THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, April 19, 1995 TAG: 9504190424
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY PERRY PARKS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CAMDEN LENGTH: Medium: 60 lines
The mother of a slain Camden woman has called for the removal of a magistrate she accuses of failing to protect her daughter days before the shooting.
In a handwritten letter filed with the clerk of Camden County Superior Court, Florence Nightingale Forbes of Shiloh requests a formal hearing on what she calls the ``negligent actions'' of Magistrate Sterling Lee Gregory.
Forbes' daughter, 24-year-old Tracy Dawn Crafton, was shot to death in a convenience store parking lot north of Elizabeth City on March 8. About two days before the shooting, Forbes said, Crafton had sworn out a warrant for the arrest of her boyfriend, Richard S. ``Ricky'' Hogarth, accusing him of physical abuse.
The warrant apparently was not served. Hogarth, now serving a sentence in Norfolk for a crime related to the shooting, has been charged with Crafton's murder.
Chief District Judge Grafton G. Beaman, who oversees Gregory and 20 other magistrates in the seven-county 1st Judicial District, said he will refer the complaint to Senior Resident Superior Court Judge J. Richard Parker. North Carolina statutes say a hearing to decide whether Gregory keeps his job must be scheduled between 10and 30 days of Gregory's receiving the complaint.
Beaman has the option of suspending Gregory until the hearing but said Tuesday he had not done so and was not likely to.
Gregory declined to comment.
``I will make my statement at the hearing,'' he said.
Crafton was killed shortly after running from Hogarth's truck to the van of her grandparents, who had come from Virginia Beach to pick her up. Crafton's step-grandfather, 47-year-old Ron Revering of Virginia Beach, was wounded at the time.
Crafton had told her grandparents that Hogarth was abusing her. Her grandmother said she saw bruises on Crafton's face as she approached the van.
Days earlier, Forbes says in her complaint letter filed Monday, her daughter had left the Camden magistrate's office with the understanding that a warrant for Hogarth's arrest would be issued.
But Forbes said in an interview that she has been told by law officers and others that Hogarth and his mother called Gregory and persuaded him not to issue the warrant.
Hogarth, who has a long criminal record that includes several arrests on assault and threat charges, reportedly said he could not afford to get in more trouble, Forbes said in the letter.
``If the warrant would have been served, Tracy Dawn Crafton would still be alive today,'' Forbes' letter says.
After the March 8 shootings, Hogarth stole a car in Norfolk and led police on an interstate chase for several days. He was arrested in Virginia Beach on March 13 and pleaded guilty to grand larceny in connection with the car theft on April 10.
KEYWORDS: MURDER NORTH CAROLINA SHOOTING by CNB