Leon Stanback, a retired Durham, N.C., judge, has been named acting district attorney in Durham by Gov. Bev Perdue after D.A. Tracey Cline was suspended on a finding of probable cause she engaged in conduct prejudicial to the administration of justice that brought her office into disrepute. Stanback will serve during what Perdue called a “challenging time” for the office, reports the Raleigh News & Observer.
Stanback is a former member of the state parole board and was an assistant district attorney in Guilford County in the 1970s. He has been in private practice as a defense lawyer. Since he retired, he has been a court mediator. Cline attacked Superior Court Judge Orlando Hudson in court documents that legal scholars and lawyers have described as unprecedented and beyond acceptable. Reports in the News & Observer have shows substantial errors of fact by Cline in the filings. Another judge suspended Cline on Friday.