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UPDATE: Judge Bill Belk allowed his attorney to withdraw this morning and the hearing began. Live udpates
Mecklenburg Judge Bill Belk, scheduled to take the stand today in a hearing that could decide whether he stays on the bench, may have to do it without his lawyer.
Attorney Marshall Basinger, who represented Belk on the first day of his hearing before the N.C. Judicial Standards Commission, has asked to withdraw.
He says Belk not only hasn't paid him for all his work but hasn't paid the travel expenses that he and three clerks incurred traveling to Raleigh for the start of the hearing three weeks ago.
And in an e-mail to the commission, Basinger described the scene Monday afternoon when Belk arrived at his office just as Basinger prepared to step out to notarize his withdrawal request.
"In the few minutes I was gone," he wrote, "Judge Belk removed our 'box' that contains virtually all of our materials and files used in this hearing and did so without my knowledge nor the consent of anyone in my office."
Belk could not be reached. If he doesn't consent to Basinger's request, there will be a hearing by the Judicial Standards Commission on the lawyer's withdrawal this morning before the start of Belk's own hearing.
Basinger's attempt to withdraw is the latest bump in Belk's tumultuous nine months as a district judge.
Today's hearing, chaired by Appeals Court Judge John Martin, centers on charges that Belk violated the Judicial Standards Code for continuing to serve on the board of Sonic Automotive and for a confrontation with his chief judge, Lisa Bell.
When the hearing's first day adjourned after seven hours Sept. 10, Belk had been in the witness stand for 15 minutes. He's expected to continue testifying when the hearing resumes.
Basinger was hired after Belk filed his answer to the charges in April.
He helped Belk craft a response to a second set of charges filed in July. In those, the commission's counsel accused Belk of making "negative and unfounded" statements about N.C. Supreme Court Chief Justice Sarah Parker and soliciting money for his wife Georgia's campaign for Charlotte City Council.
Belk has denied wrongdoing. No hearing date has been set for those charges.
In requesting a withdrawal, Basinger said Belk "has refused to acknowledge" that he owes anything for that help. He went on to say neither he nor his clerks have the resources to travel to Raleigh for today's hearing.
He said they incurred about $1,000 worth of expenses for their three-day, two-night stay earlier this month. He did not put a dollar amount on other legal work.
"We were told we would be paid and we weren't," Basinger said Tuesday. "To me that was pretty egregious."
In his motion to withdraw, Basinger cited the missed payments as the main reason for his request. But not the only one.
Belk, he wrote, "incredibly listens to the advice of various lay persons he references as 'the girls,' rather than his counsel's advice."
Basinger said it was apparently a reference to a group of Belk's mostly female supporters who accompanied him.
After the Sept. 10 hearing, Belk told the Observer he thought Basinger was "a little too laid back" during the hearing.
Said Basinger: "I better not touch that one."
