Criminal Justice Section Presents Annual Awards
The North Carolina Bar Association Criminal Justice Section presented the 12th Annual Peter S. Gilchrist III & Wade M. Smith Awards on Thursday, Jan. 23, at the Embassy Suites in Cary.
The recipients were Kimberly Overton Spahos of Raleigh, who received the Gilchrist Award, and John P. “Jack” O’Hale of Smithfield, who received the Smith Award.
The awards are named for their initial recipients, former Mecklenburg County District Attorney Peter Gilchrist and defense attorney Wade Smith of Raleigh.
George Doyle, section chair, presided over the awards dinner.
Spahos serves as chief resource prosecutor for the North Carolina Conference of District Attorneys, which she joined in 2003 as the state’s first Traffic Safety Resource Prosecutor. She previously served as an assistant district attorney in Halifax County.
A former member of the NCBA Board of Governors and North Carolina Bar Foundation Board of Directors, Spahos served as chair of the Criminal Justice Section in 2013-14. She is a graduate of the University of North Carolina and Regent University School of Law.
O’Hale operates John P. O’Hale, P.A., where he has practiced with his son, Frank, since 2016. The senior O’Hale has practiced law in North Carolina since 1975 and previously served on the Johnston County Board of Education and the UNC Law Alumni Association Board of Directors.
O’Hale served as chair of the Criminal Justice Section in 2003-04. He is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and UNC School of Law.
Previous recipients of these awards are:
Gilchrist Award Recipients
2018 Howard P. Neumann, Greensboro
2017 W. Clark Everett, Greenville
2016 Howard J. Cummings, Raleigh
2015 Barton Menser, Charlotte
2014 Sandra J. Hairston, Greensboro
2013 James J. Coman, Raleigh
2012 Calvin W. Colyer, Fayetteville
2011 C. Colon Willoughby Jr., Raleigh
2010 William D. Kenerly, Salisbury
2009 Edward W. Grannis Jr., Fayetteville
2008 Peter S. Gilchrist III, Charlotte
Smith Award Recipients
2018 Claire J. Rauscher, Charlotte
2017 Michael A. Grace, Winston-Salem
2016 Sean P. Devereux, Asheville
2015 Thomas C. Manning, Raleigh
2014 Mark W. Owens Jr., Greenville
2013 Fredrick G. Lind, Greensboro
2012 James E. Ferguson, Charlotte
2011 Joseph B. Cheshire V, Raleigh
2010 James P. Cooney III, Charlotte
2009 Locke T. Clifford, Greensboro
2008 Wade M. Smith, Raleigh
This article is part of the August 2020 issue of North Carolina Lawyer. Access a curated view of NC Lawyer or view the table of contents.