Shirley Fulton

Shirley L. Fulton (January 2, 1952 – February 8, 2023) was an American judge and prosecutor. Earlier in her career, she had served as the first black female prosecutor in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina.

Early life and education Born on January 2, 1952, Fulton was the second of five children of Jacob Fulton, a farm laborer in Kingstree, South Carolina. As a child, she helped pick cotton and tobacco before school every morning, along with her siblings. Dimery encouraged her to volunteer for voter registration drives, and took her along to political rallies. Fulton dropped out of college after three years, before completing a bachelor's degree at North Carolina A&T State University in 1977. She was selected by Governor James G. Martin after receiving the largest number of votes in an election conducted by the Mecklenburg County Bar. She became chief resident judge, the highest ranking judge in the Superior Court,

During her tenure as judge, Fulton led several high-profile initiatives, including what became known as "the Fulton Plan", an effort to reform handling of criminal cases system-wide to make them more racially equitable, and more efficient in the face of a significant backlog. She also campaigned for bonds to raise funds to build a new courthouse. Judge Fulton gave death sentences to three convicted murderers, a decision she later said forced her to reexamine her beliefs. She served as a board chair of the Charlotte Housing Authority, and was a co-organizer of the Queen City Congress, a coalition of downtown neighborhoods such as Washington Heights and Dilworth. During the 2012 Democratic National Convention held in Charlotte, North Carolina, Fulton hosted 400 delegates and guests from New Jersey and Maryland at Wadsworth House. The hearing was organized to "shame" state legislators who had voted to block expansion of government assistance to low-income households. She also served on the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools Task Force. In 2010, Fulton received the Order of the Long Leaf Pine in recognition of her service to North Carolina.

In 2018, Fulton was inducted as a Legal Legend of Color by the NCBA Minorities in the Profession Committee. Other accolades included the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Medallion, awarded by the Charlotte Community Relations Committee.

Personal life and death While studying at university, Fulton was a single mother raising a toddler son. The couple first moved to Wesley Heights when Fulton was elected judge, buying a duplex which they restored into a single-family home, which became a local landmark.

Fulton died in hospice on February 8, 2023, of complications from gallbladder cancer.