Jennifer Pierce, the founder of Share Our Shoes, has filed an appeal to restore the Raleigh shoe charity's state license to operate as a tax-exempt nonprofit.

Pierce, in a petition filed last week with the state Office of Administrative Hearings, contends the N.C. Secretary of State's office wrongfully pulled the nonprofit's license earlier this month. She said she submitted information proving that there was no misspending, and that she had reimbursed the charity for personal expenditures she made.

She also alleges in the petition that an investigator with the Secretary of State's office required her to take an test for alcohol use after she visited the office to deliver documents -- a test that she says showed no alcohol in her system -- and that he had her investigated by child protective services without proper justification.

George Jeter, a spokesman for the Secretary of State's office, said officials there would have no comment while the case is being appealed. The office revoked Share Our Shoes' license after determining that Pierce could not adequately document tens of thousands of dollars in expenditures ranging from meals to personal grooming that appeared to have little to do with the charity's stated mission.

Cynthia White -- the personnel employee that state officials said was wrongly fired from the N.C. School of Science and Mathematics -- is returning to the school in a different job at the same pay.

White will work as a social/clinical research assistant for the elite public high school in Durham, making the same $49,148 a year salary she received before she was fired in mid 2010. The school has also agreed to give her back pay and benefits.

Aaron Plourde, the school's communications director, said the new job, back pay and benefits are not part of a settlement. He said school officials decided to accept the decision of the State Personnel Commission, which ruled that White was wrongly fired.

Plourde said the decision allows for White's attorney to petition the commission to order the school to pay reasonable legal costs in the case.

Jennifer Pierce, the founder and president of the beleaguered charity Share Our Shoes, says she has left the organization just as state officials are weighing whether it should keep its operating license.

Topics covered in this post include:

1. What is the Derrick Allen case?

2. What did Judge Orlando Hudson rule in the Derrick Allen case?

3. What does the state AG’s office appeal on behalf of Tracey Cline say about that?

4. What has Judge Robert H. Hobgood said about Hudson’s decision?

5. What are some key documents to read about this case?

The lengthy filing by Tracey Cline against Judge Orlando Hudson.

Documents:

§ 7A‑66.  Removal of district attorneys.

The following are grounds for suspension of a district attorney or for his removal from office:

Wake County jail officials said in a letter released today they "categorically reject" any responsibility in the fatal overdose of a 19-year-old inmate. But they also said they have made changes to ensure inmates are appropriately watched.

Last month, the state Department of Health and Human Services' Jail & Detention unit said the jail did not provide adequate supervision of Ralph Madison Stockton IV, who was found unresponsive on a jail mat the morning of Nov. 6. Jails are supposed to observe inmates at least twice an hour to make sure they are alive, but the state said Stockton had been unobserved for 62 minutes.

A state report released last week raised more questions when sheriff's investigators told the medical examiner's office that Stockton was last seen alive at 11:30 p.m. the previous evening.

Stockton of Raleigh, the grandson of a prominent Winston-Salem attorney, died in the jail. An autopsy found that he had overdosed on methadone and other drugs.

The letter written by Dail Butler, the jail's director, said the jail has begun requiring detention officers to fill out and sign a sheet that lists each time they tour the cell floors. State officials received it last week.

"We will continue to stress the importance of supervision rounds in our line-ups, supervisor meetings and yearly in-service classes," Butler wrote. "If we find any area not in compliance, the Detention Officer will be dealt with and corrective action will be taken up to and including dismissal from the Wake County Sheriff's Office."

Butler also said supervisors will make sure that detention officers are not tied up on duties such as feeding inmates or running laundry so that inmates are adequately observed. Any supervisor who assigns duties that interfere with the observation rounds also faces disciplinary action, including possible dismissal.

Stockton died at a time when the jail had more inmates, 556, than beds, 480. The overcrowding was a concern raised by the state, and Butler said in his letter that the county expects to open a new jail that will add another 672 beds in about three months.

Jim Jones, a spokesman for the DHHS, said the state has accepted the jail's operational changes.

A copy of the letter is attached.

Documents:

The removal inquiry for suspended District Attorney Tracey Cline has been delayed at her request for one week.

Superior Court Judge Robert H. Hobgood delayed the proceeding until Monday, Feb. 20. The petitioner, Durham lawyer Kerry Sutton, will present evidence first. She has said her presentation will last about a day, possibly more.

The proceeding will only continue through midday on Tuesday, due to scheduling conflicts.

It will resume on Friday, Feb. 24, when Cline is likely to begin presenting information.

It is unclear when the hearing will conclude.

By J. Andrew Curliss, staff writer

Suspended Durham District Attorney Tracey Cline says she wants to delay an inquiry set to begin on Monday that will determine whether she should be permanently removed from her elected office.

But she had not filed the necessary paperwork by the close of business Friday that would cause a judge to consider her request, according to the Durham County clerk's office.

Instead, Cline emailed a motion to Superior Court Judge Robert H. Hobgood, who is presiding over Monday's hearing. Judges typically act on motions that are filed with the clerk, not ones that are only sent to the judge by email.

Hobgood has declined requests through a courts administrator to discuss the removal inquiry or issues surrounding it.

Cline could still file her request for a delay on Monday, but it is not clear if the judge would consider it then.

In the emailed document, Cline cites as reasons to delay that she has a physical illness and was unable until recently to find an attorney to represent her. She wrote in documents that she is not prepared for the removal hearing.

Cline asked Hobgood, the senior judge for a four-county area northeast of Durham, to delay the matter for a maximum of 16 days.

In an email message on Thursday morning that was copied to courts officials, Cline first wrote that she needed more time.

"I need to move to continue the hearing from Monday because I do not have any attorney and I have been physically sick for over a week and presently I am not physically at my best," Cline wrote. "If necessary I can provide medical documentation."

But in the formal motion to continue, which Cline emailed to court officials at midday on Friday, she wrote that she had found one attorney "who could do the hearing but he will be out of town."

She said she had diligently tried to find an attorney before then "when physically able to do so" but that those she contacted were in conflicts and could not represent her due to the people involved.

Cline is asking Hobgood to set a new date for the hearing that is still within the 30-day timeframe allowed under state law for the removal effort to be heard. Monday is 14 days from when Cline was suspended by an order from Hobgood.

The removal effort was begun by Durham lawyer Kerry Sutton, who was involved in two cases in which Cline filed documents attacking Superior Court Judge Orlando Hudson, the senior judge in the county.

Sutton filed an affidavit under a rarely used state law that requires the removal of a DA for engaging in a range of actions, including "conduct prejudicial to the administration of justice" which brings the office into "disrepute."

Sutton cited "venom" and "alacrity" in Cline's attacks on Hudson, including that Cline has alleged Hudson's rulings in cases have "raped" victims and that Hudson rules in Durham with the "reprobate mind of a monarch."

Cline has accused Hudson of "corruption" and other misconduct, and asserts that he has made decisions not based in facts or the law. Two judges have dismissed Cline's claims, citing insufficient proof. The judges have also pointed out that Cline's avenues for her claims are available through the appeals courts or with the state commission that oversees judges.

Cline claims Hudson began retaliating against her last year because she would not dismiss a murder case. Cline has alleged that Hudson then tossed out charges against a Durham man, Derrick Allen, without any basis in fact or the law.

But Hobgood, in ordering Cline suspended on Jan. 27, wrote that his review of the Allen case showed there was sufficient reason for Hudson's decision to dismiss it. That case is still being appealed by Cline in the state Court of Appeals.

Court clerks waited until 5 p.m. on Friday for Cline to file the motion for a continuance. They locked the doors and said it had not come in.

In the emailed version, Cline lists five reasons for why Hobgood found reasons to suspend and possibly remove her from office, but gets one of those wrong.

Cline asserts that Hobgood found grounds for removal because Cline had said "on the record that she was completely unprepared despite her having months of advance notice" to handle a post-conviction appeal in the case of accused murderer Michael Peterson.

Hobgood did not find that.

Sutton had alleged in her affidavit that it was a reason to remove Cline.

But Hobgood specifically did not cite that claim in his order outlining the reasons for Cline's suspension.

In all, Hobgood's order cited a dozen other issues as being the basis for Cline's suspension and possible removal. He did not adopt several others that Sutton alleged, including the Peterson case preparation issue.

Cline wrote that she will "defend each assertion made by (Sutton) by presenting evidence including but not limited to testimony, exhibits, court documents and court records."

Earlier this week, Cline had not given indications that she would not be prepared.

She issued a round of subpoenas to various people, requiring them to appear in court for the hearing on Monday. Among them are Hudson and his judicial assistant, and a reporter and two editors from The News & Observer. All have filed motions seeking to quash Cline's subpoenas.

Among the allegations from Cline is that she believes Hudson has sought to discredit her by manufacturing "media mayhem" in causing the N&O to publish a three-part series about Cline in September. Hudson and the N&O have disputed that.

She had also issued subpoenas seeking testimony on the issues surrounding Hudson in December and January, each time expressing a willingness to present her case. Judges did not grant her requests, saying her written proof was not sufficient or that she had not followed what the law requires.

The first indication that she needed time came in an email message on Thursday morning.

By that afternoon, Cline wrote to Sutton that she wanted a continuance on her removal, according to an email message provided to the N&O by the courts system. But she said she would be ready on Monday to have a hearing on whether she can access information, known as discovery.

"I do have some discovery issues I believe that we can hear on Monday," Cline wrote, "but I will not be ready for the hearing."

Cline had previously asked the judge, in an email message, for a hearing on discovery. He did not schedule one.

Comments have been closed and removed on this posting.

Documents:

A second medical examiner's report into the death of Ralph Madison Stockton IV raises more questions about the level of observation provided by Wake County jail staff in the hours leading up to his fatal drug overdose.

The report released to the News & Observer this week represents the initial investigation into Stockton's death by the state medical examiner's office. It says Stockton, 19, of Raleigh, was last known to be alive at 11:30 p.m., Nov. 5. That is the same time he was evaluated by a jail nurse, according to an autopsy report.

Stockton entered the jail at roughly 3 p.m. that day. He was found unresponsive on a jail mat at 6:31 a.m. the following day, and pronounced dead less than an hour later. If the report is accurate, he would not have been properly checked on for roughly six hours before he was found unresponsive.

That information in the report was provided by Wake County sheriff's investigators, said Dr. Clay Nichols, a deputy medical examiner.

Last week, state officials said the jail had violated a regulation requiring that all inmates be observed at least twice an hour. That observation requirement means making sure they are alive and OK, according to Steven Lewis, the state Department of Health and Human Services official who oversees the jail regulations.

The state report found the jail staff had last seen Stockton, the grandson of a prominent Winston-Salem lawyer, at 5:29 a.m., or 62 minutes before he was found unresponsive.

Phyllis Stephens, a spokeswoman for Wake County Sheriff Donnie Harrison, who is in charge of the jail, said staff did not violate the observation standards. But she declined to provide documentation, saying it is not a public record for security reasons.

UPDATE: This afternoon she said the death is under an "on-going internal administrative investigation into the actions of specific personnel regarding the supervision of the inmate."

Jim Jones, a DHHS spokesman, said the state investigation did not look into the entire time Stockton was in jail to determine whether the observation standard had been followed through the night. He added the state is not required to do further investigation into the death.

The medical examiner's report, and a subsequent autopsy, also suggest that jail staff had indications that Stockton needed closer observation. The state regulation requires those who are suspected of being intoxicated to be observed four times an hour.

Both reports say that Stockton was observed by numerous people to be intoxicated. Stephens said she could not confirm such observations because that would be protected "medical" information regarding Stockton.

The medical examiner's report also indicates that Stockton had been caught using "a number of illicit drugs" at his mother's home and that he had a past history of depression and drug use.

The autopsy report contains one apparent error, and the medical examiner report contains two.

The autopsy report says that Stockton had been picked up on Nov. 5 after being drunk and disorderly at a football game. Arrest reports indicates he had been picked up in his car on a misdemeanor marijuana possession charge, and subsequently charged with failure to appear on a prior underage drinking charge issued by police in Watauga County.

The medical examiner's report says Stockton was caught using drugs at his mother's home the night of Nov. 5, but Stockton was in the jail by then. It also says the death was reported to the medical examiner at 7:30 p.m. on Nov. 6; it was actually reported at 9:30 a.m. that day. Nichols said he has corrected that error.

Stockton's family declined to comment on the additional information. The medical examiner's report, autopsy and DHHS report are all attached below.
 

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