Tag Archive for: #districtcourtjudge

District Court Judge Asks Voters to ‘Keep Katherine Burnette’

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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.)

 

Attorney Brian Cloninger Challenges Burnette for District Court Judge

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Brian Cloninger, a Henderson resident and private defense attorney at Cloninger Law Offices, PLLC, will challenge incumbent Katherine Burnette for district court judge of the Ninth Judicial District of North Carolina in the March 3, 2020 Primary election. This position serves Vance, Franklin, Granville, Warren and Person counties.

Brian Cloninger, candidate for the Judicial District 9, District Court Judge seat, is shown here being interviewed on WIZS’ Town Talk program. (WIZS photo)

Cloninger attended public schools and graduated from the Reich School of Education at Appalachian State University in 2000 and the North Carolina Central University School of Law in 2006.

According to Cloninger’s website, he is a current member of the Vance County Bar, the 9th District Bar, the North Carolina State Bar, the North Carolina Advocates for Justice, and the VCS Board of Directors.

He is the Immediate Past President of the Vance County Bar, the Immediate Past Chair of the Criminal Defense Section of the North Carolina Advocates for Justice, and the Immediate Past Chair of the VCS Board of Directors Policy and Personnel Committee.

He is also a former member of the American Bar Association, the North Carolina Bar Association, the North Carolina Association of Educators, and the American Institute of criminal defense attorneys in Festus.

Sharing his knowledge with other lawyers and judges, Cloninger teaches a class titled “Traffic Practice: Doing it Right and Solving Problems: Courthouse-Based Driver’s License Remediation,” which was approved by the North Carolina State Bar for credit toward required continuing legal education.

Cloninger has 14 years of legal experience practicing in the district courts of the 9th District with a concentration in civil and criminal cases. In a recent interview with WIZS, he said it is his experience and the encouragement of his peers that prompted him to enter the race.

“I’ve been asked by people in the system to run for judge, particularly for this seat. They think that I can help because I have been in the district courts of each of the counties in our district almost every day for 14 years. I know the law. I know about the people who make up the justice system and I know what they need to help make this particular seat a better seat.”

District court handles misdemeanor criminal and traffic matters, including domestic and family law cases. According to Cloninger, with 95% of cases ending in a plea deal or some form of deferred agreement, only 5% of district court cases go to trial. District courts see an exceptional amount of cases, with 200 cases on each criminal docket in Vance County alone.

For Cloninger, the incentive of serving as a district court judge is not financial but rewarding all the same. “The incentive is the ability to help more people, to make sure that our district court is a place that people feel like they can go to get equal justice,” he said.

“The role of a judge is to help victims feel safe and comfortable that justice has been served and help offenders get the rehabilitation they need so that once they’ve served their sentence, they can become productive members of the community.”

Cloninger is married and has two children. His wife, Alison Finch Cloninger, is also from Henderson. For more information on his campaign, please visit www.cloningerforjudge.com.

To hear the interview with Cloninger in its entirety, click on the link below.

(This is not a paid political advertisement. Political candidates are offered equal time.)