GREENSBORO, N.C. – North Carolina Sen. Kay Hagan has withdrawn her support for a possible lifetime federal appointment for a state judge who ruled in favor of a company that includes Hagan’s husband.

The News & Record of Greensboro reported Thursday that Hagan three weeks ago recommended Superior Court Judge Calvin Murphy to fill a vacant seat on the U.S. District Court for Western North Carolina.

Nine days later, Murphy signed a ruling favoring the owners of five small hydroelectric plants on the Deep River, one of them belonging to Hydrodyne Industries. That company lists Hagan’s husband as a managing member.

The first-term Democratic senator said she didn’t know Murphy had ruled in a case in which her husband had a stake until the newspaper asked her to comment.

RALEIGH – Gov. Bev Perdue today appointed District Court Judge Patrice Hinnant to the Superior Court District 18A for Guilford County.  Hinnant will finish the unexpired term of Judge Henry Frye Jr., who retired July 31, 2009.

“Judge Hinnant’s years of experience on the District Court bench have prepared her well for the Superior Court and will not only benefit the court, but also the citizens of Guilford County,” said Perdue.

Judge Hinnant was elected to the District Court Bench in 1996 and was unopposed in her most recent re-election. Prior to that, she was a private attorney and an assistant public defender in Greensboro. She started her legal career as a paralegal with the firm of Chambers, Stein, Ferguson & Becton, and P.A. in Charlotte. Hinnant is active in her community, serving on numerous boards and civic groups in Guilford County and serving as past president of the Greensboro Bar Association.

Hinnant attended undergraduate school at Spelman College in Georgia and received her law degree from N.C. Central University School of Law.

RALEIGH, N.C. – A second Court of Appeals judge has announced a bid to join the North Carolina Supreme Court.

Judge Barbara Jackson said Tuesday she will run next year for the Supreme Court seat currently held by Associate Justice Ed Brady. Jackson is a former state Labor Department attorney and associate general counsel to then-Gov. Jim Martin.

Last week, Court of Appeals Judge Bob Hunter said he would run for Brady’s seat, too.

Brady didn’t immediately return a phone call Tuesday about whether he would run for re-election and another eight-year term.

If there are more than three candidates in the officially nonpartisan race, a primary would be held next May to narrow the field to two candidates. The general election is in November 2010.

By Ragan Robinson
Media General News Service

NEWTON – N.C. Court of Appeals Judge Robert C. Hunter announced Tuesday he will run for the N.C. Supreme Court in 2010.

Hunter made a stop in Newton as he went from Asheville to Raleigh declaring his candidacy.
A McDowell County native, Hunter has served on the appeals court for 11 years. He represented McDowell and surrounding counties of the 49th District in the N.C. House of Representatives for 18 years, from 1980 to 1998.

He believes the state’s highest court needs a judge from west of Charlotte, Hunter told a small group of supporters gathered on the front steps of the Catawba County Justice Center.
Catawba County attorney and retired Superior Court Judge Forrest Ferrell, one of Hunter’s supporters, agreed.

“I feel like the Supreme Court should be representative of the entire state,” he said after Hunter’s announcement. “It’s important to have a justice from the west on that court when they make a decision involving this part of the state.”

Hunter is vying for the seat currently held by Justice Edward Thomas Brady, whose term expires in 2010. Brady’s from Cumberland County.

This is Hunter’s second attempt at a state Supreme Court seat. He ran unsuccessfully as a Democrat against Republican Robert F. “Bob” Orr in 2002. Orr won the election by more than 200,000 votes, carrying Catawba County by a nearly 2-1 margin.

Hunter won McDowell County that year by 1,142 votes.

Judges no longer have partisan races.

Hunter said that should act in his favor, as it did when he ran for re-election to the appeals court in 2006. Hunter carried every county in the state that year with the exception of Union County.

“Nonpartisan races work well,” he said. “I’ve been pleased to receive support from Republicans and Democrats.”

“I have no agenda, political or otherwise, to take to the Supreme Court,” he told supporters.

He also said he believes public campaign financing will help further his campaign. Hunter’s Web site says that, to qualify for the financing, he must raise contributions from at least 350 registered voters in North Carolina.

A new Associated Press-GfK poll finds that Americans have a more favorable first impression of Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor than they did for any of President George W. Bush’s nominees to the high court.
     
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RALEIGH, N.C.  – A judge has rejected complaints from death row prisoners about North Carolina’s execution protocol, marking the second ruling in two weeks that upholds executions in the state.

Thursday’s ruling by Superior Court Judge Donald Stephens follows a May 1 decision by the state Supreme Court that physicians can’t be punished for participating in executions.

Stephens found that a court did not have to review the Council of State’s decision in February 2007 to approve a new execution protocol. Five death row prisoners had argued last October that a court review was required.

North Carolina’s last execution was in August 2006. The halt in executions stemmed from a challenge to the use of lethal injection, which opponents argue is cruel and unusual.

Stephens will hold a hearing June 1 on that issue. The District 3 substation is now more centrally located within the district and close to public transportation. It is also close to cross-district highways for more efficient beat patrol.

RALEIGH, N.C.  – Gov. Beverly Perdue has appointed a District Court judge to serve out the term of retiring District Attorney Howard Boney for three eastern North Carolina counties.

Perdue said Wednesday that Judge Robert Evans will become the top prosecutor for Nash, Wilson and Edgecombe counties starting Friday. Boney has held the job for more than 30 years.

Evans will serve-out Boney’s four-year term and could seek re-election next year.

The NAACP praised his appointment, noting that Evans will become one of only two blacks serving as district attorneys in the state.

Evans practiced law for 22 years in Rocky Mount before he was appointed to the bench in 1999. He attend the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and earned a law degree at the University of Pennsylvania.

WASHINGTON – A federal judge has dismissed corruption charges against former Sen. Ted Stevens and opened a criminal investigation into prosecutors who mishandled the case.

U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan said the misconduct was the most serious he has ever seen in nearly 25 years on the bench. He appointed attorney Henry Schuelke (Shul-KEE) as special prosecutor to investigate the Justice Department team for possible criminal contempt charges.

Sullivan made the unusual move Tuesday shortly before dismissing corruption charges against Stevens. Stevens was convicted in October of seven counts of lying about gifts he received from wealthy friends.

An Alaska Republican, Stevens narrowly lost his re-election bid shortly after the verdict.

RALEIGH, N.C. — Gov. Bev Perdue Friday appointed Toni Sa King to the District Court bench for the 12th Judicial District for Cumberland County.  King will fill the vacancy created by the election of Judge Cheri Beasley to the North Carolina Court of Appeals.

“Toni King’s experience in private practice and her commitment to public service in the Cumberland County community have prepared her well for this seat on the bench, “ said Perdue. “I am confident that she has the qualities and character that will best serve the citizens of Cumberland County.”

Since 2000, King has served as a private practitioner in Cumberland County.  She currently is a partner in the firm of Miller, King and Clouse in Fayetteville, NC. She previously was an attorney at the Rogers & Miller Firm in Fayetteville, NC.

King has been a leader in her community having served as a member of numerous civic and professional organizations in Cumberland County.  She has also served as an adjunct professor at Fayetteville State University.

King earned her undergraduate degree from North Carolina Central University in 1996.  She received her law degree from North Carolina Central University School of Law in 2000.