A Forsyth County judge is firing back at retiring District Attorney Tom Keith over a motion Keith filed last week questioning her decision in a speeding case.
In a statement sent to media over the weekend, Judge Laurie Hutchins of Forsyth District Court compared Keith to disgraced prosecutor Mike Nifong and accused him of using the media to intimidate her.
Keith filed a motion Friday asking a judge in Forsyth Superior Court to appeal a decision made by Hutchins last week, contending that she improperly reduced a speeding charge, violating a state law.
Hutchins said she had already set the case for review Jan. 5 before Keith filed his motion and that Keith is free to contest the case then.
Instead, she said, Keith is using the media to air out his grievances, referring specifically to the case of former Durham County District Attorney Mike Nifong, who was criticized for his handling of the rape case against several Duke Lacrosse players. The charges were eventually dropped, and Nifong was disbarred for violations of the N.C. State Bar's rules of professional conduct in the case.
"Mr. Keith does not intimidate me," she said in a statement. "I will not be Nifonged in the media and I will not be micromanaged by Mr. Keith."
Hutchins declined to comment beyond her statement, including why she is reviewing it in January and when she set the case aside for review, saying she is bound by the canon of ethics and code of judicial conduct.
Hutchins, who has been a district court judge since 1996, called Keith's allegations "outrageous."
Keith, who announced last week that he was retiring Nov. 30, was out of the office yesterday and could not be reached for comment. Assistant District Attorney Jim O'Neill, who will take Keith's place, did not return a call for comment. Forsyth Chief District Judge William Reingold did not return a call yesterday.
Keith's motion is unusual because disagreements between prosecutors and judges aren't usually aired this publicly, said Ron Wright, a professor of law at Wake Forest University.
"It's unusual for the elected district attorney to make a public statement this explicitly criticizing a judge," he said.
And Hutchins' comparison of Keith to Nifong doesn't help matters, Wright said.
"Anytime you compare a prosecutor in North Carolina to Mike Nifong, it's an explosive charge," he said. "I don't think the judge is doing anything to bring the temperature down."
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 by reason of self-defense.
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 found Turner guilty of going 79 mph in a 65-mph zone, and not guilty on the 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 mph over the speed limit.
Keith said that his office refuses to reduce speeding charges in those situations.
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.
Keith also criticized Turner's attorney, John Barrow, for offering a plea of "not guilty before the bench." He said that kind of plea does not exist and that Hutchins shouldn't have considered the plea. He called it a "legal fiction."
Keith asked a Superior Court judge to issue an order prohibiting Hutchins or any other District judge from accepting such pleas and to prevent attorneys from offering them.
And the Superior Court should forward a transcript of all proceedings to the N.C. State Bar and the N.C. Judicial Standards Commission, he said in the motion.
mhewlett@wsjournal.com
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