In one of his last acts as district attorney, Tom Keith is taking on a Forsyth County judge over a speeding case.
Keith filed a motion yesterday asking a judge in Forsyth Superior Court to appeal a decision made by Judge Laurie Hutchins of Forsyth District Court earlier this week, contending that she improperly reduced a speeding charge, violating a state law.
Keith could not be reached for comment yesterday. He announced Tuesday that he is retiring after nearly 20 years in office, and he isn't expected to be back in the office until Nov. 30, his official last day.
Hutchins, who saw the motion yesterday afternoon, declined to comment.
According to the motion, Hutchins heard a case Wednesday involving Gilbert Richard Turner, the son of Kirk Alan Turner, the Clemmons dentist who in August was acquitted of killing his wife.
The son, Gilbert Turner, was charged on Dec. 25, 2007, with going 122 mph on Interstate 40. The speed limit where the incident occurred is 65 mph. He was also charged with driving without an operator's license.
Hutchins heard the case Wednesday and found Turner guilty of going 79 mph in a 65-mph zone, and not guilty on operator's license charge.
With the reduced speeding charge, Turner avoided having his license revoked.
In his motion, Keith cited a state law that took effect in 2007. The law prohibits judges from giving a prayer for judgment -- in which no punishment is imposed -- for people charged with going 90 mph or more or going 25
Keith said that his office refuses to reduce speeding charges in those situations.
In Keith's motion, he also said that Hutchins heard the case without any evidence. Turner did not testify, and Trooper M.W. Davis, who wrote Turner's ticket, was not there.
A deputy clerk mistakenly scheduled the hearing Wednesday, but Davis was not available to be in court until Thursday, the motion said.
John Barrow, Turner's attorney, asked Hutchins to hear the case Wednesday after all the other cases had been completed, the motion said. Hutchins heard the case over the objections of Assistant District Attorney Brian Taylor.
Barrow said that Turner would not contest the evidence against him, but Hutchins still found Turner not guilty of having no operator's license while driving a motor vehicle, Keith said in the motion.
According to the motion, Barrow said that Turner had no criminal record, but in a case in 2005 in Davie County, Turner had pleaded guilty to having improper equipment the motion said.
Barrow could not be reached for comment yesterday.
"There is no legal procedure in law where there is such a legal fiction of a plea of "not guilty before the bench" without any evidence which would allow a judge to find the reduced speed as requested by the defendant or his attorney," Keith said in his motion.
Charges were reduced in a similar manner in four other cases this week in Forsyth District Court, according to the motion.
In his motion, Keith asked that Hutchins and other District Court judges be prohibited from accepting pleas of "not guilty before the bench" in speeding cases such as Turner's, and that attorneys should be prevented from offering such pleas.
The motion asks that a transcript of the appeal be sent to the N.C. State Bar and the N.C. Judicial Standards Commission.
mhewlett@wsjournal.com.
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