EX-PROSECUTOR'S STINT AS JUDGE: 119 MINUTES

SMITHFIELD - For about two hours Friday, Dale Stubbs thought he was a
District Court judge -- and then he wasn't.

That's how long it took Gov. Mike Easley to take back Stubbs'
appointment and start asking questions about a series of plea deals by
the longtime prosecutor that have incensed some law enforcement officers.

Stubbs, 59, lost his bid for the Johnston County district attorney's
job in November and stepped down as an assistant district attorney at
the end of the year, when his former colleague and opponent took
charge. He spent most of his remaining time in the job prosecuting
drug cases.

After he left office, Sheriff Steve Bizzell found many of those cases
involved plea deals that Bizzell thinks are far too lenient.

"He was giving away the courthouse like Santa does candy at
Christmastime," Bizzell said.

Bizzell said he didn't call the governor, but he knows his public
comments might have led to the governor's reversal.

Stubbs said the accusations are unfounded.

"If I'm defending something, I don't know what I'm defending right
now," Stubbs said.

Stubbs could still get the new district judgeship created last year
for Johnston, Harnett and Lee counties. Easley's office would not
comment on whether the plea bargains led to the governor's
backtracking after the announcement.

Quick Change of Heart

At 2:22 p.m. Friday, Easley released a statement appointing Stubbs,
saying his "legal knowledge and training will be a great addition to
the District Court." But at 4:21 p.m. Easley, a former prosecutor,
followed his first release with a "note to media" asking them to
please disregard the announcement about Stubbs. There were no other
details.

Stubbs suspects the Johnston County sheriff's office has something to
do with the governor's change of heart.

Bizzell and the sheriff's head narcotics officer, Capt. A.C. Fish,
accuse Stubbs of reducing the sentence for a major cocaine dealer to a
few months, diverting a man with 57 marijuana plants in his home into
a counseling program meant for small-time drug users, and dropping
charges against a man who deputies say attacked an officer.

In at least one case, a judge refused to accept a plea bargain Stubbs
negotiated.

Stubbs doesn't disagree with the facts of these cases. But he said his
handling of them was routine based on the evidence he was given. He
tried to clear some cases before he left his office and was surprised
to find them now blocking his appointment.

"I did this in open court like I have done for many years," said
Stubbs, who has 22 years of experience as a prosecutor. "I've made a
million decisions over the years, and I'm not sure all of them were
really good, but I'm sure most of them are. People can question that
without accusing me of doing something immoral."

He said that neither Bizzell nor Tom Lock, who was district attorney
until January, had asked him about the cases. Lock, now a Superior
Court judge, did not respond to calls for comment.

Some lawyers who worked with Stubbs said the accusations do not jibe
with his reputation.

Doug Parsons, a defense attorney from Clinton who tried a death
penalty case against Lock and Stubbs, called Stubbs "one of the most
ethical, professional, competent and prepared trial lawyers I have
ever been up against."

Parsons has also worked as a state and federal prosecutor and said
second-guessing plea deals is difficult: "It's easy to play
Monday-morning quarterback. It's different when you're in the trenches."

Politics and Policing

Bizzell, who detailed the plea bargains on a radio show, said he
didn't publicize the plea bargains to derail Stubbs' bid for a
judgeship. Bizzell, a Republican, supported Stubbs' opponent in the
district attorney's race. Stubbs is a Democrat.

"This has nothing to do with politics," Bizzell said. "It has to do
with safe streets and safe communities."

Bizzell said he first learned of the plea deals from an irate citizen
whose neighbor, convicted of possessing materials needed to make
methamphetamine, got a sentence of less than a year in prison.

"They said, 'Sheriff, I thought you were going to put that guy
away,"Bizzell said.

Deputies had staked out the trailer after informants confirmed the
existence of a meth lab. Deputies raided the house, where they found
the chemicals and supplies needed for making meth. They later arrested
Rupert Wayne Jones of Lowell Mill Road near Selma. While Jones was out
on bail, a deputy was called to his home for a domestic dispute, and
Jones attacked him. Jones was found to have bags of meth in his pockets.

Fish said when he started asking other deputies about outstanding
cases, he found a dozen plea deals that he says represent hours of
wasted time and resources. Investigators hadn't been told the cases
were settled as they usually are, Fish said.

Several investigations were carried out with help from federal
authorities. One man sold 3,000 grams of cocaine to a federal agent
working with the county.

"I've been doing this a long time, and I know when there's not enough
evidence to go to court," Fish said. "These were good cases."

Some of those cases only started showing up in court this month, when
the current prosecutor started honoring plea deals Stubbs struck
before he left. A visiting judge refused to honor one that would have
sent a woman charged with conspiring to sell crack cocaine into a
program meant for lesser, first-time offenses.

District Attorney Susan Doyle, who worked alongside Stubbs before
beating him to win her current seat, wouldn't comment on the deals.
Her office agreed to accept written plea deals he made through February.

"I have my job to do," Doyle said. "What took place in the past is not
my concern now."

Doyle said she wouldn't have any problem trying cases with Stubbs on
the bench, even after a heated campaign.

"I've worked with Dale for years," she said. "I told him I could put
it behind me and look forward, and I don't think there's any problem
with him doing it either."

[sidebar]

SOME OF THE DEALS THAT DREW FIRE

Millie King Stephenson: A visiting judge rejected a plea deal to drop 18
charges of drug trafficking if she went into a counseling program.

Stubbs said she was a co-defendant whose only connection to the crack
cocaine that deputies found was that she was in the car with someone
charged with conspiracy.

Juan Jose Pineda Diaz: Police say Diaz sold 3 kilograms of cocaine to a
federal drug enforcement agent. He pleaded down from a maximum sentence of
12 years to the lowest level of drug charge, agreeing to serve 35 months in
prison and two years of probation.

Stubbs said that Diaz was a "mule," a person caught selling the drugs
who was not the target of an investigation.

Rupert Wayne Jones: Charged with making methamphetamine after a police
stakeout, then with assaulting an officer. Nearly all charges dropped except
one for possessing methamphetamine precursor. He will serve six to eight
months in prison and two years on probation.

Stubbs said there was not an active meth lab there when deputies
raided Jones' home, so he allowed Jones to plead guilty to one felony
charge for possessing the materials used to make methamphetamine. As
for assaulting an officer, Stubbs said, it's not uncommon to drop
lesser charges when someone pleads guilty to a felony.