State Auditor Beth Wood appears in court for hit-and-run crash case
When I have it in the queue
I'm also looking at the charging document
Ok
Um Your own m wood was charged with Misan hit
and run and unsafe movement
Um State has taken a dismissal of the unsafe movement
Mr Smith how did your client plead to misdemeanor hit
and run property damage She pleads guilty to that charge
Thank you Mr
Smith does the state have facts from the state's attorney
investigating officer or others The investigating officer is here your
honor
I'll be providing the factual basis
Law enforcement responded to calls of an accident on December
eight at approximately 9 21 PM at the scene
They located lack where the Camry display a North Carolina
license plate number six with the engine running and keys
still in it
Camry had overridden up onto the hood of another parked
vehicle along the side of Salisbury street
The car that was hit was a white Camry that
had been parked
Officers attempted to speak to individuals in the area who
were patrons of some of the local bars but were
not able at that time to readily identify anyone who
had been involved in the accident
The owner of the White Camry returned to her vehicle
And that's the point in time when she realized that
her car had been hit officers subsequently were able to
locate video from a number of local businesses in the
area and other sources and were able to identify the
defendant MS Wood as the driver of the vehicle
Since that time additional video which was not previously provided
to law enforcement was released by a public citizen and
that has now led to further investigation additional charges in
the past week of two other individuals involved in this
accident Miss Wood has already made payments to the state
of North Carolina from her personal accounts in excess of
over $11,000 to pay for the damage to her own
or to the state vehicle as well as to the
state for paying for the victim's car that was hit
The victim will receive back the money that he paid
out or she paid out as her deductible
If this matter was to have gone to trial on
it that would have been a little bit
Thank you
Thank you
Anything from defense on the facts to the facts whatsoever
All right
Did the investigating officer want to be heard in addition
to the facts stated by the state's attorney All right
Thank you
Was there anybody here in our audience to uh the
victim of the offense or any other person who needed
to be heard We have been in contact with the
white and they are satisfied with the result
All right
Thank you
On a factual basis provided in pursuant of defendants pleaded
guilty to the hit and run leaving the scene causing
property damage
I find the defendant guilty of the I believe it's
a class one misdemeanor
Is that correct Mr Freeman Class one misdemeanor hit and
run leaving the scene causing property damage
Do we know what record level the defendant is for
purposes of misdemeanor sentencing Record level one We certainly stipulated
that I understand anything concerning her driving record in recent
years I need to consider no your honor
I have her lifetime driving record that I will touch
on if given the opportunity to just say a few
words on her behalf
We'll do that in a moment
I'm gonna ask both council now if there's any sort
of agreement or arrangement or plea arrangement regarding terms of
judgment
At this point the state is satisfied from the injury
of his plea of guilty and payment of over $11,000
in this matter
All right
So we'll hear from the defense concerned in terms of
judgment and otherwise your honor
Thank you very much
Um And and after I'm done if it's ok with
the court that MS Wood would also like to make
a statement to the court
Very good your honor
I I didn't know Beth before this incident on December
the eighth but since that time over the past few
months of course of the representation
I've certainly gotten to know her very well
Um What really has impressed me about her is how
she's utterly devoted to her job as state auditor and
serving the people of North Carolina
She's the first person that arrives at that office
She's the last person to leave
She truly loves her job as state auditor That impressed
me about her
What also impressed me about her is how terrible how
bad she feels about the decision she made on December
eight
It truly is out of character for her
She's embarrassed
She's Shane And she feels like she let down the
people of North Carolina that she's proudly served since 2009
Of course today she's accepted responsibility all along today
She's formally doing that here in front of you your
honor
She's accepting full responsibility for that bad decision on December
eight
She has no criminal record whatsoever
Her last traffic violation was in 2012
That was an improper equipment violation
As M Freeman pointed out she has made full restitution
out of pocket her personal funds $7707 to the Department
of Administration for damages to the state vehicle that she
was She's paid out of pocket $4,108 also to North
Carolina Department of Administration
But that was for the damage to the other vehicle
the private vehicle that she had
And you know your honor
For my part as a criminal defense attorney I don't
sue people
I don't handle divorces
I represent people when they've made a bad mistake
And I certainly believe in what I do and I
believe that everybody can make a mistake and everybody makes
mistakes and I believe they deserve a second chance and
that's what I wanna say on her behalf
And if it's ok if she can say something to
the court too yes we'll hear from Miss Wood your
honor
I want to speak to you and the people of
North Carolina to who I I take full responsibility for
my actions on December eight I will repeat that I
take full responsibility for my actions
No excuses
I made a great mistake leaving the scene of my
accident that night after I had attended a Christmas party
in downtown Raleigh I should have stayed on the scene
I should call law enforcement
I should have let the system play out
I was not impaired But given the positioning of the
two cars and the fact that I had had two
glasses of wine at this event I made an error
in judgment in the moment
And if I made the right decision we would not
have been here
We would not be here today while I've already paid
out of the pocket for the damages to the state
car
I was driving and to the other car
I regret that two young men have also been charged
in this case
The truth is I am a public servant elected by
the people of North Carolina
I am human
I am not perfect
I apologize to the people in North Carolina who have
trusted me
I'm so very sorry to have let them down
I have done my best to serve them well for
now I'll accept whatever your honor hands down
I will hold my head up and God willing continue
to serve the people of this great state
Thank you
Anything further from the state
Thank you
All right
Well thank you
Uh Yes you made a big mistake
We all do make mistakes
Um and it's important that we pay for our mistakes
and remedy our mistakes
And I believe you've done that here with the full
restitution for the state damages to the state vehicle and
the damages to the other vehicle
Um I don't see a need for a judgment other
than court cost and a fine
It is a serious class one misdemeanor
Uh but you uh you know you you have enough
punishment as it is uh in the sense of uh
certainly the publicity
This was a glaring incident of poor judgment
Um And uh I think it's important to recognize that
you don't have a criminal record
Your last traffic violation was in 2012 And you have
made full restitution
As I mentioned uh you stand convicted of a serious
class one misdemeanor and that'll be on your record
You now have a criminal record
So I don't feel there's a need to impose more
than cost of court and fine but I am going
to make it a substantial fine because this was a
very glaring incident of poor judgment and there were consequences
to other folks
Uh so it will be cost of court which is
a little under $200 plus a $100 fine
Your bill of costs will be available electronically in our
clerks
Our cashiers excuse me electronic system in 2-3 days it
must be paid within 39 days
It could be paid online or in person as long
as you have your case number
We appreciate you resolving this case
We appreciate you accepting responsibility for this offense
We also appreciate you making hold both the state whose
vehicle was damaged by you and the other person whose
vehicle was damaged by you
Uh Is there anything further in this matter We do
have Thank you
Thank you
Thank you
Yes ma'am
Yes
Um show our resident you know your name again
I apologize for our people
It like seven times
check check check check check check 12 check check check
check check check check
Let me check check
Ok so you think that's it
Everyone good
All gather around
Give us one moment
We we sometimes technically challenge
Check check check check check check check check one
how much I'll put Roger in court to the bringing
a revolution to this
Why decide to make this decision to plead guilty today
Well you know as I said in court she's accepted
responsibility really all along
She didn't want to put the state of North Carolina
through a trial of this matter
She's accepted responsibility for what she had done and she
formally did that today in court she pled guilty
You know we've asked all along that she had been
drinking at that holiday gathering and court said two glasses
of wine was she not impaired And should she have
made a better decision Well first of all the reason
why I would not let her make a statement all
along is I don't let clients talk to the media
about pending cases
I don't think it's appropriate
I don't think I'm doing my job if I let
a client do that as she clearly said in court
she was not impaired but she had had two glasses
of wine and she made a poor choice
She made a spur of the moment decision at the
time and left you know as she said and I
completely agree with it if she had stayed right there
called law enforcement and just let the process play out
we wouldn't even be here today to make it excuse
me
How difficult was it for her to make that difficult
It wasn't difficult at all for her to make that
decision
That's what we were gonna do all along
That's what she was
She talked about the two other people who are now
involved that adds another related to all of this
So how does that play out Well she certainly feels
bad that you know that one decision that she made
to leave and not stay at the scene has resulted
in two young men now being charged with crimes
So she feels bad about that
The penalties
She has roughly $300
Yes sir
The court imposed as you heard in our the factual
basis from the state and our comments she's paid around
a little more than $11,000 out of pocket
We're not talking insurance money out of pocket for restitution
You've represented plenty of people in criminal cases in driving
cases like this would the average driver average citizen be
treated in the same way I think so
Yes
You mean by the court system by the D A
s office I think so
The fact that she made restitution seemed to play heavily
on the judge
He liked the fact that she took responsibility for everything
that she did
Absolutely
I think that played a big part in Judge Meyers
decision
That's not why she paid the restitution
She paid the restitution because it was the right thing
to do
Do you think Miss Wood could have been a little
more transparent with the people of North Carolina about this
incident I mean just considering the fact that by and
large the public didn't find out about this until more
than a month after it happened
There's more facts in this case coming to light that
the two other people were charged last week more than
three months after this crash happened
And also her saying today in court that she did
have two glasses of wine that's been something that people
wanted to know about was that a factor here So
you know in the interest of transparency should some of
these details have been revealed earlier Well I think it
comes back to my role as a criminal defense attorney
If I represent one of y'all that have gotten in
trouble I'm not going to let y'all talk to the
media about a pending case once it's over
Hey I'm right here to answer questions
But what about in her position as a statewide elected
official she elected by But she has the right to
let the process play
She accepted responsibility publicly to you folks a while
How will this affect her ability to do her job
in the future Well this hasn't affected her ability to
do her job as I said in court she absolutely
loves her job
She is so dedicated and devoted to being the state
auditor
So now that this is behind her she can just
return to that focus on serving the people of the
fact that she was open
Does that give more credibility as he reports on other
people
Well I hope so
And I meant what I said in there I don't
sue people
I don't do divorces
I represent people when they've made a bad decision
And obviously there are varying degrees of those types of
decisions
But look everybody deserves a second chance
I don't think this has any bearing on her ability
to be state all of her
She's done a fantastic job and if given the opportunity
she'll continue to do that from your conversations with her
What lessons has she learned from this Don't ever do
this again
She has no criminal record whatsoever
She would never be in this position again
It was a spur of the moment bad decision influenced
perhaps by others said hey come on get out of
here
Perhaps
I mean we can speculate on that
We can speculate on that
It may have been a combination of factors
I don't know but she does say in her statement
to the judge at the court she takes full responsibility
for that
I don't remember the exact date January fairly early on
Like anyone you know somebody called me about a speeding
ticket it would be after they got a speeding ticket
So fairly early on not trying to dodge the question
I honestly don't remember
I can ask you really quickly because this has been
something that has been of high interest people
There's been a lot of speculation obviously and that's you
know we just want to know what the facts are
But the fact that she says in court today that
she did have two glasses of wine during that party
I mean what's your sort of response or how do
you respond to people who say that there's the speculation
that maybe she might have avoided a stricter charge maybe
like ad W I charge for example by not being
at the scene when the police showed up
So the fact that we're finding this out several months
later because it has been an open question
I'm just wondering what your response is to people who
say the way she sort of handled disclosing that can
people trust her that she's sort of being transparent about
that she can absolutely be trusted because she came in
court today in in person and pled guilty to exactly
what she was charged with
Absolutely she can be trusted and I disagree with the
notion that she avoided a more serious charge
I disagree with that completely
So do you think it's fair to say that if
auditor would did not leave the scene if she stayed
there and cooperated with the responding officers with police that
this would have been the same charge Well you know
what the charge would have been would have been unsafe
movement for running into the car and hit that car
Correct Yeah there wouldn't be no charge because it would
be an infraction of running into a park that's more
accurate
Can you confirm that the party was the party of
Edmonton right in front of where the crash happened Yes
it was
I think that's already been in the news
So that was Mr
Sure
It's Roger Smith R O G
Er S M I this this might be a question
for her for her in her office
But um she indicated right before this
Ok
That
Mhm
We wanted to get this day behind her
We really we hadn't talked about that yet
I'm not much into politics
I'm a criminal defense
Hey I appreciate y'all's time
Thank you
Thank you
This
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