Commission recommends judge's removal

The state Judicial Standards Commission recommended that a Charlotte judge be removed from the bench Friday – a week after he submitted his resignation.

Mecklenburg County District Judge Bill Belk was the subject of a two-day hearing in September in which the commission heard allegations that he made disparaging comments about colleagues and violated the Code of Judicial Conduct with his service on a corporate board.

Belk, 60, was elected in November 2008.

The Mecklenburg County Bar will hold an election first and recommend the top three vote-getters to Gov. Bev Perdue, who will then pick a judge to finish the remainder of his four-year term.