Two criminal defense attorneys say they have filed complaints with the North Carolina State Bar against a Wake County prosecutor who has been accused in three cases of withholding potentially exonerating evidence from criminal defendants. In one case, a judge declared a mistrial.
Molly O’Neil and Jackie Willingham told The Assembly last week that they filed the complaints against Wake County Assistant District Attorney Robert Stewart.
“I felt like it was my duty as a member of the Bar to report his conduct because he clearly has no regard to the rules that apply to us and the rules that apply to him as a prosecutor,” O’Neil said.
The State Bar would not confirm the complaints. Philip Kulczewski, a spokesman for the Bar, said grievance and disciplinary investigations are confidential by state law and the Bar’s administrative rules. They are only made public if the investigations result in public written discipline or the filing of a formal complaint alleging misconduct, he said.
“As a result, we cannot indicate whether a grievance has been filed or comment on any pending investigation,” he said in a statement.
Willingham and O’Neil said they have both made Wake County District Attorney Lorrin Freeman aware they filed complaints against Stewart. Freeman declined to comment. She would only confirm that Stewart is still employed. Stewart did not immediately respond to a request for comment. He was hired as an assistant district attorney in November 2021 and currently has an annual salary of $89,952, according to records The Assembly obtained through a public-records request.
In a previous statement, Freeman said that Stewart had not faced any disciplinary action. She noted that Stewart was a relatively young prosecutor and she had ordered that he undergo additional training.
Two Wake County judges have ruled that Stewart improperly withheld favorable evidence. In April, Wake County Superior Court Judge Paul Ridgeway declared a mistrial. Willingham represented the defendant, Sharik Green, a Raleigh man who had been facing numerous drug trafficking and drug possession charges, including trafficking in heroin and fentanyl.
Ridgeway declared a mistrial after Stewart failed to turn over incriminating evidence about a confidential informant until after Green’s trial started on March 17. The confidential informant was a critical witness for the prosecution, and Ridgeway concluded that Willingham could have used that evidence to impeach the informant’s credibility as a witness. However, Ridgeway didn’t find any evidence of misconduct on Stewart’s part or that he intentionally tried to cause a mistrial.
In 2024, Superior Court Judge A. Graham Shirley sanctioned Stewart for discovery violations in a case involving Alden Rasmussen, who was facing drug trafficking charges. His attorney, William Finn Jr., filed a motion saying Stewart had repeatedly failed to turn over evidence favorable to his client, such as his codefendants’ statements to authorities, and implied he would take away a plea deal if Finn persisted in his discovery requests. Shirley’s sanction dismissed a habitual felon charge and prohibited Stewart from pursuing such a charge again.
Earlier this year, O’Neil filed a motion to dismiss on behalf of her client, Ossiwald Moore, alleging that Stewart had failed to turn over favorable evidence, including cell phone messages and statements Moore’s codefendant made to law enforcement and Stewart. O’Neil alleged that Stewart revoked a plea deal without providing the requested evidence. After a judge ordered Stewart to turn over an unredacted copy of the codefendants’ statements, Stewart provided a “less redacted” copy instead.
A judge has not ruled on the motion. O’Neil said Stewart has taken the case off the criminal calendar, meaning nothing has happened with the case in nearly nine months.
Freeman has said that a number of factors led to issues in the Rasmussen and Green cases, including that law-enforcement officers didn’t always turn over evidence to prosecutors. Last year, she said she introduced a new policy setting tighter deadlines.
She also said she has assigned a veteran prosecutor to supervise the drug unit, which has had younger prosecutors since the pandemic. Legal assistants in the unit are also no longer having to process petitions to return firearms in addition to helping handle discovery obligations.
O’Neil said she had no choice but to file the complaint.
“We’re obligated to report misconduct,” she said.