NC’s chief justice won’t say why he removed Charlotte judge from leadership spot
North Carolina Chief Justice Paul Newby won’t explain why he replaced Mecklenburg County’s top district court judge.
“There won’t be a comment on this from the Judicial Branch,” said Graham Wilson, spokesperson for the North Carolina Administrative Office of the Courts, in a Wednesday email to The Charlotte Observer.
The Observer requested an interview with Newby about how he reached his decision to designate District Court Judge Roy Wiggins as chief, removing Judge Elizabeth Trosch from the position she held for four years. Wiggins started the job May 1. Other news outlets previously reported the switch.
North Carolina judges are elected, and Trosch remains on the bench though she has lost the leadership position. She’s transitioning to juvenile court in June, she said.
Trosch had received no explanation, she said, except that Newby wanted to go in a “different direction.”
Both Trosch and Wiggins, the new chief district court judge, are Democrats. Newby is a Republican.
Trosch led during pandemic, eCourts
Trosch was appointed by then-Chief Justice Cheri Beasley to serve as chief district court judge in February 2020.
“Just to contrast the process, every time that a chief has been appointed — at least since I have been a lawyer in Mecklenburg — it has been a process largely informed by and even led by the sitting judges in that district,” Trosch said.
Trosch led district court during the COVID-19 pandemic and as the state shifted last year to eCourts, a new online court record system to replace paper.
A letter signed by other local judges after the news came out commended her for her “collaborative style,” especially during those moments.
“She always involves her colleagues, other court partners and community members in her decision-making process,” the letter said. “This approach has been critical to Mecklenburg County launching e-Courts, a paperless filing system that presented a challenge every bit as daunting as the COVID pandemic.”
They credited her for reworking some court processes.
“People generally just need two things from us, from the court,” Trosch said of her philosophy in the role. “They need to feel that they were heard, and that the process treated them fairly. If they get those two things, they can generally tolerate the outcome.”
Newby has replaced other judges in leadership positions
For this story, the Observer asked the NCAOC for a list of other times Newby has replaced one judge with another in a leadership position.
State court officials said they don’t have any record of that.
Earlier this year, Newby removed Judge Donna Stroud from her position as the chief judge on the North Carolina Court of Appeals and put Judge Chris Dillon in the role. Newby offered no explanation when the Raleigh News & Observer reported that change.
A former Court of Appeals judge called it an “unprecedented” move.
