THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, November 5, 1994 TAG: 9411050630
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY MASON PETERS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ELIZABETH CITY LENGTH: Short : 50 lines
Nancy Beasley Lamb, a Little Rascals prosecutor whose bobbed black hair and flashing eyes were often on TV during the Edenton child abuse trials, will return to her former position of assistant district attorney on Monday.
The 39-year-old Lamb has been serving as an associate North Carolina attorney general during her involvement with the Little Rascals cases.
``I'm delighted to have her return to this office,'' said District Attorney Frank Parrish on Friday. Parrish said Lamb's special contract with the state attorney general had expired and he had prevailed upon her to return to the Elizabeth City prosecutor's office.
Parrish and Lamb worked together for many years as assistant district attorneys in the 1st Judicial District. In 1983 Lamb became the first female prosecutor to join the district attorney's staff.
``Nancy Lamb's legal skills and trial ability are outstanding,'' Parrish said.
During several Little Rascals trials and convictions, Lamb was loaned to the N.C. Department of Justice to be teamed with Special Prosecutor William Hart. When she was officially transferred in August 1993 to the attorney general's staff, her $56,000 salary as assistant district attorney was picked up by the Administrative Office of the Courts in Raleigh.
Lamb was caught up in the national controversy that followed the airing of ``Innocence Lost: The Verdict,'' a television examination of the Little Rascals trials. Robert F. Kelly Jr., proprietor of the Chowan County day care center, was convicted of dozens of often-bizarre child sex abuse charges, and his wife and several other Little Rascals employees were similarly accused.
The broadcast of ``Innocence Lost'' two years ago polarized Edenton residents as well as millions of viewers across the country. To some, Nancy Lamb was seen as a persecutor of innocent child-care workers, while others praised her courage in demanding the convictions.
But in all the turmoil, Lamb's courtroom skills won respect and admiration and she emerged virtually unscathed from the Little Rascals courtroom dramas. During the height of the trials, Lamb was frequently mentioned as a deserving candidate for an expected vacancy on the District Court bench.
Lamb graduated from Appalachian State University in 1977 and earned a law degree from Wake Forest University in 1984. She is married to Zee B. Lamb, an Elizabeth City attorney and Pasquotank County commissioner. They have two children. by CNB