A state trooper fired after he admitted to showing a picture of a naked boy with a large penis to a drive thru bank teller got to make his case today.

Ronald G. Ezzell Jr. of Beulaville, a helicopter pilot with the State Highway Patrol, was fired Feb. 19 for an incident in Oct. 2008 when he sent a bank teller the photo while making a transaction.

The case was heard before the Office of Administrative Hearings today, and the court will make a ruling within 75 days.

Ezzell's defense is that he intended the photo as a joke, claiming it was a picture of him at his grandmother's house as a child, and that it should be weighed against 19 years of distinguished service with the highway patrol. His lawyers read off a list of honors Ezzell received, especially his work when the West Pharmaseutical plant exploded in 2006.

"He has admitted that it was one brief moment where he exercised poor judgment," said Woody Webb, the lawyer representing Ezzell.

The department said his conduct was unbecoming of an officer — especially one in uniform in a marked highway patrol car — and that previous warnings of inappropriate conduct justified the firing.

"I can't imagine anyone that thinks the actions of trooper Ezzell were acceptable at all," said Tamara Zmuda, the assistant attorney general who represented the department.

More after the jump.

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Judge Julian Mann has been reappointed as chief judge of the state's Office of Administrative Hearings.

It will be Mann's sixth consecutive four-year term, and four different N.C. chief justices have appointed him to the position over that time period. He was the second person appointed to the post after the office opened in 1986, and he has been there ever since.

"He has a reputation across North Carolina, as well as across the country, for his knowledge of administrative law," said Fred Morrison, a senior administrative law judge who has worked with Mann for decades.

"I think people from both sides of the political spectrum see how well-versed he is in such law and the value he is to this office," he added.

The office works to resolve conflicts arising from administrative law, such as when a citizen objects to an agency's ruling.

Gov. Mike Easley made two last-minute appointments Friday.

Before leaving office, the former governor appointed Shannon Joseph and Bill Pittman, both of Raleigh, as Special Superior Court judges.

Joseph has been an administrative law judge with the state Office of Administrative Hearings since 2007. Previously, she was a partner at the Smith Moore law firm in Raleigh.

She is married to Superior Court Judge Ripley Rand, the son of Senate Majority Leader Tony Rand, a longtime Easley ally.

Pittman has been in private practice since 2001, focusing on government relations, utility law and commercial litigation. Previously, he served as associate general counsel to Gov. Jim Hunt and as a member of the state Utilities Commission.

"These new judges bring dignity and wisdom to the bench," Easley said in a statement. "Their vast experience and knowledge of the law will be an asset to our court system."

Gov. Mike Easley’s office wasn’t happy to learn that Derry A. Schmidt had returned to work as an engineer for the state Department of Transportation.

DOT dismissed Schmidt after a racially charged confrontation in May 2007 with a school bus driver in the Cary Elementary School parking lot. He was convicted of misdemeanor assault and sentenced in January to 25 days of house arrest and three years’ probation, reports Bruce Siceloff.

Schmidt challenged his firing with the state Office of Administrative Hearings. He dropped the appeal after reaching a confidential settlement with DOT, and he returned to his old job — with a raise he would have received last summer — on June 30.

“The governor’s office is concerned about the decision to reinstate him, and we are looking into it,” Renee Hoffman, Easley’s press secretary, told Dome. She declined to elaborate.

Derry A. Schmidt has returned to work as an engineer for the state Department of Transportation, which dismissed him last year after he was charged with assaulting a Wake County school bus driver.

Schmidt, of Cary, was sentenced in January to 25 days of house arrest and three years’ probation after a jury convicted him of misdemeanor assault. He was arrested in May 2007 after a racially tinged confrontation in the Cary Elementary School parking lot.

The driver testified that Schmidt cursed at her, uttered a racial slur and bumped her with his car.

Schmidt’s attorney, John E. Campion of Raleigh, said Schmidt had challenged his firing with the state Office of Administrative Hearings, reports Bruce Siceloff. He dropped his appeal after reaching a settlement with DOT.

“The settlement terms are confidential, but he has returned to work in the position he held before he was dismissed,” Campion said.

A DOT spokesman confirmed that Schmidt was reinstated on June 30 as a transportation engineer in the transportation planning branch.