Guilford County judge suspended 120 days after bond misconduct, courtroom disruption

Public trust in Guilford County’s courts took another hit when District Court Judge Angela C. Foster was suspended for 120 days without pay after the North Carolina Supreme Court said she crossed ethical lines in two separate episodes, one involving her son and another that disrupted more than 100 cases.

The March 22, 2024 order suspended Foster, who serves in Judicial District 18, after she stipulated to the facts and to the recommended discipline in the Judicial Standards Commission case. The high court decided the matter on the record, without briefs or oral argument, and no counsel appeared for either side.

The first misconduct inquiry centered on a March 3, 2022 call to the Wake County Magistrate’s Office. Court records say Foster used her judicial title, did not disclose that the defendant was her son, Alexander Pinnix, and then raised her voice while pushing for a lower bond. Pinnix was being held in the Wake County jail on a $1,000 secured bond for resisting a public officer and misdemeanor breaking or entering. The magistrate declined to change the bond to a written promise to appear.

That conduct matters because a judge’s authority is supposed to be used for the public, not for family members facing criminal charges. Changing a relative’s bond is a bright ethical line: it creates the appearance that courtroom power can be bent for personal reasons, exactly the kind of conduct the judicial conduct rules are meant to prevent.

The second statement of charges, filed Feb. 23, 2023, dealt with a Nov. 7, 2022 incident in which Foster demanded that an assistant district attorney and a presiding magistrate close an administrative courtroom for her use, even though an administrative order required it to stay open. The disruption led to more than 100 cases being continued, pushing delays onto defendants, attorneys, court staff, and witnesses who had already shown up in Wake County.

The Supreme Court found violations of Canons 1, 2A, 2B, 3A(3), 3A(5), 3B(1) and 3C of the North Carolina Code of Judicial Conduct and said her conduct was prejudicial to the administration of justice. The 120-day suspension means Foster was taken off the bench and off the payroll for that period, forcing her docket to be handled by other judges while her cases were moved along.

The discipline also revived attention to Foster’s earlier trouble. In 2019, the Supreme Court censured her after she had a mother handcuffed and taken to a holding cell during a custody dispute involving the woman’s twins. Under North Carolina’s system, the Judicial Standards Commission has investigated complaints against judges since 1973 and recommends discipline to the Supreme Court, but Foster’s record shows how often that system has had to step in when courtroom power and personal conduct collided.