Welcome

Welcome! Welcome to my website, and thank you for visiting. I have learned that many people don’t know much about their judges or judicial candidates unless they work in the court system or have been involved in a lawsuit. This website will introduce me and give you an opportunity for comments, questions or the chance to support my election to the Superior Court by placing a Judge Bray sign in your yard.

It has been an honor to serve as district court judge in Greensboro and High Point for the past sixteen years. I have worked in criminal, traffic, juvenile, child support, civil and domestic violence courts in both cities and have given my best efforts to be the kind of judge you deserve. I believe in being prompt, putting in a full day every day, following the law, treating parties, court personnel and attorneys with respect, and approaching each case in a fair and impartial manner.

In its December 2005 Monitoring Report on Domestic Violence Courtrooms, Court Watch of North Carolina praised my judicial demeanor, promptness and efficiency. It commended me for my “willingness to issue temporary custody, child support and visitation orders when requested and justified” and said I was “willing to take the time to deal with details like guns, visitation and whether a plaintiff is dismissing the case due to the batterer’s threats.” The Court Watch Report was designed to improve how judges carry out their duties under the Domestic Violence Act and was funded by The Tannenbaum-Sternberger Foundation. See more about this report in the Domestic Violence section of this website.

I’m proud to be part of the efforts in our district over the last several years to decrease the backlog of civil and criminal cases. Between 1997 and 2002, we reduced the criminal (non-motor vehicle) cases 3 months or older from 25,200 to 15,991. During the same period of time, we increased the number of domestic civil cases disposed of from 3,663 to 4,136. And we reduced the number of general civil cases over 9 months old from 3,263 to 2,011.

We have worked with our IV-D child support collection unit, the clerk of court, the county attorney, the district attorney and our sheriff to increase child support collections in Guilford County. In 2001-2002, we collected $38.5 million for almost 25,000 children in Guilford County–this was more than any county in the state.

I served in the juvenile/child support court rotation during that period. We had four judges rotating in child support court with the idea that the non-custodial parent would keep appearing in front of the same judge to increase compliance. We increased our collection percentage 9 points between 1998 and 2003 and had a 67.44% collection rate as of June 2003. This was the 12th best in the state and top among the urban counties (Forsyth was 58.16%, Mecklenburg was 55.77%, Cumberland was 63.78%, Wake was 65.11%, Durham was 58.12%). These statistics are from the March 2004 North Carolina Journey to Excellence Statistics and Recommendations, prepared by the Department of Health and Human Services.

While I have enjoyed serving on the district court bench, it has long been my dream to move up a level to the superior court where criminal felony trials and civil disputes involving amounts greater than $10,000 are resolved. As a Guilford County prosecutor in the 1990s, I handled hundreds of cases in superior court and tried 50 cases in front of juries. I would like to return to that forum and its challenges.

Most trials in superior court are by jury; the presiding judge rules on matters of law. Superior Court judges are elected from a particular judicial district, but they hold court throughout the state, usually spending six months at a time in a particular district. My superior court district is called 18-E and includes much of northeast Greensboro and Guilford County (Gibsonville, McLeansville, Browns Summit). If you compare it to school districts, it matches up with Page, Eastern Guilford and Northeast Guilford High Schools. See a map and list of precincts in the Judicial District section of this website.

The 18-E judgeship was held by the Honorable Catherine C. Eagles for a number of years until she was appointed to the federal bench in 2011. Governor Bev Perdue appointed my district court colleague Joe Turner to fill the seat until November’s election, but Judge Turner chose not to move into the 18-E district and run for the seat. Three other candidates have filed for the position, but I am the only candidate with any judicial experience.

Check out the rest of my website. I believe you will agree I am the superior choice for this seat. Please share my website with your friends, co-workers and family members who are registered to vote in Guilford County. And, as always, thank you for your time and for your support.

Susan E. Bray