THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, May 5, 1995 TAG: 9505050557
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY PERRY PARKS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CAMDEN LENGTH: Long : 107 lines
A Camden County magistrate, accused of failing to protect an abuse victim two days before she was killed, will keep his job, a Superior Court judge ruled Thursday.
At a hearing in Camden County Superior Court, Judge William C. Griffin Jr. said Magistrate Sterling Lee Gregory did not show ``willful misconduct'' when he chose not to issue an arrest warrant for Richard S. ``Ricky'' Hogarth on March 6.
Hogarth has since been charged with killing his girlfriend, 24-year-old Tracy Dawn Crafton of Shiloh, on March 8. He is currently serving time in Norfolk on larceny charges related to the killing.
Crafton, visibly bruised, had appeared in Gregory's office on March 6 complaining that Hogarth had abused her and asking that he be arrested.
About a month after Crafton's death, her mother filed a formal complaint against Gregory, seeking the reason he had not issued a warrant and calling for his removal.
But after three hours of testimony before a restive crowd of 100 in the rustic Camden courthouse, Griffin determined that Gregory may have made an error in judgment but his actions did not warrant dismissal.
Crafton's mother was shaken by the ruling.
``It's all crooked,'' Florence N. Forbes said as she left the courtroom in tears after the hearing. ``Justice is not served.''
Gregory, 38, maintained at the hearing that he had been correct not to issue a warrant. He lingered to shake hands with several spectators afterward but declined to comment about the case.
``The facts were here,'' he said. ``The judge made the decision on the facts.''
Asked if he would return to work, Gregory said, ``I'm on duty right now.''
Gregory had stood an hour of intensive questioning from attorney Van Johnson, who represented Forbes and her family, and a half-hour from his attorney, O.C. Abbott.
Gregory said several times that his primary reasons for not issuing the warrant were his concern that Crafton did not have her story straight and an admission by telephone from Hogarth, who told Gregory the incident happened in Pasquotank County, out of Gregory's jurisdiction.
When Crafton entered his office, Gregory testified, ``she looked real unhealthy, not real clean. She was not crying. She didn't seem to be in any danger at the time. Her left eye was black.''
Crafton showed him bruises on her arms and neck and said there were others, Gregory said. She told him that Hogarth ``had beat her and he hit her on the head with a shotgun.''
She said she thought the incident had happened at Shell of Camden on Route 158, but Gregory testified that she never seemed sure of herself and appeared to be ``under the influence of something.''
Crafton suffered from lupus and a disorder which often causes physical or verbal tics in its victims. Gregory said he was not aware of her medical history.
``Miss Crafton was very hyper,'' he said. ``She questioned herself the whole time she was telling me. . . . In my opinion, she was never positive of anything she said.''
Gregory had not decided whether to issue a warrant when Crafton left his office after about 40 minutes. She was driven back to a friend's home by Camden Sheriff's Deputy Clifton Gregory, who had taken Crafton to the office. The deputy and the magistrate are not related.
As the magistrate and deputy discussed the merits of the case later, Hogarth called the office, Magistrate Gregory testified. He said Hogarth admitted abusing Crafton, but not in Camden County. Hogarth also told Gregory he could not afford to get in trouble with the law because he had been in prison before.
Gregory testified that he wanted Crafton to return to the office so he could question her again and decide if she should be referred to a Pasquotank County magistrate. In a series of phone calls beginning after 8 p.m., Crafton told the deputy and magistrate that she would get a ride back to the office. When she did not show up by 9:05, Gregory said, he left.
Johnson worked to establish that Gregory had had little training in identifying or dealing with domestic abuse. He also asked several times why Gregory did not question Crafton over the phone when he had done so with Hogarth. On Abbott's objections, Griffin disallowed many of Johnson's questions as argumentative.
Four others testified in the hearing, including Camden County Sheriff Joe Jones and Crafton's grandmother, Shirley Revering, who watched on March 8 as Crafton was shot to death in a convenience store parking lot on U.S. 17 North.
Revering, and Crafton's step-grandfather, had learned Crafton was being abused and had driven from Virginia Beach to pick her up. Ron Revering was shot several times the night of the slaying but survived.
In his final arguments to the judge, Johnson said Gregory's denial that he had made a mistake showed he should be removed.
``This issue of spousal abuse is very real,'' Johnson said. ``We have to learn to recognize it. . . . There's a very real risk that this scenario would occur again.''
Griffin said judicial officers, like everyone, sometimes make ``errors of judgment or errors of law.'' Whether or not Gregory erred, ``there's not a shred of evidence'' that there was ongoing misconduct, Griffin said.
After the hearing, Johnson said he hoped the experience would at least shed more light on the issue of domestic abuse.
``Maybe if nothing else comes out of this hearing, a message can come out of it,'' Johnson said. ``There ought to be some concentrated training efforts on the issues of abuse.''
Johnson said Crafton's family just wanted to know what went wrong.
``I think what they most wanted was some answers as to why their daughter was not protected by the system,'' Johnson said. ``They'll never feel like they've had all their questions and all their concerns answered.''
KEYWORDS: MURDER SHOOTING ASSAULT ARREST by CNB