I think if you read that N&O arhives article on Orlando Hudson, you'll change your mind.
Hardin was zealous, and he used Hudson like a Hammer. He consistently went back to Hudson because of his prosecution-friendly rulings.
A lawsuit was filed. To file a lawsuit against a D.A., that's extraordinary.
Let me look to grab some verbage from that archives.
I can't do a link to it though.
Okay, the Judges are supposed to rotate through the ciruit, but Orlando Hudson remained in the circuit longer than any other Judge - and he heard far more criminal cases in Durham than any other Judge. At one point, an official request was made to leave Hudson in the district, for the most part, it was granted. So, the District Attorney keeps going back to the same Judge - keeps going back to the well. Defense attorneys in Durham openly state that Hudson routinely and consistently made prosecution friendly rulings (like a rubber stamp). Later, if you remember, wasn't it Hudson that was selected for the High Profile Peterson case also.
That was a long time after this article was written too.
This is from the N&O archives - and credit goes to JLS as he pointed me in that direction some time ago.
May 19, 1999
Durham DA gets 'judge-shopping' reputation
Author: JOHN SULLIVAN; STAFF WRITER
Edition: Final
Section: News
Page: A1
Index Terms:
Jim Hardin
Orlando Hudson
Durham
judicial
Estimated printed pages: 5
Article Text:
(snip)
"Judge-shopping is legal in North Carolina, the only state in the country where district attorneys decide when and where a case goes to trial."
(snip)
"Jim Hardin doesn't put himself at a disadvantage," Hudson said. "I don't know of any official that puts his office at a disadvantage. I think the DA has a lot of power, and when the legislature leaves scheduling in the hands of the DAs, you have sanctioned judge-shopping."
(snip)
"I believe Jim Hardin is punishing judges who rule against him," Durham Public Defender Bob Brown said. "The obvious consequence will be the judge who will want to rule fairly and in accordance with the law will not be given a chance to do so but will simply not be assigned any more cases."
(snip)
Superior Court Judge Abe Jones rotated through Durham.
Jones ruled against the state in several cases, allowing evidence to be suppressed. After the ruling, Brown and Jones went to lunch.
"I told him he wouldn't hear another criminal case," Brown said.
"I ruled in the defense's favor, but I never got back to criminal," Jones said. "I can't say the two were tied; all I can say is it happened."
"Durham Civil Trial Court Administrator Kathy Shuart said Jones was scheduled to return to criminal court, but many of the lengthy civil cases he heard kept him in civil court. "
(snip)
"HUDSON, with Mitchell's permission, has spent more time in the district than any other resident judge. He also has been ALLOWED to come back to the district to hear major cases, including the controversial case of Timothy Blackwell, the second person in the United States to be tried on first-degree murder charges for killing someone in a drunken driven case.
The other cases HUDSON has handled are a who's who of Durham's most notorious crimes. He heard the murder trials of Todd Boggess, Shamar Rasheed Hines and Rodney Eugene Leak. He negotiated pleas in the first-degree murder cases of Broadus Crabtree and Charles Castleberry and is handling the murder case of Eric Crutchfield, accused of fatally shooting his daughter in the back and wounding his son. And he was handling the capital murder case of Gregory Gibson until Gibson hanged himself in
"Hardin says at least one of his prosecutors, Mike Nifong, has tried murder cases before other judges, including a trial this year before visiting Judge Robert Hobgood. Defense attorneys say Nifong is the only assistant district attorney who will try a case in front of another judge, and HE USUALLY DOESN'T TRY HIGH PROFILE CASES. "