline Saturday on Page 1B inaccurately described the resolution of a complaint of misconduct against two former Union County prosecutors in a 1996 death penalty case. The charges were dismissed because the complaint was not filed in time; the State Bar panel reviewing the case did not address the merits of the case.

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The panel responsible for disciplining North Carolina lawyers dismissed charges of misconduct against two former Union County prosecutors Friday, saying defense lawyers in the case did not file a complaint in time.

The State Bar had charged Kenneth Honeycutt and Scott Brewer with lying, cheating and withholding evidence in a 1996 murder trial that ended in a death sentence. Honeycutt, the former District Attorney in Union County, has since retired to private practice; Brewer is now a District Court judge in Richmond County.

Friday's ruling did not address whether Honeycutt and Brewer had committed misconduct. Instead, it hinged on interpreting the state bar's rule on deadlines for filing grievances against lawyers.

Lane Williamson, a Charlotte lawyer who chaired the disciplinary panel hearing the case, called the rule "hopelessly ambiguous" and suggested strongly that the rules be rewritten.

The case stems from the trial of Jonathan Hoffman, who was sentenced to death for the robbery and murder of Danny Cook, a jewelry store owner in Marshville, southeast of Charlotte. Hoffman's case was the subject of a November 2003 article in The News & Observer.

In April 2004, Hoffman won a new trial after 7 1/2 years on death row. The key evidence against Hoffman was provided by a cousin, Johnell Porter, who was facing long prison terms in South Carolina and in federal prison. The bar said that Honeycutt agreed to reward Porter for his testimony at trial with immunity from state and federal prosecutions, money and a reduction in his federal sentence.

A shady deal?

Honeycutt delivered on his promise, according to the court papers and the bar's complaint. Porter's prison sentences were reduced by at least 15 years. He was not prosecuted for at least a dozen serious crimes in Charlotte. And he pocketed several thousand dollars in reward money. Porter said in a recent interview that he made up the testimony about Hoffman in order to get the deal.

The bar had also charged that Honeycutt and Brewer hid the deal from the jury, the trial judge and Hoffman's lawyers -- and that they altered documents concerning the deal when submitting material to a judge.

State bar counsel Carolin Bakewell had argued that the one-year clock should start ticking on the day the bar found out about the alleged misconduct -- when The N&O's article was published in November 2003. On its own initiative, the bar opened a grievance file on Honeycutt and Brewer soon afterward.

The panel chose to adopt Honeycutt and Brewer's interpretation of the rule. They argued that the complaint had to be filed by November 2002, six years after the end of Hoffman's trial, when the alleged misconduct took place, or the complaint had to be filed one year after Hoffman and his lawyers learned about the alleged violation. The panel determined that to be February 2002, one year after Hoffman's lawyer filed documents in court alleging withheld evidence.

Mike Howell, one of Hoffman's lawyers, said he was disappointed by the ruling.

"It is one of the worst cases of prosecutorial misconduct I've ever heard of," Howell said. "They lied to try to put a man to death, and then lied to cover it up, and they still won't admit it."

Defense explains delay

Howell said he and his co-counsel, Rob Hale of Raleigh, didn't have enough evidence to file a grievance until late summer 2003, after they found witnesses and documents to corroborate the charges of prosecutorial misconduct.

Howell said they held off complaining until May 2004, after Honeycutt agreed that Hoffman deserved a new trial. Filing a grievance earlier would have put Honeycutt on the defensive, and the prosecutor would never have agreed to a new trial, Howell said.

"A grievance was not in Mr. Hoffman's interest before then," Howell said. "Still, I'm glad Jonathan Hoffman is alive. He might be dead if we didn't find the evidence."

Honeycutt, Brewer and their lawyers did not return telephone calls for comment Friday.

Williamson, the panel's chairman, asked the state bar to submit a memo on the deadline issue next week, before the panel issues its written order, indicating a slight possibility that the panel could change the ruling.

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