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7A-66 Removal affidavit submitted by Clarence Peters
IN THE GENERAL COURT OF JUSTICE State of North CarolinaSUPIOROR COURT DIVISION County of Dare
IN THE MATTER OF THE REMOVAL OF: JEFFREY CRUDEN, District attorney of the 1st prosecutorial district in North CarolinaAFFIDAVIT PURSUANT TO N.C. Gen. Stat.§ 7A-66
IN THE MATTER OF THE REMOVAL OF: JEFFREY CRUDEN, District attorney of the 1st prosecutorial district in North CarolinaAFFIDAVIT PURSUANT TO N.C. Gen. Stat.§ 7A-66
1. My name is Clarence Peters.
2. I live in Florida and I am over the age of 18 and competent to testify.
3. My address is XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX.
4. Jeffrey Cruden is currently the elected District Attorney for the 1st Prosecutorial District in North Carolina.
5. I am Melissa Nicholson’s Father.
6. I have read the flyer that was sent out in August of 2025 regarding district attorney Jeffrey Cruden’s handling of sexual assault cases. (Exhibit D)
7. This flyer references how Melissa Nicholson’s case was handled by DA Jeffrey Cruden.
8. This flyer refers to Melissa Nicholson as Survivor X.
9. The flyer included actual copies of emails Melissa Nicholson sent to Dare County, North Carolina asking to speak with the DA and provide critical evidence in her case.
10. I have read the statement that Jeffrey Cruden sent out to multiple people in response to the flyer that was sent out. (Exhibits F, G, & H)
11. One of the people who received this statement from DA Jeffrey Cruden was Teresa Pullin.
12. I have read the affidavit submitted by Teresa Pullin regarding this 7a-66 removal request for Jeffrey Cruden.
13. The statement DA Cruden wrote to Teresa Pullin included details of Melissa Nicholson’s case.
14. Teresa Pullin states in her affidavit that she knew DA Cruden’s statement was referring to Melissa Nicholson.
15. DA Cruden’s statement makes comments about Melissa Nicholson’s credibility as a reporting witness.
16. I have personal knowledge and can verify that statements made by DA Jeffrey Cruden about Melissa Nicholson in his emails were false.
17. DA Cruden refers to Melissa as not an actual victim.
18. His statement is hurtful, disrespectful and untrue.
19. One of the worst things that you can do a victim of sexual assault or abuse is deny that it happened.
20. I reported my own son to the police for sexually abusing my daughter, Melissa Nicholson, when she was a child.
21. There should be a police record of this on file.
22. We had to take Melissa to state mandated counseling as a result of this CPS complaint that was filed regarding her brother abusing her.
23. For DA Jeffrey Cruden to refer to her as not an actual victim and to say that her speaking out about her abuse harms “actual victims” is beyond unprofessional. It is absolutely inexcusable.
24. DA Cruden claims that Melissa did not disclose the sexual abuse by her husband, Christopher Nicholson until after their divorce and all attempts to regain custody failed, however this is not true and I can verify that.
25. Melissa disclosed to me that her husband was being sexually abusive. This was after the Dare County, North Carolina assault and prior to their separation in November of 2020.
26. After telling me this, I installed a keyed lock to her bedroom door to help keep her safe and keep her husband out.
27. Melissa was in a separate bedroom from her husband.
28. At the direction of her mental health providers, Melissa had been in a separate bedroom from her husband since the summer of 2018.
29. I assisted Melissa in moving to her separate bedroom in 2018.
30. After disclosing the abuse to me in 2020, Melissa was feeling unsafe being around her husband alone and asked that either myself or her mother be present with her when her husband was home whenever possible to assure her safety.
31. Christopher got angry and almost attacked me in front of Melissa and my wife in November of 2020.
32. It was after this incident that Melissa told me that that she had finally decided it was time to get away from her husband and his abuse.
33. I was there the night she went to the sheriff’s office to file the emergency protective order against Christopher in November of 2020. (Exhibit A)
34. She disclosed the sexual abuse by Christopher Nicholson in that emergency protective order she filed in Powhatan County, Virginia. (Exhibit A)
35. After getting to a safe home environment, she was able to report the sexual assault that occurred in North Carolina to Dare County in January of 2021. (Exhibit K)
36. I was present the day of Melissa and Chirstopher’s divorce hearing in June of 2022 and their final custody hearing was in November of 2023. (see Exhibit J)
37. Per DA Cruden’s statement, Melissa only made allegations about her husband’s abuse after this custody hearing in 2023. However, per the actual evidence and witnesses, Melissa spoke up about her husband’s abuse years earlier than that and prior to reporting the assault to Dare County Sheriff’s Office.
38. I believe that DA Jeffrey Cruden publicly distributed these false statements about Melissa in an attempt to discredit her and to promote his political career.
39. What DA Cruden did is a violation of the North Carolina Code of professional Ethics, a violation of the National Prosecution Standards, and a violation of Marsy’s Law where victims are to be treated with dignity and respect.
40. Per the ethical standards for a prosecutor, they are prohibited from making statements about a witness’s credibility.
41. DA Cruden not only made statements about a witness’s (Melissa’s) credibility, but he made false statements of fact about Melissa and distributed these statements publicly via government email.
42. I believe Jeffrey Cruden’s actions in this case mandate him to be removed from office via. N.C.G.S.§ 7A-66 for willful misconduct and conduct prejudicial to the administration of justice that brings the office into disrepute.
43. DA Cruden’s action in directing another government employee in the unethical behavior of publicly discrediting a witness qualifies as willful misconduct.
44. He knew that making statements about witness credibility is prohibited by his ethical and professional standards, yet he engaged the help of his staff in sending this statement out publicly via government email.
45. This also qualifies as conduct prejudicial to the administration of justice that brings the office into disrepute. By making these defamatory statements he puts himself and his office into disrepute by opening himself up to a defamation lawsuit.
46. Since felony sexual assault crimes have no statute of limitations in North Carolina, there is a chance that a DA with more integrity would actually prosecute this case in the future.
47. However, DA Cruden’s statements prejudice any potential jury members if North Carolina ever decides to prosecute Christopher Nicholson for sexually assaulting Melissa. This is why it goes against the N.C. Code of Professional Ethics for an attorney to discredit a witness.
48. The precedent set in previous removal proceedings shows that this case also qualifies as conduct prejudicial to the administration of justice that puts the office into disrepute as well as willful misconduct.
49. Prior cases of 7a-66 removal proceedings have removed DA’s in North Carolina for such things as making false statements about a sitting judge with DA Cline in 2012, making derogatory statements and using the “N’ word on a patron at a bar with DA Spivey in1995, and violating Marsy’s Law with respect to victim rights with DA Newman in 2021.
50. If a DA can be removed for one instance of making highly offensive and inappropriate comments while off duty at a bar because he is putting the office into disrepute, then a DA violating the ethical standards by making highly offensive, false statements about a victim of sexual assault from government email should also constitute the need for removal.
51. DA Cruden acted with a reckless disregard for the truth when he refused to fact check his statements before making them.
52. However, he had an ethical obligation to refrain from making any statements about a witness’s credibility in the first place.
53. He had a duty to treat victims with dignity and respect and he violated that duty by sending out these statements.
54. DA Jeffrey Cruden obtained a statement from Christopher Nicholson and chose to republish the words of a man accused of sexual assault without first verifying anything he said.
55. By choosing to quote the lies of a perpetrator as statements of fact, DA Cruden put the district attorney’s office and the Department of Justice into disrepute.
56. For these reasons, I feel like DA Cruden should be removed from office.
57. Furthermore, this proceeding is usually handled by the senior resident superior court judge, who in this case would be Judge Andy Womble.
58. However, Andy Womble was the district attorney of the 1st prosecutorial district and was in office from 2015 till he was elected as superior court judge in 2022.
59. During this time, Jeffrey Cruden was an assistant district attorney in the 1st prosecutorial district and worked for Andy Womble.
60. It is requested that Judge Womble humbly recuse himself from this proceeding to eliminate any real or perceived bias in his handling of this proceeding due to his close relationship with DA Cruden.
