► Attorney Tracey Cline of Durham, NC; ethical leprechaun |
Attorney Tracey Cline of Durham, NC; ethical leprechaun The state of North Carolina presented Tracey E. Cline with a law license in 1989.
The Grievance Committee of the North Carolina State Bar charged Tracey with the following misconduct.
At the time of her misconduct, Tracey was employed as the District Attorney for the 14th Prosecutorial District in Durham.
Subsequently, D.P. Brown, an investigator employed by the 14th Prosecutorial District, and acting directly under Tracey’s supervision, sought to obtain prison visitation records from prison authorities for inmates David Yearwood, Angel Richardson and Keith Kidwell.
In his written request to prison authorities, Brown said:
“I’m investigating post-conviction Motion for Appropriate Relief in that the defendant is seeking to attack the jury verdict and the sentence entered by the trial court judge.”
“These visitation lists are needed to make sure he’s in compliance with the pre-approved visitors.”
“Please note that this information is confidential and part of an ongoing investigation.”
Tracey personally authorized or instructed Brown to make the above representations. At the time Brown made the representations, Tracey new or should have known that none of the inmates identified by Brown had a pending motion for relief. In addition, Tracey knew or should have known that compliance or noncompliance Yearwood, Richardson and Kidwell with any visitation policy was not relevant to any current or anticipated legal issues relating to any of these inmates’ cases.
Subsequently, Tracey filed three documents with the Durham County Superior Court, each entitled: “Motion for Production of Visitation Records” as to Yearwood, Richardson and Kidwell. In her motion, Tracey falsely claimed that Richardson and Kidwell had pending motions for relief when she absolutely knew that only Yearwood had such a motion pending.
All that’s left now is for the North Carolina Supreme Court to determine the punishment that Tracey will receive for her egregious misconduct
As we speak (ca. March 2013) Tracey continues to practice in the Durham, North Carolina area.
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