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ABOUT DISTRICT COURT
- I am campaigning to be elected as a District Court Judge in the 15B Judicial District in Orange and Chatham counties.
- District Court is the lowest trial court division in North Carolina. District Court Judges hear juvenile cases involving children under the age of 16 who are charged with being delinquent (committing acts which would be considered crimes if done by an adult) and DSS cases involving child abuse, child neglect and termination of parental rights. District Court Judges preside over DWI, speeding and other traffic cases, misdemeanor (minor) criminal charges, and hold pre-trial hearings for persons charged with felonies (serious criminal offenses). The trial of a criminal case in District Court is always without a jury and if a person is found guilty of criminal charges by a District Court Judge, the case may be appealed to superior court for a new trial in front of a jury. District Court Judges also hear mental health and substance abuse commitments, civil domestic violence cases, civil family law cases such as divorce, child custody, child support and division of marital property, as well as civil disputes between people involving less than $10,000.
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ABOUT MY ELECTION
- Our judicial district 15B is made up of Orange and Chatham counties and has 5 District Court Judges: Charles (Chuck) Anderson, Joseph Buckner, Alonzo Coleman, Patricia Devine, and Beverly Scarlett.
- In 2008, the seats held by Judges Anderson, Coleman, Devine and Scarlett are up for re-election.
- Judge Anderson, Judge Coleman and Judge Scarlett have filed to run for re-election but Judge Devine is NOT going to run again, she’s retiring at the end of her term this year, so her seat will be open.
- I am running for election to District Court Judge Devine’s open seat.
- All elections for judicial offices are non-partisan. If more then 2 people file to run for election to a District Court Judge seat then there must be a primary election for that seat. The top 2 candidates with the most votes in the primary will go on to the general election on November 4, 2008.
- Two other lawyers have filed against me to run for Judge Devine’s open seat so we will have a primary election on Tuesday May 6th.
- The length of term in office for District Court Judges is 4 years.
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IMPORTANT DISTINCTIONS BETWEEN ME AND MY OPPONENTS
There are three important distinctions between me and my two male opponents:
- I have more than 26 years of District Court legal experience, more than double the combined length of my opponents’ district court experience.
- The breadth of my experience encompasses every kind of case heard by a District Court Judge: civil domestic violence cases; family law, divorce, alimony, property division, child custody and child support cases; juvenile delinquency cases: child abuse and child neglect cases; mental health hospital commitment cases, in addition to traffic, DWI, misdemeanor and felony criminal cases.
- For over two decades I’ve been actively involved in our community volunteering in our schools, serving on the boards of many non-profit organizations, initiating programs to address juvenile substance abuse and to raise funds for our public school teachers, mentoring disadvantaged youth, advocating for children in foster care, providing free legal services to abused women and helping families in crisis.
(Please see my resume for more details about my background and experience).To be able to effectively meet the challenges and responsibilities facing a District Court Judge requires a breadth of experience, both in the courtroom and in the community. I’m the only candidate for this seat who has that experience.
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WHY I’M RUNNING
I’m running for District Court Judge because I want to improve our District Courts and make our community a better place to live. I ‘m committed to public service and social justice and believe I can best contribute to our community by serving as District Court Judge.
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MY GOALS
As District Court Judge, I want to strengthen and coordinate programs for families in crisis, expedite cases involving children in foster care, increase resources for addressing substance abuse and mental health problems, ensure that all citizens in our courts are treated with courtesy and respect, make better use of technology to improve court efficiency, work with law enforcement, community leaders and schools to address community crimes and concerns and to create joint solutions. I will work hard to seek fairness and justice and to ensure that constitutional rights and civil liberties are protected but at the same time protecting our community by holding offenders accountable.
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WHAT I NEED
Please help me put my long-time legal experience and public service to work for our community as your next District Court Judge. Please give me your vote on May 6th, volunteer to help with my campaign and make a financial contribution to enable us to get our message out to other voters.