(The Center Square) – Judicial accountability, in the form of public reprimand, censure, suspension or the removal of trial judges from office for misconduct, are in a proposal awaiting the North Carolina governor’s signature.
The chief justice would be authorized to suspend without pay, pending investigations, judges from District Court or Superior Court with the recommendation of the state’s Judicial Standards Commission. The proposal, 2026 Court Changes (House Bill 377, Senate Bill 309), is one of six given or about to be given to first-term Democratic Gov. Josh Stein on Thursday and Friday.
Per state law, the governor has 10 days to sign, veto or allow a bill to become law without his signature. The day of presentation to him is considered Day 0.
In a release, House Speaker Destin Hall, R-Caldwell, said, “All North Carolinians deserve judges who exercise sound judgment and uphold the highest standards of conduct. When they don’t, or when their actions put law-abiding citizens in harm’s way, there should be meaningful consequences. This legislation gives our courts stronger tools to hold those judges accountable.”
In the embattled judicial jurisdiction of Charlotte, the nation’s 14th largest city, 29-year-old David Simpson bonded out of jail on Wednesday of last week 90 minutes before a fatal shooting in which he’s accused of first-degree murder. He’s accused of shooting a second person that survived.
Police say the dispute was over a parking space at an apartment complex at 1:45 a.m. He had bonded out, for $10,000, at 12:20 a.m. Simpson had been in jail facing a charge of a prisoner having a weapon.
In 2015, Simpson pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter in a reduction from a first-degree murder charge in a 2013 fatal shooting. Many charges against him since release from prison on parole in 2020 include possession of a firearm by a felon.
Friday, a Mecklenburg County judge ordered him held without bond.
Passage of the bill was 62-45 in the House of Representatives on Wednesday and 26-11 in the Senate on Wednesday of last week about 13 hours before Simpson left jail. In the Senate, no Democrats were for the measure and no Republicans against. In the House, no Democrats were for the measure, no Republicans against, and unaffiliated Rep. Carla Cunningham of Mecklenburg County was an aye vote.
