A Bullying Head of a Local Fiefdom

In <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/08/us/as-2-go-free-joe-freeman-britt-a-d…; target="”_blank”">an article in the New York </a><i>Times</i> this
Monday</a>,
the Robeson County (NC) district attorney described his
predecessor's bullying ways, which are typical of those of an
individual who heads a local fiefdom:<blockquote>

“He is a bully, and that’s the way he ran this office. People were
afraid of him. Lawyers were afraid of him. They were intimidated by
his tactics."</blockquote>

The D.A.'s intimidation tactics led to the conviction of innocent
individuals, which is what the article is about. But it also led
to an unhealthy ethics environment in which numerous individuals gave in to
fear and concerns for their own welfare to be complicit in ethical
misconduct and the breaking of laws. For example, the long-time
public defender is quoted as saying that withholding information
from the defense was common.<br>
<br>
This misconduct is only now being dealt
with, after the D.A. has retired. The former D.A. and his allies continue to defend
their misconduct and to attack their critics. The former D.A. called the
current D.A. "a pussy," as if seeking justice were beneath a man's
dignity. An individual who gives in to another's intimidation loses
his dignity, and someone who seeks to do this to someone is not a
man, but a monster. It's time to stop defending the former head of a fiefdom, and to start
seeking justice by acknowledging that a public official who bullies
is acting wrongfully, and is not a model of masculinity or of
anything else.<br>
<br>
Robert Wechsler<br>
Director of Research-Retired, City Ethics<br>
<br>
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