State v. Hatfield

HUDSON, Judge.

A jury found defendant guilty of voluntary manslaughter for the fatal stabbing of Angel Poteat on 23 August 2002. From the judgment and commitment sentencing her to an active prison term of 103 to 133 months, defendant appeals.

Defendant first argues that the judge who presided at her trial, the Honorable Steve A. Balog, erred in declining to recuse himself in light of his prior service as the elected District Attorney for Alamance County. In her "Motion for Recusal of Assigned Judge[,]" defendant alleged she had been prosecuted for several misdemeanors and one felony in Alamance…