Buckhout pleaded guilty to reckless driving after initial DUI charge reduced

North Carolina 1st Congressional District candidate Laurie Buckhout pleaded guilty to reckless driving in Georgia nearly 4½ years ago after initially being charged with driving under the influence, according to online court records.

Buckhout, who is seeking the Republican nomination in the GOP primary on March 5, was initially charged with DUI on Aug. 8, 2017, in Richmond County, Georgia, according to records on the website of the Richmond County Clerk of Superior, State and Juvenile Court. Two years later, on Oct. 8, 2019, Buckhout entered a plea of guilty to reckless driving and was ordered to pay a $500 fine.

According to the record, Buckhout was also charged with driving with an unlawful alcohol concentration and was cited for a vehicle tag light violation. Both of those charges were disposed of Sept. 13, 2019, by a method known as “nolle prosequi,” which is a legal term derived from Latin that basically means the court was unwilling to prosecute.

Asked about the charges, a spokesman for Buckhout’s campaign said the candidate “made a mistake which she deeply regrets.”

“Ms. Buckhout made a mistake, which she deeply regrets and she voluntarily chose to not argue against the misdemeanor charge of reckless driving,” said Jonathan Felt, senior adviser for Buckhout for Congress. “Ms. Buckhout has the utmost respect for law enforcement officers and greatly appreciates the professionalism demonstrated by the officers she dealt with that evening in 2017.”

According to Felt, the reckless driving conviction was a first offense for Buckhout, and under Georgia’s first offender act she can apply to have it removed from her record. Buckhout’s petition to remove the arrest from her record was filed on Jan. 5.

“Georgia law allows for folks to file a first offender petition for minor traffic violations if there are no other issues,” Felt said. “The first offender petition was filed in January of this year.”

An official with the Richmond County Clerk’s office said Friday that the county experienced a backlog of pending court cases in 2017 and several subsequent years.

Buckhout is seeking the GOP nomination to replace U.S. Rep. Don Davis, a Democrat who was first elected to the 1st Congressional District in 2022. The district includes 21 northeastern North Carolina counties, including all surrounding area counties.

Buckhout will face Rocky Mount resident Sandy Smith in the Republican primary on March 5 to determine who will ultimately challenge Davis in November’s general election.

Buckhout, a retired U.S. Army colonel, served 26 years with the Army’s Signal Corps branch, which is responsible for managing and maintaining the service’s means of electronic communications and information systems. Her career includes a tour in Iraq, where she commanded an 800-person combat battalion.

After retiring from the Army in 2010, Buckhout formed Corvus Consulting, a company that specialized in electronic warfare and cyberspace operations. She later sold the company and she and her husband and two sons moved from Virginia to Edenton in 2019.

Richmond County, Georgia, is home to Augusta, Georgia, and to Fort Eisenhower, formerly known as Fort Gordon and home to the Army’s Cyber Center of Excellence.