Latest / Voices of the Albemarle / Ep. 36: For Your Consideration, Robert Trivette and Eula Reid for Superior Court Judge

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Ep. 36: For Your Consideration, Robert Trivette and Eula Reid for Superior Court Judge · Voices of the Albemarle

• 0:14
  SPEAKER_02: Hello and welcome back to Voices of the Albemarle.
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_02: I'm your host, Izzy Kelly Goss, here with my co-host David Prizer.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_02: Hello.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_02: And today we are back with another episode of For Your Consideration, where we will sit down with candidates that are on your ballot on November 3rd.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_02: Today's episode will feature Judge Robert Trevette and Judge Eula Reed, who are both running for District 1 Superior Court Judge Seat 2.
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_02: Their district covers Camden, Chowan, Kuratuck, Dare, Gates, Pasquatink, and Berkwomans counties.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_02: So if you live in any of those counties, you will see them on your ballot.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_02: And now we are going to start with District Court Judge Robert Trevet.
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you so much for joining us today.
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you for having me.
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_02: We are very excited.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_02: Just to kind of jump right in, can you tell us about your journey, how you ended up as a district court judge?
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_01: I came to the first judicial district in that right at the end of 1990.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_01: I was hired by H.P.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_01: Williams as an assistant district attorney.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_01: Prior to that, I'd been a clerk at the North Carolina Court of Appeals and in law school.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_01: And before that, I was a teacher and a writer for about 10 years.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_03: Oh wow.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_01: So I was hired as an assistant DA.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_01: Pretty quickly became apparent they needed somebody that could try violent, serious felonies.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_01: And uh along with doing all the other stuff you do, uh I did district court, I did low-level felonies, but primarily I handled a lot of serious felonies for the next 13 years.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_01: Tried capital murder cases, rapes, murders, vehicular homicides.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_01: I can tell you all about them if you're into true crime.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_01: And they're on my website, they're on my Facebook page if you want to read about them.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_01: One of them's been made into a forensic file episode.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_01: Oh wow.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_01: Saw the Cinderella story, and they wrote a book about that case too.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_01: And uh so I did that for about um 13 years.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_01: Uh at about the 10-year mark, I actually ran for district court judge in a contested election in 2000.
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_01: Uh I won two counties, almost one a third county, but was it didn't win.
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_01: Uh Judge Barnes and I went head to head uh in a primary back then.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_01: Um so I think I guess even back then I was interested in being a district court judge because I went to the trouble to run it in a contested race.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_01: Uh um shortly after that, well then then some there was a a new position created.
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_01: I didn't get that appointment.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_01: I interviewed for it with Governor Hunt.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_01: I didn't get the appointment.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_01: I went into private practice.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_01: Uh I was kind of tired of the district attorney's office, uh, ready to do something different.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, went into private practice.
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_01: I worked for a law firm named Van Dieverter Black and did that for about seven years.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_01: I did, they wanted somebody to try cases, civil litigation.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_01: So I um I took the training I had as a prosecutor and and then started, I did some criminal defense work, but mostly I did civil superior court.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_03: Okay.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_01: And so what I'm running for is superior court.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_01: So I've got seven years experience as civil litigation.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_01: I had 13 years experience as in in superior court uh doing criminal prosecution work.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_01: So I've actually spent more time in superior court than I have in district court.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_01: Uh so this what part of this journey is to get back there where I started.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_04: Right.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so I did that for about seven years.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_01: I became a partner in the law firm of Van Evater Black.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_01: Uh and then I had an option, I had a, I had a I had an opportunity to get an appointment as a district court judge.
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_01: I think that's when Judge Cole went to Superi Court.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_01: I think that was it.
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_01: And uh there was a bar vote, and I got 90% of the bar vote.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_01: Uh the recommendation goes to the governor, I got the appointment.
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_01: And six, you know, so I've been a district court judge for 16 years.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_03: Wow.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and then uh when Judge Barnes, we became colleagues and friends after uh, which happens after elections generally, which uh I hope happens again because these folks are for my friends.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_01: And um, and so then when he retired, I guess that's been this is I'm at the end of my second year as the chief district court judge.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_01: And so what that means is I do a little more administrative work.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_01: I still go to court 200 days a year, but I technically am in charge of scheduling, magistrate issues, and any other weird thing that comes up that um, you know, that that which is about which is a ton in the in the in the court system, because there are basically three of us that sort of administer a court system, and that's the senior superior court judge, that's Judge Womble right now, the district attorney, Jeff Cruden, and then the chief district court judge.
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_01: We we kind of super do it together.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_01: Ultimately, the decisions come mostly from uh from Judge Womble if there's some dispute, but we get along great.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_01: It's a great team we got right now.
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_01: Of course, we need the input of seven sheriffs, elected officials, and seven clerks, elected officials, who ultimately are responsible only to the electorate.
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_01: So it's it's a weird district to try to administer.
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_01: You have 21 elected officials trying to run a court system.
• 5:31
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 5:31
  SPEAKER_01: Uh the school of government says that our district and Mecklenburg County are the two hardest districts to administer, them because they're huge, and us because we're disparate.
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_01: We're spread out, and we have all these elected officials.
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_01: And so we really do have to get along.
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_01: And uh and we and it's a it it's a good group.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_01: We've got good clerks, we've got good sheriffs.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_01: So anyway, uh now as to why so is it did I answer your question?
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, absolutely yes.
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_02: Yes, that was a great, great answer.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_01: Very great.
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_03: Okay, yeah.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so you've been wow, you've had a very extensive law career.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_02: What about law was enticing to you to begin with, and obviously now to continue doing it for so long?
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_01: Um, it was I was I was in journalism, uh, and um I became enamored with the Constitution and a media law class, and um um and as part of my master's thesis, I covered a trial, okay which was kind of an interesting trial.
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_01: It was uh it was a it was a First Amendment trial issue trial uh in a neighboring county.
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_01: And I think those that those two things, the meet had a great meeting of law professor in cover in that that thesis project uh were what spurred me to apply.
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_01: So I applied at one law school, Carolina got in.
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_01: If I hadn't applied, I guess I'd be a journalist, which wouldn't be bad.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_02: Uh-huh.
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_02: If I if I do say so myself, that was my first big assignment was I tried or not, I didn't try our criminal case.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_02: Good lord.
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_02: I covered a criminal case.
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_02: That was my first big assignment with the daily advances.
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_02: They are.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_01: And that's why I stayed in the district attorney's office so long, and that's why I love to be in court, is trials are interesting to me.
• 7:17
  SPEAKER_01: They're uh, you know, they're I can't think of a better way to solve disputes.
• 7:21
  SPEAKER_04: Absolutely.
• 7:21
  SPEAKER_01: You know, and we're gonna have disputes in society.
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_01: And and as far as being the prosecutor, you're you're the you're the stage manager of a piece of theater.
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_01: It's really what a trial is.
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, you've got an audience and you have actors and you're telling a story, and and you have to do it in an entertaining way that keeps people's attention.
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_01: And then ultimately you explain the law to them and you ask them to apply the facts to the law.
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_01: It's a really it's a great process.
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_01: I just I just fell in love with it.
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_01: I had no idea.
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_01: That part I had no idea about when I went into law.
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, even coming out of law school, I had no idea what I wanted to do.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_01: I I knew I didn't want to sit in a d in an office all day, and and a friend of mine had been an assistant district attorney out here, and he and he had left.
• 8:05
  SPEAKER_01: He said, You should apply for that job.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_01: And God bless him.
• 8:09
  SPEAKER_01: He changed my life.
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_01: He was one of my best friends.
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_00: You were you were arguing cases on one side or the other for uh the prosecution.
• 8:17
  SPEAKER_00: At some point, you you did you said it earlier, you you like to resolve situations, you like the solution.
• 8:26
  SPEAKER_00: At what point did you realize that in your career?
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, that's a different aspect than simply arguing the case.
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_01: Well, most cases are resolved without a trial.
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and um I I do that's fine.
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_01: And I I agree with non-adversarial solutions to to situations, criminal or civil.
• 8:48
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I'm all in favor of that.
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_01: I've really pushed my civil family law lawyers to mediate, mediate, mediate.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_01: Don't spend tens of thousands of dollars arguing over the custody of this child.
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_01: Go get a good lawyer on each side and put one in the middle and let's get this resolved and move it along so this child can have some stability in its life.
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_01: So I think I don't I think your question is, how did I when did I realize that that aspect of the job was appealing to me?
• 9:15
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not sure.
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but it is.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_01: So there's both.
• 9:19
  SPEAKER_01: There's the adversarial part and the and the theatrical part, for lack of a better word.
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_00: I think that's a good way to put it.
• 9:25
  SPEAKER_01: And and and then there's look, we don't we don't have the resources, the time or the energy.
• 9:31
  SPEAKER_01: Trials are exhausting and uh to to dispose of all these cases.
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_01: There's so many cases we have to resolve them, and that's why I don't know, 92 to 95 percent of criminal cases are pled.
• 9:43
  SPEAKER_01: That's typical.
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_01: Um it's not that's not on you, it's been that way for years.
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_01: So um anyway.
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_02: So I feel like an interesting question that we ended up asking um Judge Wells and and Kyle Jones that I actually ended up making up on the spot, and I really liked their answers.
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_02: Um, was what do you feel like, in your own words, is the job of the superior court judge in our district.
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_01: What is my what?
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_02: In your own words, what is what is the job of superior court judge?
• 10:14
  SPEAKER_01: What is the job of superior court?
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I think it's I think it's it's it's a little bit different than being a district court judge.
• 10:21
  SPEAKER_01: Because in a district court, you are the fact finder.
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_01: You're the jury.
• 10:25
  SPEAKER_01: Uh in a superior court, unless they request a bench trial, you're not the jury.
• 10:30
  SPEAKER_01: You're not the fact finder.
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_01: You're just calling, as Judge Parker used to say, and I tried a lot of cases in front of Judge Richard Parker, and so he had a great influence on me.
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_01: He said, You call the balls and the strikes.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_01: You make the calls on evidence and procedure.
• 10:43
  SPEAKER_01: And so you really have to know those two areas of law very well.
• 10:47
  SPEAKER_01: Because you're you're gonna have to make a decision fast on some kind of evidentiary thing.
• 10:51
  SPEAKER_01: Um I think it's important uh as a representative of the criminal j of the justice system that because this is when jurors come in and they see what's going on, and I think the way we treat them sh is important.
• 11:03
  SPEAKER_01: Um you can but I'm also very interested in in the structure of courts and and the management of courts.
• 11:10
  SPEAKER_01: And I've I've I've I've implemented several alternative courts, and I still want to do that even if I'm a superior court judge, and I will do that if even if I'm elected a superior court judge.
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_01: Um I've done that even before I was a judge.
• 11:25
  SPEAKER_01: Um uh and I can give you two examples of that, but um, so I'm not sure that answered your question.
• 11:32
  SPEAKER_01: No, it does.
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely, yes.
• 11:35
  SPEAKER_02: I think that's a great answer.
• 11:36
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and that's why I I wanted to ask that question because I find that really fascinating.
• 11:41
  SPEAKER_02: Because, you know, a lot of people think you sit there and you listen and you are a fact finder, but like you explained, superior court is different from that.
• 11:49
  SPEAKER_01: And then and then and then judges are responsible for sentencing.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_01: And um, and um a lot of sentencing now is guided by guidelines and and you know, charts this way with seriousness of crimes and charts this way, you know, lines this way with you know the defendant's prior convictions.
• 12:07
  SPEAKER_01: And so there's actually less flexibility in sentencing than they're they're used to, but you still have flexibility and you still need to consider the evidence at sentencing, and and um yeah, that that that's an important part of the job, too.
• 12:22
  SPEAKER_02: Absolutely.
• 12:22
  SPEAKER_02: So, Matt, what made you want to run for this position?
• 12:26
  SPEAKER_01: Well, um, I'd like I said earlier, I'd like to get back to Superior Court where I started, and I feel like I have an excellent uh resume to be a superior court judge.
• 12:38
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not sure I can recall, uh, since I've been down here, a judge with more experience than I have trying to get on the Superior Court bench for the first time.
• 12:48
  SPEAKER_01: Now, Judge Reed's been a superior court judge, I said for the first time.
• 12:52
  SPEAKER_01: For the first time.
• 12:52
  SPEAKER_01: 20 years in Superior Court doing both criminal and civil.
• 12:56
  SPEAKER_01: And then 16 years as a judge, I think, gives me a pretty good resume to be in to be in that court.
• 13:02
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 13:03
  SPEAKER_01: When we have the very few times we have jury trials at the district court level, I typically try them because I've had the most experienced trying cases.
• 13:11
  SPEAKER_01: I probably tried a close to 125 jury trials in the period of time that I was a prosecutor and in private practice.
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_01: Um, there are very few attorneys here, maybe Keith Teague.
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_01: Keith, are you out there?
• 13:26
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, that have tried more.
• 13:28
  SPEAKER_01: Uh he's been around a long, long time.
• 13:30
  SPEAKER_01: Uh a few other attorneys, but there are not many that have tried that many jury trials.
• 13:35
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm very familiar with the process.
• 13:37
  SPEAKER_01: I could, I could, I could go into Superior Court tomorrow and try and help and try a case.
• 13:42
  SPEAKER_01: I wouldn't want to try a medical malpractice case or a capital murder case.
• 13:45
  SPEAKER_00: I'd need to get a little, you know, because the laws changed since I've been uh since I was a obviously that's something you always have to keep keep abreast of.
• 13:53
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 13:54
  SPEAKER_01: You have to constantly keep abreast.
• 13:55
  SPEAKER_01: And you if you see a case coming and you know what it's about, then you can go and research it and get up to speed pretty quickly.
• 14:01
  SPEAKER_01: Uh and it it's a new challenge.
• 14:03
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, frankly, that's part of it too.
• 14:05
  SPEAKER_01: It's a it's an it's a different challenge.
• 14:07
  SPEAKER_01: I've I've I've been in lots of chairs in the courtroom.
• 14:11
  SPEAKER_01: I haven't been in this one yet.
• 14:12
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, you're trying to trying to see all aspects of the superior courtroom.
• 14:16
  SPEAKER_02: I respect that.
• 14:17
  SPEAKER_01: That's that's kind of what I'm trying to do.
• 14:19
  SPEAKER_00: I I have a quick question.
• 14:20
  SPEAKER_00: It's gonna kind of kind of combine some of the things that you've mentioned.
• 14:23
  SPEAKER_00: You you you you said you you like the whole concept of the management in the courtroom.
• 14:28
  SPEAKER_00: At least that's what I heard you say.
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_00: Um I also um heard well in North Carolina does not have correct me if I'm wrong, does not have a uh a speedy trial deadline.
• 14:42
  SPEAKER_00: Is that is that correct?
• 14:43
  SPEAKER_01: You're you're uh it does, but it's it just doesn't ever it's just it's it's a it's a it's a it's a law that has no impact.
• 14:51
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 14:52
  SPEAKER_01: We don't have a s really a speedy trial.
• 14:54
  SPEAKER_00: And and the backlog in North Carolina is l is long.
• 14:59
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I don't know, frankly.
• 15:01
  SPEAKER_01: I don't I haven't been in Superior Court in a long time.
• 15:04
  SPEAKER_01: I know in district court we're we're doing we're doing ru well, because that's that's my management area.
• 15:10
  SPEAKER_01: Um there there is always some backlog in in Superior Court.
• 15:15
  SPEAKER_01: I know there's always backlog.
• 15:16
  SPEAKER_01: Um but I I don't know that.
• 15:19
  SPEAKER_01: Uh uh, but I'm gonna find out.
• 15:21
  SPEAKER_01: That's that's that's and if there is, I'm gonna work on trying to help figure that out.
• 15:26
  SPEAKER_00: That was really where my question was gonna go.
• 15:28
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 15:29
  SPEAKER_00: Uh in court regarding courtroom management, what can you do in that position, the position of a judge?
• 15:35
  SPEAKER_00: What types of things do you think are possible that can be done to eliminate some of the backlog?
• 15:41
  SPEAKER_00: I know there is a backlog, maybe not in superior, but there is in other words.
• 15:44
  SPEAKER_00: What can a judge possibly do?
• 15:46
  SPEAKER_01: Um you can you can you can you can cajole and coerce and threaten and and and and plead and beg and and keep the pressure on.
• 15:59
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, okay um you know the district attorney has huge power in They have the power of calibering calendaring criminal cases.
• 16:08
  SPEAKER_01: Got it.
• 16:09
  SPEAKER_01: They're the ones that do that.
• 16:10
  SPEAKER_01: That's their lane.
• 16:11
  SPEAKER_01: Now I can, you know, express my displeasure.
• 16:14
  SPEAKER_01: I can talk to them about what the issues are.
• 16:18
  SPEAKER_01: Uh one thing that Judge Wommel's done that I've is that we plead a lot of cases, and so they've scheduled specific times when the attorneys can come in with their cases and and plead them at that specific time so they don't have to sit there all week because they're needed in other courts.
• 16:34
  SPEAKER_01: So that's the other thing.
• 16:35
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, the other thing is we don't have enough attorneys in this district, which I never in a million years thought I would say.
• 16:41
  SPEAKER_01: We are a legal desert.
• 16:44
  SPEAKER_01: Now, I think the statistic is that about 85% of all the attorneys in North Carolina practice in about 10 to 12 counties.
• 16:55
  SPEAKER_04: Oh, wow.
• 16:56
  SPEAKER_01: Leaving the other almost 90 with maybe 10%.
• 17:00
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 17:00
  SPEAKER_01: And so the at and attorneys here have to practice in multiple courts in order to make a good living.
• 17:07
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 17:07
  SPEAKER_01: That means they have to be here, there, there, and there.
• 17:10
  SPEAKER_01: And so the judges have to, we have to, we we have to coordinate with each other where where and when we need the attorneys because they're so few.
• 17:20
  SPEAKER_01: And the big problem in a district court is we don't have attorneys that are willing to work at the, you know, work to do the parent attorneys in DSS court, the juvenile cases, the cases where you're not privately retained.
• 17:33
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 17:33
  SPEAKER_01: They have but and you have to have attorneys in those cases by law.
• 17:36
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 17:37
  SPEAKER_01: So anyway, you you can work together, I think is a big aspect of this.
• 17:42
  SPEAKER_01: You can you can actually work with each of the different components of the court system, the district, the public defenders.
• 17:48
  SPEAKER_01: You know, you've really got to have them buy in to a couple of things that like you have got to go visit your client at the jail.
• 17:57
  SPEAKER_01: I know that's not a very fun thing to do.
• 17:59
  SPEAKER_01: I used to do it.
• 18:01
  SPEAKER_01: Jails are not great places to spend your work hours, but you have got to go talk to your clients.
• 18:05
  SPEAKER_01: And now we've set up a system.
• 18:07
  SPEAKER_01: I'm trying to get it, I got it in Curry Talk.
• 18:09
  SPEAKER_01: I'm trying to get it a really good working system so they can do it virtually.
• 18:13
  SPEAKER_01: So they can talk to their client, tell them what the discovery is, go over it and get the pleas ready, you know, so that when it's time for court, they're not scrambling around in the holding cell, talking to their client for the first time and going over the discovery and this and that.
• 18:27
  SPEAKER_01: These are all just weird technical things that you know make no sense to people that aren't in there every day doing it, but they can make a big difference.
• 18:35
  SPEAKER_01: And and and so listening to what is slowing down lawyers and getting cases ready to plea is where I'm gonna be listening.
• 18:46
  SPEAKER_01: And on the civil side, I'm just not sure yet what slows those cases down because those don't involve the state.
• 18:52
  SPEAKER_01: Those involve two private parties, they're always arguing over money, you know, and and um you don't hear as much uh complaint about those cases being slowed down.
• 19:04
  SPEAKER_01: I uh, you know, very little, but you know, I want to look at it and figure it out and see if I can figure out how to make it more effective.
• 19:11
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, basically what I keep going around to these political events saying is accountability.
• 19:17
  SPEAKER_01: I tried capital murder cases.
• 19:18
  SPEAKER_01: I know when serious crimes deserve serious punishment, but there's all kinds of accountability in a court system.
• 19:25
  SPEAKER_01: Fairness, fairness is pretty easy.
• 19:27
  SPEAKER_01: I think anybody that's done it very long, if you you know, you you learn, well, I learned it, most of us learned it when we were five in church.
• 19:34
  SPEAKER_01: And but it's a bedrock principle of the criminal justice system.
• 19:37
  SPEAKER_01: You've got to be fair to everybody when they walk in front of you, whether you they're they look like you are not.
• 19:42
  SPEAKER_01: And and then efficiency.
• 19:45
  SPEAKER_01: That's really where I've focused in the last two years as district court judge, trying to make this efficient as possible for the people who come into the court and the people who work in the court.
• 19:56
  SPEAKER_01: I need to keep the people who work in the court happy.
• 20:00
  SPEAKER_01: I want them to make money, I want them to stay in their jobs because the longer they stay in their jobs, the better they'll be, the better they'll serve the public.
• 20:08
  SPEAKER_01: So I listen.
• 20:09
  SPEAKER_01: I listen a lot to the clerks, the the clerk and the lower clerks and the magistrates and the criminal defense attorneys.
• 20:18
  SPEAKER_01: That's that's part of my job is to listen to what's going on in this court system and what the issues are that are getting in the way of efficiency.
• 20:27
  SPEAKER_01: I think that's one of my jobs.
• 20:28
  SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna do that in the superior court too.
• 20:30
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
• 20:30
  SPEAKER_02: So, you know, my next question was actually going to be what's at the heart of your platform for this seat, but you just answered it right there.
• 20:37
  SPEAKER_01: I just did.
• 20:37
  SPEAKER_02: So we'll just move on to my my next one.
• 20:40
  SPEAKER_02: Um so obviously we've talked a little bit about backlogs, we've talked about efficiency.
• 20:46
  SPEAKER_02: Is would you say that's like one of the major challenges you've faced as a district court judge?
• 20:51
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's it's it's a it's a constant, it's a constant issue is to is to keep pressure on the on everybody to keep moving the cases because they're they're there's barreling in the door.
• 21:03
  SPEAKER_01: Now, in district court, we do 90% of all the cases filed in in a in a court system are in district court.
• 21:09
  SPEAKER_04: Right.
• 21:10
  SPEAKER_01: And so we we have a we have a volume we've got to stay on top of.
• 21:15
  SPEAKER_01: You know, it's all the way from speeding tickets to you know to to the more serious stuff, but we got to stay on top of it.
• 21:21
  SPEAKER_01: So keeping the pressure on and listening for ways to be more efficient.
• 21:24
  SPEAKER_01: And so, yeah, that's that that's a that's a big challenge in the district court system.
• 21:29
  SPEAKER_01: And and you've got and you've got to and and to not shift workloads onto one group or the other.
• 21:35
  SPEAKER_01: Particularly right now, my clerk, the clerks, not my clerks, but the clerks, because we have gone to an electronic court system.
• 21:41
  SPEAKER_01: We're the only state in the nation that has a fully integrated, uh statewide electronic court system.
• 21:48
  SPEAKER_01: It has been a challenge.
• 21:49
  SPEAKER_01: And Judge Barnes deserves a lot of credit for for ushering us through that initial phase.
• 21:54
  SPEAKER_01: Now we're trying to, we've got all we've got a lot of the kinks worked out, but now I'm trying to figure out how.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_01: How to exploit it.
• 22:01
  SPEAKER_01: I want to exploit it.
• 22:03
  SPEAKER_01: I want to exploit it so that that so I can make the jobs of defense attorneys easier on stuff that doesn't matter.
• 22:10
  SPEAKER_01: That's really administrative stuff that doesn't need to come to court.
• 22:13
  SPEAKER_01: It doesn't need to be me.
• 22:14
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 22:15
  SPEAKER_01: You can task it to me now instead of putting it on a calendar.
• 22:18
  SPEAKER_01: Have to make a calendar.
• 22:19
  SPEAKER_01: You have to come to court.
• 22:20
  SPEAKER_01: You have to ask me for this.
• 22:21
  SPEAKER_01: No.
• 22:22
  SPEAKER_01: No, no, no.
• 22:23
  SPEAKER_01: You do an affidavit and say all the stuff I'm going to ask your client in front of me in the courtroom.
• 22:27
  SPEAKER_01: You put it in an affidavit, a sworn statement, send me all the other documents I need, and I'll sign your limited privilege, and you don't have to come to court.
• 22:34
  SPEAKER_01: And I make their lives easier.
• 22:36
  SPEAKER_01: And then make them, and I make them, you know, so that that's that's how I think.
• 22:40
  SPEAKER_01: Right or wrong, that's how I think.
• 22:42
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I I try, I just really want people happy in their jobs so that they stay and and they're because it'll be more effective for the public.
• 22:52
  SPEAKER_00: Interesting aspect, because I I the public doesn't think about that.
• 22:57
  SPEAKER_00: It's all you're you're not, but it's almost like you're an employer.
• 23:00
  SPEAKER_00: You want to make sure you have a happy company.
• 23:04
  SPEAKER_01: I feel like I'm running the weirdest corporation in the world someday.
• 23:07
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I don't know who thought this structure up, but I've got I'm I'm not it's not my corporation, but because but but I have to I have to watch out for what I'm what for some of the things I'm doing, how they affect the district attorney's office, or the public defender's office, or the clerks, or the defense attorneys, you know, or the or the or the family law attorneys.
• 23:25
  SPEAKER_01: I have all these groups that, you know, of the we have like seven different kinds of law in district court.
• 23:30
  SPEAKER_01: Uh and so some of the things I've done is is is like I I talked about accountability a minute ago.
• 23:36
  SPEAKER_01: You know I I create I've Judge Tillett oversaw, I helped start, he ran uh the first uh recovery court in this district, the Dare County Recovery Court.
• 23:47
  SPEAKER_02: Which has now been brought to Pasquatank.
• 23:49
  SPEAKER_02: And you resided, you've been residing over it, no?
• 23:51
  SPEAKER_01: Well, uh so I'm like so I started presiding over the one in Dare when Judge Tillett retired retired, and I'm like, wait a minute, why are we doing it just here?
• 24:00
  SPEAKER_01: There's not there's not a substance abuse issues in the criminal cases in Pasquatank or Curitan.
• 24:05
  SPEAKER_01: And so I wanted to expand the concept because I believe in it.
• 24:08
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, 40% of all people who who come into the court system have a serious substance use disorder or mental health disorder or both.
• 24:16
  SPEAKER_01: 70% have some kind of substance use disorder or mental health disorder or both.
• 24:22
  SPEAKER_01: We deal with these people that come in again and again and again because they they have a substance use disorder.
• 24:28
  SPEAKER_01: And if you don't try to create a structure, a court, that is supportive, that is coercive, that is that that holds them accountable, and we do all that in these courts, then you're very likely to just see them come back again and again.
• 24:46
  SPEAKER_01: Uh and the data on it is is good, that it is effective.
• 24:49
  SPEAKER_01: It can help people on the road to recovery and and cut down on recidivism.
• 24:53
  SPEAKER_01: So I took the concept there.
• 24:54
  SPEAKER_01: I got it started in Curry Tuck in in January, and we just opened the one in Pascal Tank last week.
• 24:59
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not going to preside over this one.
• 25:01
  SPEAKER_01: Judge Harris is going to preside over this one.
• 25:03
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 25:04
  SPEAKER_02: You hope to get it set up though.
• 25:06
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 25:06
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I I did a lot of the background legwork working with um uh Sparty.
• 25:11
  SPEAKER_02: Mm-hmm.
• 25:11
  SPEAKER_02: Great.
• 25:12
  SPEAKER_02: Sparty Hammond.
• 25:13
  SPEAKER_01: He was behind it 100%, you know, tried to sell it politically to some county commissioners.
• 25:18
  SPEAKER_01: They got behind it real quick.
• 25:19
  SPEAKER_02: They did.
• 25:20
  SPEAKER_01: I had to get probation in, I had to get a public defender in, I had to get a prosecutor in, you know, I had to pull all these people together, I had to find some mental health services.
• 25:30
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 25:30
  SPEAKER_01: Because that's the other part of a recovery court.
• 25:32
  SPEAKER_01: We run the court side.
• 25:34
  SPEAKER_01: We run the court side, but you've got to pull in these, these, these community resources because without them, you you're not gonna, you know, without the treatment component, uh, whether it's trauma or substitutes or mental health, you've got to have that as part of your program, or you're not gonna succeed.
• 25:52
  SPEAKER_01: And so that's another reason I've been running all over the district doing things like re-entry simulations, trying to help create um uh um re-entry councils, which to me is just a natural extension to a recovery court.
• 26:06
  SPEAKER_01: You got somebody that comes through the court system, you give them a, you know, they've gotten convicted of a felony, and then we just let them walk out the door.
• 26:13
  SPEAKER_01: And we do with nothing.
• 26:15
  SPEAKER_01: And it's insane.
• 26:17
  SPEAKER_01: It's just absolutely insane.
• 26:18
  SPEAKER_01: What do you expect this person to do who doesn't have a driver's license, you know, has now been convicted of a felony, might not have a place to live and has no job.
• 26:26
  SPEAKER_01: And you expect and and a lot of them just throw up their hands and say, I can't do it.
• 26:30
  SPEAKER_01: And they just I've heard them say I've intentionally committed this crime to go back to jail because I couldn't do it.
• 26:36
  SPEAKER_04: Absolutely on my own.
• 26:37
  SPEAKER_01: So I think we just need to be more sensitive.
• 26:40
  SPEAKER_01: This is a huge education project on my that's really what I feel like I'm doing.
• 26:44
  SPEAKER_01: People need to understand about substance use disorders.
• 26:46
  SPEAKER_01: And I think a lot of people are more educated about it, frankly, since the opioid epidemic.
• 26:53
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, how many people out there don't know somebody, a friend or a family member whose son or daughter died of a drug overdose during that horrific period?
• 27:02
  SPEAKER_01: So they're a lot more receptive to the model now than they were.
• 27:07
  SPEAKER_01: People used to just think it was a you know, it was a moral failing, a drug addict, and I don't think that's the case anymore.
• 27:12
  SPEAKER_01: So it's been actually it's been much easier now to do this type of to set this kind of court up.
• 27:19
  SPEAKER_01: Uh yeah.
• 27:20
  SPEAKER_01: I've been familiar with them for 25 years, and and and it's it was much harder back back then.
• 27:25
  SPEAKER_01: So it's good.
• 27:26
  SPEAKER_01: It's this is good.
• 27:27
  SPEAKER_01: This is all good, but we need to continue.
• 27:29
  SPEAKER_01: The court system has to pull in community resources.
• 27:32
  SPEAKER_01: We can't do this.
• 27:33
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not a psychologist.
• 27:36
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I I don't know how to, I don't, I don't treat people, I don't assess people, I don't, you know, I don't do that stuff.
• 27:42
  SPEAKER_01: But I've got to have these people come into the court and I've got to figure out a way to pay them.
• 27:48
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, if if we're ever gonna, it's just one tool in the toolbox.
• 27:52
  SPEAKER_01: This is not gonna solve the problem, but it's one tool in the toolbox.
• 27:56
  SPEAKER_01: And some people don't, I mean, they don't we don't force anybody in.
• 27:59
  SPEAKER_01: You don't you're not ready for recovery, then go to jail.
• 28:01
  SPEAKER_01: That's fine.
• 28:02
  SPEAKER_01: But the data indicates that putting people in jail who have a substance use disorder makes it about 10 to 15% worse.
• 28:07
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 28:09
  SPEAKER_02: If there are actually any listeners who are interested in hearing more or learning more about the recovery court and Pasquatink County's outreach support team, I have written at least two articles on it.
• 28:22
  SPEAKER_02: Um, you can search up Pasquatink outreach support team, you can search up um the recovery court on our website, Daily Advance, and you should be able to find those articles as well as our most latest article, which was a follow-up to the first recovery court session itself.
• 28:40
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for doing this.
• 28:42
  SPEAKER_00: Of course.
• 28:43
  SPEAKER_00: Judge, I have a qu a question for you.
• 28:45
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, what I'm hearing from you is not partisan.
• 28:50
  SPEAKER_00: Just not partisan.
• 28:52
  SPEAKER_00: Not partisan.
• 28:54
  SPEAKER_00: North Carolina, however, does have a partisan uh selection process, you know, right?
• 28:59
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so I could give I could give you an out, but I'll let you answer this.
• 29:05
  SPEAKER_00: I can what the question is, how do you make sure that that doesn't enter into the the the judgment?
• 29:11
  SPEAKER_00: You could say, I just do the job and I follow the law, but is there is there something that that that you can say to the listeners about how do you make sure that that you're just following the law and it's not the partisan?
• 29:23
  SPEAKER_01: I never ask anybody what their political affiliation is when they come into my courtroom unless it happens to be for some bizarre reason relevant to the case, which I don't know why it would.
• 29:32
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 29:32
  SPEAKER_01: So I don't care what your party, I'm not, I'm not gonna find, I don't want to know.
• 29:36
  SPEAKER_01: Uh and I'm and uh and I'm not gonna ask, and and you're not gonna be judged on one party or the other.
• 29:43
  SPEAKER_01: Uh so that's the only way I can answer that is is I don't ask and I don't want to know.
• 29:48
  SPEAKER_01: Fair enough.
• 29:49
  SPEAKER_02: I have one question, which has been this is the only question that I have asked every single candidate, because I feel like it's the best question to ask a candidate.
• 29:57
  SPEAKER_02: And that is if a voter were come were to come to you and to say, I'm thinking about voting for you, but I'm on the fence, what would you have to say to them?
• 30:06
  SPEAKER_01: Well, a lot of what I just said.
• 30:11
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I think that I think I think that that that what well I I would say look at my record.
• 30:18
  SPEAKER_01: I I frankly would say that.
• 30:20
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I'd say, look, uh, you know, I've I've done lots of things in the criminal justice in this in this court system, and I have tried hard to improve it.
• 30:29
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, we're in a rural part of the state, and often the attitudes about how things should be done, be, be done, are that they need to stay the same.
• 30:40
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I pushed against that.
• 30:41
  SPEAKER_01: I began pushing against that when I was an assistant DA.
• 30:45
  SPEAKER_01: I set up the first uh traffic administrative court, which is a where people with speeding tickets and their registrations were expired and they got them straight and they just need to get the DA to dismiss the ticket because they got it fixed.
• 30:58
  SPEAKER_01: Well, they used to have to come to court and sit all day.
• 31:00
  SPEAKER_01: And I saw one, I saw, I saw one of these.
• 31:03
  SPEAKER_01: I don't think these things up.
• 31:04
  SPEAKER_01: Nothing I've said today did I invent.
• 31:06
  SPEAKER_01: I just I'm a serial collaborator and I and I'm I'm not brilliant, but I'm not but I'm not stupid.
• 31:13
  SPEAKER_01: If I see a good idea, I'm gonna try to get it implemented.
• 31:16
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 31:16
  SPEAKER_01: And I saw this administrative court and I came back.
• 31:18
  SPEAKER_01: I tried to get the chief district court judge to do it at the time.
• 31:20
  SPEAKER_01: I'm an assistant DA.
• 31:22
  SPEAKER_01: He said, You're what?
• 31:23
  SPEAKER_01: You don't have a clue what I was talking about.
• 31:24
  SPEAKER_01: But I got my boss to try it.
• 31:27
  SPEAKER_01: A very one cat one one type of offense, just low-level speeding tickets in one county.
• 31:33
  SPEAKER_01: It's the law now.
• 31:34
  SPEAKER_01: It's now the law in the state of North Carolina that the every county has to offer an administrative court where people who couldn't.
• 31:40
  SPEAKER_01: And it was because some legislature had to stand in line for six hours to get his speeding ticket reduced in Raleigh.
• 31:45
  SPEAKER_01: That's exactly what happened.
• 31:46
  SPEAKER_01: It's what I heard.
• 31:47
  SPEAKER_01: So I think I try to look for ways to make the system better.
• 31:51
  SPEAKER_01: And that's what I would tell that voter is I'm not only am I sitting in court 200 days a year, not only am I ruling on your cases, I'm looking at the big picture to try to make it better for people.
• 32:00
  SPEAKER_01: That's part of my duty, I feel like, as a as a as a civil servant.
• 32:04
  SPEAKER_01: That's all I am.
• 32:05
  SPEAKER_01: I'm just a government official and it has to wear a robe to work.
• 32:11
  SPEAKER_02: That was a great answer.
• 32:13
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you so much.
• 32:14
  SPEAKER_02: We really appreciate you coming up here and taking the time to talk to us and to talk to all of our listeners about who you would be and who you are, um, who you would be as a Superior Court judge and who you are now.
• 32:25
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I really appreciate it.
• 32:27
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you so much.
• 32:27
  SPEAKER_01: Well, thank yeah, thank y'all for this opportunity.
• 32:29
  SPEAKER_01: I I'm, you know, it's it's part of the education process.
• 32:32
  SPEAKER_01: I like to get the word out of what I'm I'm taking advantage of you too, you know.
• 32:35
  SPEAKER_01: I'm trying to get the word out on what I'm trying to do.
• 32:37
  SPEAKER_01: Mutually beneficial.
• 32:39
  SPEAKER_01: There you go.
• 32:40
  SPEAKER_01: Symbiotic relationship.
• 32:41
  SPEAKER_01: All right.
• 32:41
  SPEAKER_01: Well, thanks so much.
• 32:42
  SPEAKER_02: Robert Trevet will be on the ballot for the November 3rd midterm elections.
• 32:46
  SPEAKER_02: Early voting started October 15th and will run through October 31st.
• 32:50
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and now at this time, we're going to transition over to our interview with the other candidate, Superior Court Judge Eula Reed.
• 32:59
  SPEAKER_02: We are here now with Superior Court Judge Eula Reed.
• 33:02
  SPEAKER_02: Judge Reed, thank you so much for joining us.
• 33:04
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you so much for having me.
• 33:06
  SPEAKER_02: I'm excited.
• 33:07
  SPEAKER_02: We are glad you're excited, and we're excited as well.
• 33:10
  SPEAKER_02: Um, just to start us off, I'm hoping you can tell us a little bit about your background, how you ended up um becoming a lawyer and now superior court judge.
• 33:19
  SPEAKER_02: You were appointed in May.
• 33:22
  SPEAKER_02: I was there at your swearing in at the Pasquatank County Courthouse.
• 33:26
  SPEAKER_02: So I'm hoping you can kind of give our listeners a glimpse into that journey for you.
• 33:30
  SPEAKER_05: All right.
• 33:31
  SPEAKER_05: Well, um, I grew up right here in Pasquatank County.
• 33:34
  SPEAKER_05: I matriculated through the Elizabeth City Pasquatank County Public School System.
• 33:40
  SPEAKER_05: I am a graduate of Elizabeth City State University and North Carolina Central University School of Law.
• 33:47
  SPEAKER_05: I am married.
• 33:48
  SPEAKER_05: My husband and I were high school sweethearts.
• 33:51
  SPEAKER_05: And um, so we've been married 40 years as of September.
• 33:56
  SPEAKER_00: Congratulations.
• 33:57
  SPEAKER_05: Thank you.
• 33:58
  SPEAKER_05: I um began my legal career as a paralegal secretary at a local law firm.
• 34:06
  SPEAKER_05: Oh wow.
• 34:07
  SPEAKER_05: And then I went to um law school.
• 34:12
  SPEAKER_05: So I worked before I went to law school.
• 34:14
  SPEAKER_05: And when I was in uh North Carolina Central, it's when I got my first job offer from then uh elected DA Frank Parrish.
• 34:26
  SPEAKER_05: So I had another semester to finish, but he told me it'd be no problem.
• 34:32
  SPEAKER_05: I said, okay.
• 34:33
  SPEAKER_05: And so I'm feeling the pressure of having to pass the bar to come back and work, but everything worked out.
• 34:40
  SPEAKER_05: I worked there for about eight years as an assistant district attorney.
• 34:46
  SPEAKER_05: Then our chief district court judge at the time uh was Grafton Beaman, and he was on the verge of retiring.
• 34:55
  SPEAKER_05: And so I remember he called me into my office and asked me if I ever thought about being a district court judge.
• 35:02
  SPEAKER_05: And I had been practicing for four years at that time.
• 35:05
  SPEAKER_05: I was like, no, I feel like I have a lot more to learn in order to be a good judge.
• 35:13
  SPEAKER_05: And he said, okay.
• 35:14
  SPEAKER_05: And so he ran another term, and at the end of that term, he asked me again.
• 35:21
  SPEAKER_05: Oh, wow.
• 35:21
  SPEAKER_05: And I said, Well, I don't know.
• 35:24
  SPEAKER_05: And he said, I've watched you over the years in the courtroom, and I believe that you have the correct disposition and the judicial temperament to be a good judge.
• 35:37
  SPEAKER_05: And I told him, I said, Well, if you're not gonna run, then I'll run.
• 35:41
  SPEAKER_05: And so that's how I became a district court judge.
• 35:44
  SPEAKER_05: I ran in the election and won uh my district court seat in 2006.
• 35:50
  SPEAKER_05: And I was a district court judge for about 14 years.
• 35:56
  SPEAKER_05: After that, um, when Judge Cole retired, I was appointed by Governor Cooper to fill his seat and um didn't do well in that election.
• 36:09
  SPEAKER_05: But in 2025, in May, Governor Stein uh appointed me to fill this seat.
• 36:16
  SPEAKER_05: And I hope and pray that I can do better in this election uh than I did at the last one.
• 36:22
  SPEAKER_05: I have had nothing but love and kindness from the community.
• 36:27
  SPEAKER_05: And so this is sort of my way of giving back to the community that raised me.
• 36:32
  SPEAKER_02: That's amazing.
• 36:33
  SPEAKER_02: So, what about you became a paralegal first?
• 36:37
  SPEAKER_02: What about being a paralegal?
• 36:39
  SPEAKER_02: And what about like your early career in law that made you decide I'm gonna go back to school and do not a whole different career, but a whole different career?
• 36:51
  SPEAKER_05: Well, when I was in high school, I wanted to become a lawyer.
• 36:56
  SPEAKER_03: Okay.
• 36:57
  SPEAKER_05: Um, primarily because there were not many of us that were lawyers in this area.
• 37:03
  SPEAKER_05: And so it was like my my big dream to become a lawyer and the only lawyer that was in my family.
• 37:12
  SPEAKER_05: Um, and so I um went to uh ECSU.
• 37:18
  SPEAKER_05: I graduated, but by the time I finished, I felt exhausted and I didn't want to go right to law school after that.
• 37:28
  SPEAKER_05: So I took that break.
• 37:30
  SPEAKER_05: Um for um, let's say I graduated in 85, I went to law school in 94.
• 37:35
  SPEAKER_05: Okay.
• 37:36
  SPEAKER_05: So during that time, I was working for a law firm and I saw how many people in the community that needed help.
• 37:43
  SPEAKER_05: And um I found it easy to help them during that time.
• 37:47
  SPEAKER_05: The firm that I worked for was a general practice firm.
• 37:51
  SPEAKER_05: Okay.
• 37:51
  SPEAKER_05: And so we did wills and estates and um loan closings and things like that.
• 37:57
  SPEAKER_05: And so the clients that came into our office seemed very comfortable with me helping them because I would do as a paralegal, I would do from title searches all the way down to um the paperwork.
• 38:13
  SPEAKER_05: So the attorney would only have to sign and be present during the uh closing.
• 38:19
  SPEAKER_05: And so that was me feeling that I was giving back to the community.
• 38:24
  SPEAKER_05: Um, and so my boss at the time, Ronald Penny, had um gotten appointed by the governor, Governor Hunt, I believe it was, to serve as the state personnel director.
• 38:37
  SPEAKER_05: And so he was leaving.
• 38:39
  SPEAKER_05: We had a small firm.
• 38:41
  SPEAKER_05: I was trying to figure out what I was gonna do.
• 38:43
  SPEAKER_05: We had talked before about me going to law school.
• 38:46
  SPEAKER_05: And um I talked to Judge Cole as well about, you know, going to law school at that point.
• 38:55
  SPEAKER_05: And so people just were in my corner and were encouraging me.
• 39:00
  SPEAKER_05: Um, my mom used to say that people can see things in you that you can't see yourself.
• 39:06
  SPEAKER_05: And so I took a leap of faith and went to law school, and it's the best thing I've ever done.
• 39:11
  SPEAKER_02: I'm so glad.
• 39:13
  SPEAKER_02: Going back really quick to what you said, you said you wanted to be a lawyer because there's not very many of us.
• 39:19
  SPEAKER_02: You are the first female superior court judge in our district, is that right?
• 39:24
  SPEAKER_05: That is correct.
• 39:25
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, I thought that I remembered that.
• 39:26
  SPEAKER_02: I just wanted to go back to what you said, and it also means you're the first African American.
• 39:32
  SPEAKER_05: No first.
• 39:33
  SPEAKER_05: Oh, she was the first she was the first African American district court judge in our district.
• 39:39
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, I meant superior court judge.
• 39:41
  SPEAKER_05: The first superior court judge, yes.
• 39:43
  SPEAKER_02: Yes, African American woman to be in the position.
• 39:45
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so two in one great feat.
• 39:48
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 39:48
  SPEAKER_02: That's amazing.
• 39:49
  SPEAKER_00: Can I can I ask you a question here?
• 39:50
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 39:51
  SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna jump in.
• 39:52
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I want to ask you a similar question that I asked yes, uh uh Judge Travett.
• 39:58
  SPEAKER_00: Being a lawyer, um, when you are a lawyer, you're arguing a specific side.
• 40:04
  SPEAKER_00: And when you're a judge, what I'm learning is that you're kind of managing this this courtroom, and you've got these people that are your people or they're almost employees, and you want them to take care of them.
• 40:19
  SPEAKER_00: Um at what at what point what kind of thoughts went through your mind that told you that you'd really want to shift from the the lawyer that argues a specific case to someone who wants to manage the whole the whole the courtroom?
• 40:34
  SPEAKER_05: What I think about or what I thought about and still feel is that people have a right to be heard.
• 40:41
  SPEAKER_05: For me, the most important job for an attorney for a judge is to know the law and know how to apply the law in each factual situation.
• 40:51
  SPEAKER_05: And so it was easy for me uh to transition into that because when I was preparing um as an assistant district attorney, part of my job was to anticipate what the other side's argument was.
• 41:08
  SPEAKER_05: And so I sort of used those skills to sort of anticipate where both parties are coming from with regards to their case.
• 41:16
  SPEAKER_05: And um, I'll make my decision based on the law and the facts.
• 41:20
  SPEAKER_05: And oftentimes when I was doing district court, I would um explain because I think people have to understand where your thought process is coming from.
• 41:31
  SPEAKER_05: And so I was like, well, you may have proved this, but I have no evidence for this, and that's why.
• 41:36
  SPEAKER_05: And you know, they may not like the decision, but they appreciate the fact that I really am thoughtful about the decisions that I make.
• 41:45
  SPEAKER_00: We've heard the same thing.
• 41:46
  SPEAKER_00: It's like you're a learning process for people that are in the court.
• 41:50
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, it's important that everybody get educated on on why certain things happen a certain way.
• 41:55
  SPEAKER_05: Right.
• 41:56
  SPEAKER_00: Interesting.
• 41:57
  SPEAKER_05: And so I mean, that's been my goal.
• 41:59
  SPEAKER_05: Even in Superior Court, you know in Superior Court, you're presiding over jury trials.
• 42:06
  SPEAKER_05: So it's really trying to keep that balance of fairness.
• 42:10
  SPEAKER_05: Right.
• 42:11
  SPEAKER_05: Uh particularly with regards to what evidence is coming in.
• 42:15
  SPEAKER_05: Uh judge has to determine a lot of times if the evidence is more prejudicial than probative.
• 42:22
  SPEAKER_05: And if we sit back and think about that, you have to come up with a creative way to say, well, yeah, I think this would really influence the jury.
• 42:30
  SPEAKER_05: Right.
• 42:31
  SPEAKER_05: But with them being influenced that by that thing, is it more prejudicial to the person that the evidence is used against?
• 42:39
  SPEAKER_05: And so it makes a difference.
• 42:41
  SPEAKER_05: Um, and a lot of times I don't think juries or people understand that there's just certain evidence that cannot come in for constitutional reasons.
• 42:52
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 42:52
  SPEAKER_05: And and so you try to weigh all of that together.
• 42:56
  SPEAKER_02: Absolutely.
• 42:57
  SPEAKER_02: And you've kind of answered this already, but I am curious to know if there's a different way you would word it, which and this is what I told Judge Fravette is that I asked this question on the fly with Judge Wells and Assistant District Attorney Kyle Jones, because it occurred to me that people might not know what you feel the job of a superior court judge is.
• 43:22
  SPEAKER_02: Because that was one of the things that I s heard from people when I told them that I was going to have the judge candidates on.
• 43:28
  SPEAKER_02: They were like, well, what do they do?
• 43:30
  SPEAKER_02: So I think that's a really important question.
• 43:32
  SPEAKER_02: What do you feel your job as a superior court judge is?
• 43:36
  unknown: Okay.
• 43:36
  SPEAKER_05: So as a superior court judge, again, I am calling the balls and strikes, if you will, with regards to evidence coming in.
• 43:44
  SPEAKER_05: The judge is in charge of decorum.
• 43:47
  SPEAKER_05: Right.
• 43:48
  SPEAKER_05: Uh, because sometimes everybody does not come and understand the court etiquette, if you will.
• 43:54
  SPEAKER_05: Um, and um my job is just to make sure the entire setting is.
• 44:00
  SPEAKER_05: Fair in jury trials, we have to really pay close attention to the jury that is being picked to make sure it's not lopsided or one-sided, and make sure that everyone is conscious of, you know, the person that is sitting in that chair that's being tried is a real person and they have a life and they deserve all the protections, regardless of what they did.
• 44:25
  SPEAKER_02: Absolutely.
• 44:26
  SPEAKER_05: Um, and so that's I feel like my job is to make sure that there's fairness across the board for everyone.
• 44:32
  SPEAKER_05: When I go in, I don't look to one party or the other and say, oh yeah, they're gonna win this case.
• 44:38
  SPEAKER_05: I look at the facts because sometimes the facts when they wash out may not be as they appeared in the beginning.
• 44:47
  SPEAKER_05: And so I don't make any assumptions.
• 44:49
  SPEAKER_05: I try to take each segment, each case, each piece of evidence by itself to make that determination.
• 44:56
  SPEAKER_05: It seems like it would take me a long time, but really no.
• 44:59
  SPEAKER_05: I mean, because if you've been doing this, you'll understand where to go and where to look to make sure that what you believe is fair is there.
• 45:08
  SPEAKER_02: So you've said a lot about fairness and facts.
• 45:11
  SPEAKER_02: Would you say that's what's kind of at the heart of your platform for the seat?
• 45:15
  SPEAKER_05: I think it is, you know, when people come to court, at least my experience, they want to know that the person that's sitting there knows what they're doing.
• 45:25
  SPEAKER_05: So you must know the law, that you're gonna look at me regardless of how I'm dressed or who I am or where I come from, that you're gonna be fair to me.
• 45:35
  SPEAKER_05: You're gonna treat me just like the person behind me.
• 45:37
  SPEAKER_05: Yes, absolutely.
• 45:38
  SPEAKER_05: And I have tried my entire career as a judge to make that happen for people.
• 45:47
  SPEAKER_05: And, you know, I've had people that have appeared before me many times.
• 45:52
  SPEAKER_05: And when they come in, because I was dealing with some of them as an assistant district attorney, it doesn't matter to me what you did in your past until it becomes relevant in the case.
• 46:05
  SPEAKER_05: Right.
• 46:05
  SPEAKER_05: And I think it's hard for a lot of people to understand that.
• 46:10
  SPEAKER_05: Um I've had people to come in and um I feel like you have to have the respect of everybody, even defendants coming in, plaintiffs, you have to have that respect because when people come to court, if they don't feel like they've been heard and had a fair shake, they're not gonna be excited about the judicial system.
• 46:33
  SPEAKER_05: And part of my job is to continue that trustworthiness in our system of justice that is supposed to allow us to live free and happy and together.
• 46:45
  SPEAKER_00: So your job, you want people to be excited about the judicial system.
• 46:49
  SPEAKER_05: Well, I mean, some judges, although uh what I'm doing uh now is um higher-level felonies, misdemeanor appeals, high dollar um civil cases, uh, land disputes, those types of things, everyone has a vested interest in it.
• 47:08
  SPEAKER_05: And do that that I want them to like my decision.
• 47:12
  SPEAKER_05: I want them to accept my decision that is based on the law and um the facts.
• 47:19
  SPEAKER_05: If the law is there, but you don't have the facts, it doesn't mean that you're going to be successful.
• 47:24
  SPEAKER_05: That's what I mean.
• 47:25
  SPEAKER_05: I think that what they oh, I want them to be happy about is that they have a judge that weighs all those things together.
• 47:34
  SPEAKER_00: Uh uh along those lines, I want to ask you a question that I asked uh the the judge also.
• 47:40
  SPEAKER_00: Um and you've basically answered it, so I'm gonna g give this one to you, maybe twist it a little.
• 47:46
  SPEAKER_00: North Carolina has a a partisan voting structure.
• 47:50
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, and I'm not hearing anything from you specifically that's partisan one way or the other.
• 47:55
  SPEAKER_00: At least I'm not hearing that.
• 47:56
  SPEAKER_00: Fine.
• 47:57
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but you've also said in the court it's how the you want things to be settled by how the law is, not how by all this other stuff.
• 48:08
  SPEAKER_00: So um I guess the question I I have is um do you do you in your mind have to think about that consciously?
• 48:21
  SPEAKER_00: Because it is a partisan system, and I'm not saying you that's leading one way or the other, but it is a partisan system.
• 48:28
  SPEAKER_00: Do you have to think really hard about am I applying the law or is there any any partisanship entering into this?
• 48:36
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, is that something you consciously have to think about, or is this something that comes naturally to you?
• 48:40
  SPEAKER_00: You just focus down the middle of the road and call the balls and strikes?
• 48:44
  SPEAKER_05: Well, I think that a judge's position should be nonpartisan.
• 48:53
  SPEAKER_05: Because when I go to court, the first thing I do is look at the person and I listen to the case.
• 49:02
  SPEAKER_05: Never in my 25 plus years have I ever tried to determine if a person is a Democrat, Republican, or independent because none of the laws that I know tell me that I have to make that finding.
• 49:18
  SPEAKER_05: Right.
• 49:19
  SPEAKER_05: And so I take everybody, I don't care who it is, that comes to court, you have an issue, I'm gonna treat you just like the next person.
• 49:27
  SPEAKER_05: No one's ever asked me as a judge what is your party affiliation before I enter judgment.
• 49:33
  SPEAKER_05: And I don't think it should be a uh an issue.
• 49:35
  SPEAKER_05: I don't think it should matter.
• 49:37
  SPEAKER_00: Fair enough.
• 49:37
  SPEAKER_00: What's very interesting to me about your answer um was that you focused on the parties that that are part of the case.
• 49:49
  SPEAKER_00: You didn't focus on you when you answered that.
• 49:51
  SPEAKER_00: The previous judge did the same thing.
• 49:54
  SPEAKER_00: So that to me, that that I didn't think of that.
• 49:57
  SPEAKER_00: I was thought I was asking a question how you think.
• 50:00
  SPEAKER_00: And what you're focused on is you've never asked this person whether they're right, left, you know, whatever.
• 50:07
  SPEAKER_00: And the same answer came up uh previously.
• 50:10
  SPEAKER_00: So that I guess that speaks volumes for the candidates because you're focused on it's something about the court system that I didn't think of.
• 50:17
  SPEAKER_00: You're you're focused on these people here, and so here selfish me.
• 50:21
  SPEAKER_00: I'm thinking they're how am I thinking?
• 50:22
  SPEAKER_00: You know, my goodness.
• 50:23
  SPEAKER_00: No, you're focused exactly on it that that's I think that's very interesting.
• 50:29
  SPEAKER_00: It's well, I it's fast fascinating.
• 50:31
  SPEAKER_05: I feel that people have put their trust in me to be a judge.
• 50:36
  SPEAKER_05: And when I sit on the bench, I'm not thinking about me.
• 50:41
  SPEAKER_05: I think about this case and these facts and what's a true decision that is going to be made in this situation because I realize that every decision I make, even if it's just to continual case, affects somebody.
• 50:56
  SPEAKER_05: And it can't be I'm gonna continue this case because I want to go to lunch early.
• 51:03
  SPEAKER_05: I mean, that's a me issue.
• 51:05
  SPEAKER_05: Um but I think about you know what is fair in both situations.
• 51:10
  SPEAKER_05: And so I think that's every decision that I make as a judge.
• 51:15
  SPEAKER_00: That's excellent compartment compartmentalization.
• 51:17
  SPEAKER_00: I love to hear that.
• 51:18
  SPEAKER_00: It's great.
• 51:19
  SPEAKER_02: So, and I said May because for some reason, even though I know it was May of 2025, like I said, I was I was there, but for some reason, May of 2025 was this May in my head.
• 51:31
  SPEAKER_02: Um I think the years are blending together.
• 51:35
  SPEAKER_02: You know about that, right, David?
• 51:37
  SPEAKER_04: Stop it.
• 51:38
  SPEAKER_02: Anyways, um, but you've been in this position for well over a year now.
• 51:44
  SPEAKER_03: Yes.
• 51:45
  SPEAKER_02: So now that you have like a full grasp on it, what would you say is a challenge that you've run into and how did you face it?
• 51:52
  SPEAKER_02: How did you overcome it?
• 51:54
  SPEAKER_05: The biggest challenge for me transitioning from district court to um superior court is the amount of travel.
• 52:02
  SPEAKER_05: Um, we are considered roving judges.
• 52:05
  SPEAKER_05: Right.
• 52:06
  SPEAKER_05: And so we're elected in the first seven counties which make up the first judicial district.
• 52:12
  SPEAKER_05: Uh, we get assignments uh all the way out to um wherever in the state that they need us.
• 52:18
  SPEAKER_05: And so we have a division that surrounds our judicial district that they usually try to keep us in, which is 23 counties.
• 52:28
  SPEAKER_05: Wow.
• 52:28
  SPEAKER_05: Um, and so um I've I've held court in Wake County, um Durham County, Duplin County, a couple of counties I didn't know about, like Warrington and Jones.
• 52:43
  SPEAKER_05: And you know, you get an assignment, you go on to Jones County, and the first thing I do is put it in the GPS to see where it is.
• 52:50
  SPEAKER_05: I've never heard of Jones County.
• 52:52
  SPEAKER_05: And see see if uh I need to get a hotel, because usually, depending on the distance, I wouldn't drive back and forth.
• 53:00
  SPEAKER_05: Right.
• 53:00
  SPEAKER_05: And so that was um the d the thing that I had to get used to.
• 53:06
  SPEAKER_05: Absolutely.
• 53:06
  SPEAKER_05: Um, but it's actually worked out well.
• 53:09
  SPEAKER_05: I enjoy going to all the counties, meeting all the people, and each court is the same court, but each courthouse is run differently.
• 53:21
  SPEAKER_05: Right, absolutely.
• 53:22
  SPEAKER_05: But I've met nothing but love and kindness from everywhere I've gone.
• 53:26
  SPEAKER_00: What do you mean by each courthouse is run differently?
• 53:29
  SPEAKER_00: What does that mean?
• 53:30
  SPEAKER_05: Each courthouse, um, they have the same rules and regulations that they follow, but they have local rules.
• 53:36
  SPEAKER_05: Oh, okay.
• 53:37
  SPEAKER_05: And so uh the local rules are similar.
• 53:40
  SPEAKER_05: I mean, even when it comes down to getting a judgment signed, how do you do that?
• 53:45
  SPEAKER_05: Even with the new system that we have, that everything is digital, it's even different within each county, even within our seven counties, how that gets done.
• 53:55
  SPEAKER_05: And so I enjoy, I guess that's my um enjoyment that I get uh just being able to task all the different things and and really work in the system to help it work for us.
• 54:11
  SPEAKER_02: That's great.
• 54:11
  SPEAKER_02: That's actually a really great answer.
• 54:14
  SPEAKER_02: Um I can never remember how many questions David has.
• 54:20
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but I know I have one more question, and this is the one question I ask every single candidate, and that is what is one thing that you would say to someone who might come to you and say, I'm thinking about voting for you, but I'm on the fence.
• 54:34
  SPEAKER_02: What would you say to convince them to get over that fence?
• 54:37
  SPEAKER_05: Um, what I would tell them is to first of all investigate me.
• 54:43
  SPEAKER_05: Look at uh my years of experience, look at my reputation.
• 54:49
  SPEAKER_05: I invite people to come to court because there's nothing like firsthand to see, you know, to see me and how I act.
• 54:57
  SPEAKER_05: The me that you see you're talking to now is the same me that you'll see in court.
• 55:03
  SPEAKER_05: Um I think that I would ask them to do that, and then I would ask them to ask around, ask about my reputation, and then, you know, investigate my career over the 25 years that I've been in this um area.
• 55:19
  SPEAKER_05: I also want them to understand my belief of what a judge is.
• 55:26
  SPEAKER_05: I believe that this seat that I'm sending in now is not my seat.
• 55:31
  SPEAKER_05: It's the seat for the people that are uh electing me in this judicial district.
• 55:37
  SPEAKER_05: And I always tell people that, you know, that's important because my father, when I was younger, well, I had uh three other siblings, he would tell us do not go out and embarrass the Etherish name.
• 55:52
  SPEAKER_05: And so I tell people when I'm sitting on the bench, I'm sitting here for you.
• 55:59
  SPEAKER_05: And I never want to go out and embarrass our community and say she's our judge, but I want people to say she's my judge and I'm happy about it.
• 56:13
  SPEAKER_05: You may not like all my decisions, but at least you know when you come to my courtroom, you're gonna be treated fair and you're gonna get um someone who's clued in on the law and someone that's going to apply that law appropriately.
• 56:27
  SPEAKER_05: So that's what I would tell people.
• 56:29
  SPEAKER_02: Great answer.
• 56:30
  SPEAKER_02: Great answer.
• 56:31
  SPEAKER_02: Um, thank you so much for joining us.
• 56:33
  SPEAKER_02: We really appreciate it.
• 56:35
  SPEAKER_05: Thank you so much.
• 56:36
  SPEAKER_00: You have enjoyed this very much.
• 56:37
  SPEAKER_02: Yes, me as well.
• 56:38
  SPEAKER_00: It's been an education.
• 56:39
  SPEAKER_02: Well, you have made it easy because I was nervous.
• 56:43
  SPEAKER_00: Oh my goodness.
• 56:44
  SPEAKER_02: That's okay.
• 56:44
  SPEAKER_02: That's okay.
• 56:45
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 56:46
  SPEAKER_02: We always do our best, make sure everyone has a good time.
• 56:49
  SPEAKER_02: Um, especially our listeners, we're very thankful to you guys for tuning in to another episode of our candidate series for your consideration.
• 56:58
  SPEAKER_02: As I stated earlier in the episode, Judge Eula Reed and Judge Robert Trevet will both be on your ballot for Superior Court Judge seat two in District 1.
• 57:09
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 57:10
  SPEAKER_02: And early voting has already started and it will end on October 31st.
• 57:15
  SPEAKER_02: And of course, November 3rd is election day.
• 57:18
  SPEAKER_02: So we hope to have you guys tune in for our last candidate episode where we will feature county commissioner candidates, Carl Witten and Charles Jordan.
• 57:29
  SPEAKER_02: And that will be the conclusion of our candidate series on October 30th.
• 57:34
  SPEAKER_02: And then we will be back to our regularly scheduled voices of the album moral.
• 57:38
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you again to Judge Reed.
• 57:40
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you again to Judge Trevette, and thank you to all of our listeners.