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Robert Adam Burns started grooming a girl when she was 10 and began sexually abusing her in the following years. She had also been victimized by Peter Michael Frank, the former New Hanover County Schools band teacher who was sentenced to decades in prison last year.
A North Carolina Superior Court judge rejected Sen. Michael Lee’s, R-New Hanover, request to have his Democrat opponent, Marcia Morgan, immediately take down allegedly false television ads against him. However, a lawsuit against Morgan and her political campaign committee will proceed to trial.
This coming Thursday, Superior Court Judge Phyllis Gorham will review the status of two civil lawsuits against New Hanover County Schools involving the child sexual abuse crimes of former district teachers Michael Earl Kelly and Peter Michael Frank.
New Hanover County Schools is suing its four insurance providers over roughly $31 million in coverage to deal with the civil fallout from the crimes of former teacher Michael Earl Kelly. The case could now get a Rule 2.1 designation, meaning a single judge will oversee the whole process — which could help expedite the case and pave the way for a decision in the Kelly civil case.
Superior Court Judge Phyllis Gorham still has yet to rule on whether the John Doe 1-14 civil case can proceed against the New Hanover County Board of Education, former teacher Michael Earl Kelly, and former administrators including Rick Holliday and Tim Markley. However, in late March the judge did rule on an ‘Order on Defendant Board’s Rule 35 Motion’ — requesting that Kelly's victims and alleged victims submit to an independent psychological exam.