According to a recent news article, the North Carolina Supreme Court suspended Forsyth District Judge Hartsfield for 2 1/2 months for fixing traffic tickets for friends, including members of her church congregation and her law school students.
The investigation of misconduct on the part of Judge Hartsfield began in 2008 after a large amount of citations were found in a briefcase that belonged to a former clerk. According to court records, Judge Hartsfield and the clerk, Jason Pollard worked together in handling the ticket fixing for friends and family.
In September 2011, the judicial standards commission made the recommendation for suspension of Judge Hartsfield after discovering she improperly entered judgments in at least 82 cases.
The suspension of Judge Hartsfield by the NC Supreme Court was only the second since 2007 when the punishment was first allowed.
