There was lots of news this week about judges new and old, so let’s start with that, then move on to the rest: Jeff Hunt, until now the elected district attorney for district 29B (Henderson, Polke, and Transylvania counties), has been named a special superior court judge. Assistant district attorney Doug Pearson will be the acting district attorney. Congratulations to both. Details here. Superior Court Judge Gary Trawick became just the seventh judge to hold court in all 100 counties. Chief Justice Parker was on hand to mark the milestone, which, as explained in this article from the Ashe Mountain Times, may never be reached again as budget realities constrain judges’ travel. The National Law Review has this interview with new court of appeals judge Mark Davis. His top pet peeve? Tyops. Sentencing Law and Policy notes here that a career federal public defender – and Duke alumna – has been confirmed to a seat on the Eighth Circuit and is already generating talk about a possible future Supreme Court nomination. Turning from judges to legislators, today is “crossover day” at the General Assembly. Basically, bills that don’t pass at least one chamber by today get put on the shelf for this session. The News and Observer has this rundown of what’s still alive, including a possible repeal of the Racial Justice Act and a bill expanding prosecutors’ authority to convene investigative grand juries, as they are able to do in the federal system. The National Traffic Safety Board issued a [...]
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