High Court: Ballance Can't Retake Bench
The state Supreme Court on Friday upheld the disbarment and removal from the bench of former judge Garey Ballance.
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The move means Ballance is disqualified from becoming a judge again and is ineligible for state retirement benefits. He had been a district judge in Warren, Franklin, Vance and Granville counties.
Ballance served a federal prison sentence for failing to report $20,000 in income. The money came from an anti-drug foundation created by his father, former Congressman Frank Ballance, who pleaded guilty to diverting tax money from the foundation to his law firm and personal funds.
Garey Ballance last month asked the North Carolina State Bar to reinstate his law license. The Bar's disciplinary committee suspended his license for five years, but gave him credit for an interim suspension, meaning he can practice law again in 2010.
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