Pelfrey appointed Halifax DA

HALIFAX — Melissa Pelfrey will be sworn in as Halifax County district attorney Thursday after receiving an appointment from Gov. Beverly Perdue yesterday.

Judge Alma Hinton will swear Pelfrey in during an 11 a.m. ceremony in Courtroom 1 in Halifax. The public is invited and encouraged to attend, Pelfrey said this morning.

“I am very excited,” she said in a telephone interview. “I’m looking forward to it. It will be a lot of work but I think the staff we have in place and myself are up to the challenge.”

Pelfrey said one of her goals as DA is to have a more inclusive office, not only within the court system but also for the citizens of Halifax County. “I think people think their needs, wants and complaints fell on deaf ears when they walked into the DA’s office and I want to change that image.”

Cooperation within the various departments making up the county judicial system is important, Pelfrey said. “I’ve already started trying to work with different departments and law enforcement. I went to all the police chiefs and the sheriff and spoke with them to make sure I had their support before I took this appointment. I also went to Probation and Parole, the clerks office and the judges. I feel I have their support, the lawyers on the defense bar. I look forward to all of us working together to do the best possible job for Halifax County.”

Pelfrey, who plans to run for office when her term expires, began working at the Halifax DA’s office in 1997 for then district attorney Bob Caudle. “I went on to support and work with Bill Graham until I left the office temporarily in December of 2007.”

In 2007, she went into private practice and believes the experience on the defense bar, as well as her experience as a DA will help her. “With that amount of experience in the DA’s office, I stand unrivaled prosecuting cases in the District Attorney’s office,” she said. “Prior to coming to the DA’s office I had three years in private practice, four years as a criminal defense attorney until Mr. Graham asked me to come back in preparation for his retirement. That gives me a unique perspective that some longtime prosecutors in other districts don’t have.”

A Warren County native, she holds an undergraduate degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and received her law degree from Campbell University.

She attends church in her hometown of Warrenton and resides in Littleton, where she and her husband Stephen have lived for 10 years. They have two children, Hank and Emma.

Pelfrey said she will have an open door policy. “Anyone who has any business or wants to speak with me just has to pick up the phone or come by the office.”