A Forsyth Superior Court judge ruled yesterday that the Forsyth County District Attorney's Office can appeal a decision made by District Judge Laurie Hutchins in a speeding case.
Judge Richard Doughton of Forsyth Superior Court said that an evidentiary hearing will have to be held to determine whether Hutchins handled the case properly.
A date for the hearing has not been set.
Tom Keith, who retired as Forsyth County district attorney last year, filed the petition for the appeal against Hutchins last year. Mary Winstead, a prosecutor in the N.C. Attorney General's Office, represented the Forsyth County District Attorney's Office in the case yesterday.
The appeal centered on Hutchins' ruling in a speeding case last November involving Gilbert Richard Turner, the son of Kirk Alan Turner, the Clemmons dentist who in August was acquitted of killing his wife.
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 and 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.
After a brief hearing yesterday morning, Doughton determined that an evidentiary hearing needed to be held to determine what happened during the hearing and whether double jeopardy would be an issue. Double jeopardy means that a defendant cannot be tried twice for the same offense.
In his motion, Keith cited a state law that took effect in 2007. The law prohibits judges from giving a prayer for judgment continued -- in which no punishment is imposed -- for people charged with going 90 mph or more or going 25 mph faster than the speed limit.
Keith said that his office did not 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 present for the hearing.
A clerk mistakenly scheduled the hearing for a time when Davis was not available, the motion said.
mhewlett@wsjournal.com
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