Attorney for Beth Wood appears in court; auditor’s next court date is in March
An attorney representing North Carolina State Auditor Beth Wood on a hit-and-run misdemeanor charge appeared on her behalf in Wake County traffic court Thursday morning.
Roger W. Smith Jr. appeared before a magistrate and confirmed he was representing Wood, who did not show up to the courthouse.
After he told the magistrate that she had waived a reading of the charges against her, the magistrate said Wood’s next court date would be on March 23 at 2 p.m.
Smith, a partner at the law firm Tharrington and Smith, briefly spoke to a News & Observer reporter before entering the courtroom and said he may take some questions after the appearance, but he left the courthouse without speaking to reporters.
Wood has faced scrutiny since last week, when news of her hit-and-run charge connected to a Dec. 8 incident in downtown Raleigh was first reported.
Raleigh police charged Wood with a Class 2 misdemeanor for hit-and-run, leaving the scene and causing property damage, and an infraction for unsafe movement, after Wood crashed her state-issued vehicle into another car that was parked on the side of the road.
In a statement released Monday, Wood confirmed she was driving her car, a 2021 Toyota Camry, and crashed into the other vehicle after attending a holiday gathering in downtown Raleigh. She said she was “shaken” by the incident and left the scene of the crash when she couldn’t move her car.
Wood apologized in her statement to the owner of the car she hit, as well as her staff and the public, and said she regretted her decision to leave the scene without informing the police or the other car’s owner, calling it “a serious mistake.”
A video posted on Instagram the night of the crash appears to show a group of people escorting Wood into a building on the corner of South Salisbury and West Hargett streets right after it happened.
The building at 132 S. Salisbury St. includes the office of the Edmisten and Webb law firm. Rufus Edmisten, a former N.C. secretary of state and attorney general and a partner in the firm, was hosting a holiday party in the building the night of the crash, WRAL reported, citing a copy of an invitation to the party. The N&O attempted to contact Edmisten at his office but was told he was unavailable.
Asked if she anticipates additional charges in the case, Wake County District Attorney Lorrin Freeman said the investigation to date “has not led to the identification of others that may have been involved in the incident.”
“At this time, there is not sufficient evidence to charge anyone additional,” Freeman said.
Wood has resisted calls from some for her to resign, and has avoided answering questions from media outlets apart from issuing her statement earlier this week, which was the first and only time she has publicly addressed the incident since it came to light last week.
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This story was originally published January 26, 2023 at 8:41 AM with the headline "Attorney for Beth Wood appears in court; auditor’s next court date is in March."
