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Judge Norelli Removed from Criminal Court
Last month, Mecklenburg County Chief District Judge Fritz Mercer, made a decision to remove Judge Nancy Black Norelli (R) from presiding over criminal cases. Now, Judge Norelli is on the bench in family court where she will be hearing divorce and custody cases. One of the reasons for the move was made known to some of the media outlets today.
According to reports by WBTV News and The Charlotte Observer, several Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police officers had voiced concerns about Judge Norelli. The officers questioned several of Norelli’s rulings, including case dismissals and acquittals of defendants where the police had a mound of evidence against them.
Police officers and prosecutors were frustrated with Judge Norelli’s conduct in the courtroom and some officers felt they were treated unfairly and said they were sneered at by Judge Norelli.
One of the cases that Norelli dismissed involved a man who cut a natural gas line in an attempt to intentionally blow up his house. Norelli dismissed the case because she said the man had a ‘right to work on his own home.’ A cut gas line is very dangerous and could be deadly to those in the surrounding area. The man put his neighbors in serious danger when he attempted to destroy his home, however, Judge Norelli didn’t feel he should be reprimanded.
In another case, Judge Norelli acquitted a defendant who was charged with possession of marijuana. The arresting officer testified in court that he saw the man smoking marijuana, smelled marijuana and found a burning joint on the ground near the man. Judge Norelli disregarded the officer’s testimony and let the suspect off the hook.
I am thrilled to learn Judge Norelli is no longer presiding over criminal cases. The last thing we need in Mecklenburg County is a hug-a-thug judge like Norelli!
24 Comments:
Linwood Foust next!!!
THANK GOD! The criminal court system has been cleansed. Now we can start back from square-one with some light at the end of the unobstructed tunnel to keep this community safe!
WHAT SHE DIDN'T SEND SOMEONE TO JAIL FOR SMOKING POT?????? BUT WHAT OF THE ALREADY PACKED JAIL HOW CAN WE LET THIS INJUSTICE GO???? Man this has to be one of the stupidist stories on here. Atleast site some cases that actually would make a community upset. First of all I am sure the cause with the natural gas line was hear say. So what happens when your working on your house and you accidently cut a line? Are you trying to blow up your house? Jeez report on some real news.
You also should change that line about the natural gas line...if you are truely unbiased it should read "dismissed, involved a cause of a man suspected of cutting his natural gas line in an attempt to blow up his house". You don't know any of the facts of the case yet your automaticly smearing this judge and putting a slant on this story to unsuspecting readers.
Yeah right thanks to your short 6 paragraghs posted on 5/4 a judge has been "moved" to another court setting!!!! Jeez Jon take a chillpill. I'm not sure which is worse, her deciding for thugs or deciding for families in crisis!!! Keep up the good work COC those of us on yellow alert appreciate the info!!!!Hawk
Thank goodness!!! One down and alot to go.
I agree with the first post, Judge Linwood Foust should be next for allowing Holly Mitchell off the hook. Judges should be held accountable when the do not enforce the law. They hold the power to waste everyone's time, and they do so all too often.
Hey Patton ("Jon"), get a life freak! Stop embezzling, appropriating, and stealing other people's cash, get a job, instead of being subsidized by your parents, and you won't have to fear losing a softy judge like this because you'd have no reason to be in the courtroom in the first place.
Hmm....yeah, god forbid any citizens charged with crimes actually are acquitted based on common sense and maybe even the law! The way I see it, the cops now know what it feels like to have the deck stacked against THEM for once. I think we need MORE judges with common sense on the bench that arent in "tight" with the cops and prosecutors. Come on, letting someone off the hook for smoking a joint is reason to remove them from the bench? Whatever. I applaud Judge Norelli.
Judges like Norelli should have to do a few "Ride Alongs" with CMPD periodically, so they can stay "grounded".
Judge Norelli was not removed because of the two examples shown in this post. Clearly, there was a problem with Norelli or the Chief Judge would not have moved her out of the criminal courtroom.
Can you imagine how her lack of respect for the police looked to the thugs of this town?
I don’t think a Judge should appease the police, however, I do think a Judge should show some respect for them in the courtroom.
This kind of behavior from a Judge only reinforces the idea that it is okay to commit crime in Charlotte because you will get away with it.
I have to disagree with you "oncrime". How much you want to bet the cops and prosecutors LOBBIED the Chief Judge to remove her because she wasnt giving them every break in their cases, *which they have come to expect* since they play golf and go out drinking together after work. Again, I applaud judges that arent just puppet masters of the "system". If judges are supposed to blindly convict everyone a cop or prosector charges, nevermind the law or common sense, then why have judges in the first place? Why not a computer program or just let cops and prosecutors be judge and jury? Because of a commonly forgotten part of the Constitution called "due process". It makes me wonder how many of the cops and prosecutors SCREWED up their cases and this judge called them on it, while the other judges just turn a blind eye. I do think there are crime problems in Clt, but removing a judge simply for being a JUDGE (look up the definition) instead of a state puppet is absurd. I, for one, will be writing a letter to this chief judge explaning the same principles that the justice system is supposed to be based on. He seems to have forgotten.
OK JON...GET A FREAKN LIFE...YEAH UR ASS NEEDS TO GO TO JAIL IF U COMMITT ANY TYPE OF CRIME..THE POLICE ARE OUT THERE TO PROTECT THE PUBLIC...SO HOW BOUT U GET OFF UR LAZY ASS A DO SOMETHING CONSTRUCTIVE FOR THE COMMUNITY INSTEAD OF SITTING ON IT AND CRITIZING WHY THE JUDGE WAS MOVED...OH I GUESS UR ONE THE ONE'S WHO WAS ARRESTED FOR SOMETHING PETTY...RIGHT?....AND THEY SAY WE HAVE UPSTANDING PEOPLE IN OUR COMMUNITES...GET A GRIP ON LIFE....GET A JOB...MAKE SOMETHING OUT OF YOURSELF INSTEAD OF BEING A NO GOOD LOW DOWN GUTTER TRASH HERO!!!!!!!
To anonymous at 10:33pm:
Correction....WE ARE ALL LOBBYING to get this kind of judge removed.
The problem isn't just too few judges, it's also too many Hug-a-Thug judges like Norelli.
I say good riddance.
If you think we're too tough on these thugs, you take one into your home and rehab him. It could work, if you don't get shot first.
BTW....
The thugs have enough advocates already, without throwing sympathetic, bleeding heart judges into the mix.
If you think the thugs have the deck stacked against them think again, and click the Arrest Lookup link on the left. Some of these people have a dozen separate felony arrests over a one-year period.
The revolving door justice system isn't working, and Norelli was part of that problem.
The judicial social experiment foisted on us by the Hug-a-Thug crowd is a dismal failure. It was DOA, and doomed to fail.
Now let's concentrate on ridding Charlotte of the "Super Predators" that are causing a disproportionate amount of crime in this city.
I'm glad someone has recognized a problem with this judge, but I don't see how it helps to transfer her to family cases. Misjudgement of family cases is no less tragic than misjudgement of criminal cases. If there really is a problem with the judge, why is she still on the bench?
Judge Norelli was rightfully removed from district court due to one reason and one reason only. She did not follow the law which as a judge she had sworn to uphold. Specifically, she did not follow case law. Judges interpret the law on a case by case basis. Case laws are rulings set forth by higher courts to clarify legal issues. Lower courts are bound by law to follow the rulings of higher courts. In short, Judge Norelli ignored well established precedents and made numerous rulings without regard to these established case laws. In one case in which I was a part of, Judge Norelli stated, "I know he is guilty but in my heart I can not find him guilty". This is not professionalism but incompetence at its best. She needed to go.
Im still trying to figure out how a guy smoking a joint is a thug? While "oncrime" said its not indicative of the type of things this judge did to be removed it IS the examples that were trotted out! If the judge was doing heinous things on the bench I would think they could trot out better examples of her conduct instead of someone smoking a joint and someone working on their house. Finally, if the judge is working within the rules of the court and the rules of the law then she should be allowed to have a different personality than everyone else. I pray for those here, who enjoy their spot upon their high horses, that you never have a misstep that brings the law into your life. I doubt many of you have a real clue how the system even works....
No judge is BOUND by ANY case law ANYWHERE. They are free to rule as they see fit in the instant case before them. No cases are identical and judges make that distinction on a daily basis through the facts, the circumstances, the defendant, the state's evidence, etc. If that is the true measure of a judge's worth then no judge should be on the bench because they all go against established case law from time to time. Sometimes purposely, sometimes not. I litigated a federal civil suit a couple years ago and watched the judge knock out half of my claims IN DEFIANCE of long established case law in the 4th Circ. After reconsideration she still ruled the same way, stating that she did not feel the case law was appropriate because of minor nuance differences. I may have won on appeal (thats what appeals courts are for right?!?) but the case settled. Judges should be free to rule as they see fit since they are entrusted to make proper judgment in the case before them....not be robots. Thats why I hate Mandatory Minimums, it handcuffs judges.
So you got busted for dope, eh?
And you're still pissed at the system?
Get a life, get off dope, and stope apologizing for those who use drugs.
She was not working within the rules set forth. She was ignoring case law and making up stuff as she went along. She was incompetent. That is why she had to go.
Ah personal attacks. The true sign of a bad debater. Nowhere in this topic was any suggestion of anything of the sort. I wouldnt justify your question with a response if it hadnt have insulted me this much.
However, I do know the feeling of having the system stacked against you (that happens in minor cases too, fyi) so I do feel passionately about a judge that acts on COMPASSION for the def. and the case at hand. Read the inscription on the main entrance of the brand new COURTHOUSE.
I don't feel that possession of marijuana is a "crime", I know that it is in the eyes of the law (for now at least), but I don't feel that we need to waste police time an court time, and tax payer money on an "offence" that is a victimless crime. Yeah fight "drugs" please by all means, but God put that plant here, so I ask should God be punished for that creation? Get real. Crack, cocaine, herion, and meth, those are the targets people, those are the drugs that are killing people, that people are being shot over.
Personal attacks? No. Judge Norelli is a nice person but she should not be on the bench. Specific examples of why Judge Norelli was a bad judge (bad as in incompetent not a bad or mean spirited person); Ruling 911 calls were hearsay and inadmissible when determining reasonable suspicion for a stop. This was not a one case ruling but the standard in her courtroom. Telling an Asst District Attorney in her courtroom that since Defense Attorney ##### was taking the case to trial the defendant must be innocent (because otherwise he would not be taking this case to trial). I do not think a Judge making these comments or making these rulings should be on the bench....and she is not, at least in District Court.
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