Free Republic

Wiccan beliefs and sexual preferences will take center stage in the trial of a North Carolina man accused of killing his wife, unless the defendant has his way before the start of his trial on Halloween. ADVERTISEMENT Earlier this week, Robert James Petrick asked a Durham County Superior Court judge to keep all references to his neo-pagan religion and "sexual habits" out of his first-degree murder trial for the death of his wife, Janine Sutphen, a cellist with the Durham Symphony Orchestra, in January 2003. Judge Orlando Hudson is expected to rule on the motions before jury selection begins Monday...

RALEIGH -- For the second time in two years, state trial court Judge Evelyn Hill's remarks from the bench have earned a defendant a new trial -- this time a convicted sex offender. The state Court of Appeals on Tuesday ordered a retrial for Douglas Shane Wright, 31, of Burlington, convicted in October 2003 of two counts of taking indecent liberties with a child. He had been sentenced to four to five years in prison. Since her elevation from Wake County prosecutor to elected judge five years ago, Hill has been reprimanded twice for misbehaving and had one other conviction...