Former Durham DA wants state to pay for her appeal
Ousted Durham County District Attorney Tracey Cline wants the state to pay her legal expenses during her appeal of a judge's order in March that removed her from office.
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Superior Court Judge Robert Hobgood said he found "clear, cogent and convincing" evidence during a four-day inquiry that Cline had "brought the office of the Durham County District Attorney and the entire Durham County justice system into disrepute" through her repeated public criticisms of Superior Court Judge Orlando Hudson.
Cline alleged in court filings that Hudson was biased against her and her office and asked to have him barred from handling criminal cases in Durham County.
In the lengthy motions, she said the judge has "the reprobate mind of a monarch," said his conduct involved "moral turpitude, dishonesty and corruption," that his actions "raped" crime victims and "kidnapped the rights of victims and their families" and that his only goal was "to demean the district attorney at all costs."
Two other judges found her complaints to be groundless.
Hobgood has asked the state Administrative Office of the Courts for guidance in how to handle Cline's request since her removal was a civil case and the state assists indigent defendants only in criminal cases.
The North Carolina State Bar also is seeking disciplinary action against Cline for her attacks on Hudson.
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