Candidate Biography (submitted by candidate):

I am a native of Taylorsville, North Carolina, currently residing in Hickory.  I graduated with honors from Taylorsville High School in 1970; obtained my Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from North Carolina State University in 1974; and obtained my Juris Doctor degree from North Carolina Central University in 1979. 

I was admitted to the bar in August, 1979.  I have worked as an Assistant District Attorney for nearly 25 years of the thirty-one years that I have practiced law in Wake, Catawba, Caldwell, Burke, Alexander and Iredell counties. 

I am currently an assistant district attorney in District 22A, which encompasses Alexander and Iredell counties. During the course of my career, I have tried thousands of cases, ranging from speeding, driving while impaired, armed robbery, rape, kidnapping and first degree capital murder.  In that time span, I have been the lead prosecutor in murder cases in which seven defendants were sentenced to death and over forty defendants were sentenced to life sentences. 

My wife and I have been married 23 years and have three daughters and one granddaughter. 

I have served as a trustee or member of the following boards:  State Board of Community Colleges, Catawba County American Red Cross, Summit House, Inc., President of Catawba Valley Legal Services, Inc. Board of Directors, Catawba County YMCA Board of Directors, and Hospice of Alexander County.  I have been twice been an instructor for the North Carolina Conference of District Attorneys during their annual conference. 

My main reason for running is to restore integrity and respect to the District Attorney's office for the 25th Prosecutorial District. I have spoken to the citizens and law enforcement of this district and am appalled at the lack of confidence in our District Attorney. I have elected to run my campaign based on my qualifications as a prosecutor. 

I have been endorsed by the Morganton-Burke and Caldwell County Fraternal Order of Police organizations. It is my desire to serve the citizens of Burke, Catawba and Caldwell counties as a District Attorney who is fair, but tough on crime. Having created a good working environment with the law enforcement agencies in those counties during the fourteen years I served as an assistant district attorney there, I intend to restore those relationships in order to make the 25th Prosecutorial District a safer place to live for all of its citizens.