Katherine Burnette, the incumbent district court judge for the Ninth Judicial District of North Carolina, faces challenger Brian Cloninger in the March 3, 2020 Primary election. The district court judge position serves Vance, Franklin, Granville, Warren and Person counties.
Katherine Burnette, the incumbent district court judge for the Ninth Judicial District of North Carolina, faces challenger Brian Cloninger in the March 3, 2020 Primary election. (Photo courtesy Katherine Burnette)
Appointed district court judge by NC Governor Roy Cooper in 2018, Burnette filled the vacancy created by Judge Carolyn J. Thompson who was appointed to serve as a Superior Court Judge in the Ninth Judicial District earlier that year.
With 15 months of experience as a district court judge, Burnette said her current service coupled with her varied legal experience make her the ideal candidate for the job. “I have 35 years of legal experience, and it’s been broad legal experience; it’s been private practice, clerking for court of appeals judges and bankruptcy judges. I have also been a public servant since 2002 when I became an assistant district attorney in this district.”
Describing the district court process in an interview with WIZS, Burnette said she oversees a range of cases including mental health, child support, abuse/neglect/dependency, family law, domestic violence and criminal.
“I hope the main thing people say about me [as a judge] is that I am fair, that I listen to everyone and that I make reasoned decisions on the bench,” Burnette stated.
She graduated cum laude from Wake Forest University in 1981 with a BA in both English and politics and from the Wake Forest University School of Law in 1984. In 2019, she was awarded a Master of Fine Arts in creative writing from Queens University in Charlotte.
According to Burnette’s website, she has practiced law in state and federal courts and has experience in family law, criminal law, and bankruptcy law as well as civil and commercial litigation. She served as an assistant district attorney for the former ninth (now eleventh) prosecutorial district from 2002-2007.
In her role as an assistant United States attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina from 2007-2011, Burnette received two national service awards for her work in financial litigation, as the civil division’s financial litigation attorney, primarily in the recovery of restitution for crime victims.
From 2011-2018, Burnette served the Violent Crimes Division of the U.S. Attorney’s Office where she participated in multiple criminal trials and prosecutions for bank robbery, federal firearms, and controlled substance offenses in North Carolina.
Burnette has also held positions on the NC Board of Elections, NC Board of Ethics and State Personnel Commission.
Burnette and husband Tom, an attorney, reside in Granville County. For more information on her background, awards and volunteer work, please visit https://keepkatherineburnette.com
To hear the interview with Burnette in its entirety, please click the link below.
(This is not a paid political advertisement. Political candidates are offered equal time.)