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In This Edition:
- The state Supreme Court weighs “good moral character”
- A fight over records from a private security firm in Charlotte
- Hampton Dellinger abandons Trump suit
- Asheville Blade reporters try again on First Amendment claim
The North Carolina Supreme Court is currently considering the case of Maurice Devalle, a former Highway Patrol officer fired for dishonesty and neglect of duty.
He soon secured a job as a school resource officer. But to keep it, Devalle would have to prove to the board overseeing standards for the state’s deputy sheriffs that he had “good moral character,” a minimum requirement to be employed in many licensed professions in North Carolina. His battle to secure that stamp of approval has now dragged on for more than seven years.
How the justices decide the case could prompt an overhaul in how licensing boards guard the integrity of their professions, from doctors to real estate agents, lawyers, and certified public accountants. Roughly one third of jobs in North Carolina require some kind of occupational license, and many require “good moral character.”
Carli Brosseau and Sarah Nagem have the story.
Have any suggestions for improving this newsletter or stories we should look into? Email us at courts@theassemblync.com.
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The Silent Treatment
Days after employees of a private security firm fatally shot a Charlotte man in September 2023, WBTV investigative reporter Nick Ochsner requested information about the incident from the firm, Allied Universal Security Services (AUS), and the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department. An Allied official denied Ochsner’s request, saying it has a policy of not releasing police reports.
But the company employs 132 sworn police officers and is considered a public law-enforcement agency under state law, meaning that AUS is subject to public-records law. However, a split three-judge panel of the N.C. Court of Appeals ruled last week the company doesn’t have to identify the two employees involved in the shooting or provide the information Ochsner sought.
“I’m obviously disappointed in the ultimate result of that decision and the fact that the public still does not have access to information that Allied Universal police has about this deadly shooting,” Ochsner told The Assembly. He said he and his attorney, Lauren Russell, are reviewing the decision and haven’t yet decided whether they are going to appeal to the state Supreme Court.
On September 8, 2023, an AUS armed security guard and a sworn police officer found Kashaune Teal, 24, trespassing at a loading dock at Queen City Quarter and urinating on a wall. Charlotte-Mecklenburg police alleged that as the employees approached Teal to issue a citation, Teal pulled out a gun and fired at them. One of the AUS employees shot and killed Teal.
After an investigation and a review from the Mecklenburg County District Attorney’s Office, the two AUS employees were not criminally charged. Their names have not been released.
Ochsner filed a petition with Mecklenburg County Superior Court to compel AUS to provide all information that is public under N.C. General Statute 132-1.4, which says that while criminal investigative records are largely confidential, certain information is considered public, such as “the time, date, location, and nature of a violation or apparent violation of the law reported to a public law enforcement agency.” Also considered public records: 911 calls; names and other identifying information about people who were arrested, charged, or indicted; and the identity of witnesses.
Superior Court Judge Karen Eady-Williams dismissed Ochsner’s petition after presiding over a hearing in which she only reviewed requested information from Charlotte-Mecklenburg police; she never ordered AUS to turn over any documents that Ochsner had sought from the company. Ochsner appealed, leading to last week’s Court of Appeals ruling.
Chief Judge Chris Dillon wrote in the majority opinion that AUS did not have to respond to Ochsner’s public-records requests because the company only investigated the trespassing and public urination and not the shooting. Dillon makes it appear that Ochsner only sought the names and addresses of the two AUS employees, even though the reporter sought all information considered public record.
Judge Toby Hampson dissented, saying the “narrow analysis parsing out a developing law enforcement investigation into separate incidents” is “erroneous.”
Ochsner said many questions remain about the incident, including which employee shot Teal and the events leading up to the shooting. “That’s why I’ve been fighting for this information,” he said.
—Michael Hewlett
Blow the Whistle
Hampton Dellinger would have celebrated his first anniversary as head of the Office of Special Council on the day he decided to give up the court battle to keep his job.
Dellinger spent much of February and early March challenging his abrupt ouster as head of the federal Office of Special Counsel, which investigates whistleblower complaints. Many were watching his lawsuit as a test of President Donald Trump’s executive power.
On March 5, a federal appeals court panel sided with Trump, who challenged a federal judge’s reinstatement of Dellinger while his lawsuit was being adjudicated. The three appellate judges only provided cursory information in their order halting Dellinger’s temporary reinstatement.
“I think the circuit judges erred badly because their willingness to sign off on my ouster—even if presented as possibly temporary—immediately erases the independence Congress provided for my position, a vital protection that has been accepted as lawful for nearly fifty years. Until now,” Dellinger told The Assembly in a statement. “And given the circuit court’s adverse ruling, I think my odds of ultimately prevailing before the Supreme Court are long.”
Dellinger, a Biden appointee and longtime Durham resident, was sworn in on March 6, 2024. In 2023, when a White House official asked Dellinger if he was interested in taking the helm of the Office of Special Counsel, he said he posed one question before saying yes. “You know I can’t and won’t ‘swallow my whistle,’ right?”
“My point was that I was going to follow and enforce the rules like an honest referee would even if some might perceive it as against the interests of certain individuals including the President,” Dellinger said. “To the Biden-Harris Administration’s credit, no one ever interfered with my work–never–even when some disagreed with it.”
The Trump administration informed Dellinger in a two-sentence email last month that his position was “terminated, effective immediately.” No reason was provided. Dellinger sued on February 10; hours later U.S. District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson temporarily reinstated him to his job. And on March 1, she ruled in Dellinger’s favor.
The White House has contended that the law that says a president can only fire the special counsel for “inefficiency, neglect or malfeasance of office” during their five-year term is unconstitutional. A president, they contend, should be able to appoint his own agency heads.
“My fight to stay on the job was not for me, but rather for the ideal that OSC should be as Congress intended: an independent watchdog and a safe, trustworthy place for whistleblowers to report wrongdoing and be protected from retaliation,” Dellinger said.
—Anne Blythe
Try, Try Again
The two Asheville Blade journalists who have been fighting trespassing charges related to their coverage of a Christmas Day protest in 2021 have asked the state Court of Appeals to have another go at their case.
Matilda Bliss and Melissa Coit, who were arrested in an Asheville city park while gathering news about police clearing a homeless camp and the subsequent protests, filed several motions on March 9 that they hope could lead to a different ruling.
The reporters have argued that their arrests were a violation of their free speech rights. In their appeal to the Buncombe County Superior Court, they argued that trial court judges erred in determining that the First Amendment did not protect their right to record and report on the protest in a municipal park with a 10 p.m. curfew.
In a press release after the February 19 ruling, Buncombe County District Attorney Todd Williams focused on the city ordinance, stating that “the defendants’ actions violated a content-neutral, time, place, and manner restriction designed to ensure public safety and the orderly use of city parks.”
The appeals court rejected the reporters’ appeal on February 19, seemingly because of missing paperwork rather than the merits of their First Amendment argument. The appellate panel said there was no “supporting documentation” before them of Bliss and Coit being tried and convicted in district court before their trial in Buncombe County Superior Court. The appellate said they were “unable to verify jurisdiction” and dismissed it.
Now attorneys for the reporters have asked to amend the record and allow reconsideration of their arguments. The case has garnered attention from press freedom advocates.
—Anne Blythe
Around The State
Can Lake Mattamuskeet Be Saved?
The largest natural lake in the state and an important national refuge for migrating birds is facing an ecological catastrophe.
North Carolina Farmers Reel From Trump Administration Payment Delays
Farmers say they’re waiting for federal payments for conservation and climate change programs, as well as emergency loans.
Thom Tillis’ Spat With Trump Advisers Raises a New Reelection Challenge
N.C. Republicans are wondering why Trump’s advisers are going after someone they see as the best chance at retaining a Senate seat.
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