Photo credit, Profile picture Facebook, Kilby for Sheriff

On this page we will follow the events between Clifton (Cliff) Kilby’s 2018 run for Forsyth County Sheriff and the actions he took against Mr. Hewett to silence his opposition to Mr. Kilby’s run for Political Office. We first would like state that all information listed on this page is public information obtained from news media, government websites, court documents, Kilby’s Candidate website and Facebook Page, court hearings and comments made by Clifton Kilby. All comments are protected free speech under North Carolina and the US Constitution. Freedom of Speech, Protest, or Assembly U.S. Constitution – 1st Amendment • Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. North Carolina State Constitution, Article I, Declaration Of Rights • Sec. 13.  Religious liberty. All persons have a natural and inalienable right to worship Almighty God according to the dictates of their own consciences, and no human authority shall, in any case whatever, control or interfere with the rights of conscience. • Sec. 14.  Freedom of speech and press. Freedom of speech and of the press are two of the great bulwarks of liberty and therefore shall never be restrained, but every person shall be held responsible for their abuse. North Carolina § 14-196.3. Cyberstalking. • (e) This section does not apply to any peaceable, nonviolent, or nonthreatening activity intended to express political views or to provide lawful information to others. This section shall not be construed to impair any constitutionally protected activity, including speech, protest, or assembly.

Political Background of Cliff Kilby

Mr. Kilby is a retired Forsyth County Sheriff Deputy. In 2014 he ran on the Republican ticket against the incumbent Sheriff Schatzman and he lost terribly. It was so bad he didn’t even make it out of the single digits. Schatzman went on to be elected Sheriff running unopposed, no one on the Democratic ticket ran against him. Kilby being a lifelong Republican switched parties at least on paper to Democrat. Two other Democrats also were in the running for Sheriff, Tim Wooten a former Forsyth Co. Sheriff Deputy as well and Bobby Kimbrough a former Federal Agent with ATF. So Kilby had his work cut out for him to win the primary, Prior to the official filing for candidacy Kilby was already gearing up in 2017 for his run in 2018. John Cox his webmaster on May 17, 2017 posted a PSA on his Facebook page about Kilby’s run for Sheriff, “Cliff Kilby Jr. will be running for FORSYTH COUNTY SHERIFF in 2018.” During the course of the next several months they had several fund raisers.

Along comes Mr. Hewett

Mr. Hewett lives in King, NC where part of the city falls within the borders of Forsyth County. So whomever won the Sheriff’s race was the Sheriff for that part of the City of King. Mr. Hewett’s personal dealings and knowledge of Mr. Kilby through their interactions with American Legion Post 290 put him in a position where he felt the public needed to be informed about Mr. Kilby’s - Honesty, Truthfulness and Trustworthiness which reflected upon his - Character - Integrity - Morality. Mr. Hewett has had extensive dealings with Mr. Kilby through his interactions with American Legion Post 290 and Mr. Hewett’s run for Political Office in King, N.C. On January 10th 2018 the Facebook page ‘Veterans Against: Clifton Kilby for Sheriff’ went live. Immediately it was a big hit on the Forsyth County Democratic Party Facebook page as well as with John Cox, Kilby’s Webmaster for KilbyForSheriff.com political page. The inaugural posting January 10, 2018: This page is made to expose Clifton Kilby as an unlikely Candidate for Forsyth Co. Sheriff. We will post him lying at Stokes Co. Board of Elections and lying about Veteran Steven Hewett to the North Carolina American Legion. This is not the type of individual Forsyth Co. needs as a Sheriff. This puts into question his ability to be truthful in the courts and about his ability to run the Sheriff's Dept. in an ethical manner! This posting set off a chain of events that pitted Political Candidate Clifton Kilby against Citizen Steven Hewett.

January 10, 2017 Posting to Forsyth County Democratic FaceBook Page

On January 10th Mr. Hewett was interested in finding out where and when there would be any debates held for the Sheriff Candidates and posted the question on the Forsyth County Democratic FB Page. It garnered a slew of responses from interested citizens including Candidate Tim Wooten and Cindy Fraser manager for Candidate Bobby Kimbrough. Mr. Hewett also posted Kilby’s voting record and comments that he made on his campaign page showing that he was a life long Republican masquerading as a Democrat. Quoting from Kilby’s own Campaign Page, Mr. Hewett pointed out that he was not really a Democrat, Kilby, “I will be running as a Democrat. My beliefs would be the same beliefs if I was registered in another party, …” Merely, pointing out Kilby’s hypocrisy of being a Democrat, asking about candidates debates as well as the initial posting of the Facebook Page - Veterans Against: Kilby for Sheriff sent them into a panic. The actions that Kilby took over the next few days are appalling to say the least. Not only was this a grievous violation of Mr. Hewett’s constitutional right of freedom of speech, but a slap in the face to our democratic process of the people to freely and without intimidation express our political beliefs and knowledge about candidates running for office. To inhibit a citizens ability to express political discord and opposition about a candidate by using the courts to silence that individual’s political speech is a violation of US and North Carolina Constitution. Being a candidate who was running for the highest and most powerful law enforcement office in the county is he not suppose to protect the right of every citizen’s freedom of speech? On January 11th John Cox who is Kilby’s webmaster and FB administrator sent him an email that shows just how concerned they are about Mr. Hewett’s FaceBook page Veteran’s Against: Kilby for Sheriff. In fact, so concerned was Cox that he stated, “We need to be prepared as this may get ugly unless we can get a cease and desist order on Hewett or something.” Why is this email important, it shows clearly both Cox’s and Kilby’s intent to silence Mr. Hewett. Why would Cox and Kilby need a “cease and desist order or something” on Mr. Hewett? That’s simple Mr. Hewett had damaging documents, audio and video that would show Mr. Kilby being untruthful which in turn would reflect upon his character, integrity and honesty as a candidate for Sheriff. As we can see Mr. Kilby set out the very next day to obtain just that by taking out a fabricated criminal charge for Cyberstalking by “electric communication “threatening to inflict bodily harm on Clifton Kilby.” Then just a few days later obtaining a “cease and desist” restraining order, 50C No-Contact Order (Temporary). Both were the goals set out by Mr. Cox in his email to Mr. Kilby to silence Mr. Hewett about Kilby’s campaign.

January 12, 2018 Kilby takes out a Criminal Summons for Cyberstalking

Kilby’s has stated that just prior to seeing the Magistrate he consulted with an “unknown” attorney and went straight to the Magistrates Office to take out a criminal summons for cyberstalking. Kilby also stated that he was going to take out the 50C No Contact Order the same day but missed the deadline to have it heard. As we can see the Criminal Summons Cyberstalking is for “Threatening to Inflict Bodily Harm” with an offense date falling somewhere between 07/01-2017 - 01/12/2018. There is no specific date as to when the threat was actually made. There are several bullet points in his affidavit he filled out which are relevant to the reason the Magistrate Glascoff issued the Criminal Summons for Cyberstalking - “Threatening to Inflict Bodily Harm.” • Hewett has threatened others, • Has been arrested before, • Posted on the Democrat Facebook Page asking where Meeting will be that I will attend, • He also made Posts that he FIRED his 10/22 rifle which is made to harass and intimate [sic] me, my family and close personal associates, • Offered a reward for information. On the surface these alone would imply that Mr. Hewett: • Had made threats (unknown types) against other people, • Had been arrested, • Was asking where Kilby would be attending a meeting, • The most egregious of the accusations that Mr. Hewett had made FB posts that he fired his 10/22 to harass and intimate [sic] Kilby, his family and associates. • Mr. Hewett had offered a reward for information which we can only assume was about Kilby in some way. What Kilby stated in his written affidavit was meant to show the Magistrate that Mr. Hewett was stalking a political candidate to do some type of harm to him. In filling out the affidavit in the manner he did it was stated that Mr. Hewett “posts that he fired his 10/22 rifle to harass and intimate [sic] me, my family and close personal associates.” This will come into play later in the actual court hearing where Kilby will claim the Magistrate was wrong and this is not what he wanted the summons to be about. The North Carolina Crimes (A Guidebook on the Elements of Crime, Seventh Edition, 2012, by Jessica Smith) used by all DA’s, ADA’s, Judges and Magistrates defines the elements in order for this charge. Statute See G.S. 14-196.3(b)(1), reproduced above. Elements: A person guilty of this offense (1) uses in (a)electronic mail or (b)electronic communication (2) words or language (3) (a)threatening to inflict bodily harm to any person, (b)threatening physical injury to the property of another, or (c)for the purpose of extorting money or other things of value from any person. Was the Magistrate correct in charging Mr. Hewett based upon Kilby’s affidavit? Let’s compare the elements to the affidavit. 1) Element 1: Uses Electronic Communication Affidavit: Posted on Democrat Facebook Page Made Posts that he FIRED his 10/22 Element Satisfied 2) Element 2: Used words or language Affidavit: Used words or language Element Satisfied 3) Element 3: Threatening to inflict bodily harm to any person, Affidavit: Made FaceBook (FB) posts that he fired his 10/22 to harass and intimate [sic] me, his family and associates. (Kilby has implied the Mr. Hewett had fired his 10/22 in a manner that threatened him and posted that threat on FB. Element Satisfied Based on Kilby’s sworn affidavit and satisfying of the elements the Magistrate had no other choice than to issue this type summons. Kilby later recanted this affidavit and claimed the Magistrate was wrong in issuing it, that it was about emails not a threat with a 10/22 rifle. Yet nowhere in any affidavit does Kilby state one word about “email” communications. Now let us look at the elements of the affidavit and whether or not they are truthful. • Hewett has threatened others - Kilby has zero evidence of this and never submitted such in court. • Has been arrested before - Mr. Hewett has never been arrested nor convicted of any crime. • Posted on the Democrat Facebook Page asking where Meeting will be that I will attend - Mr. Hewett posted on the Forsyth County Democratic Party Public Group page asking “Are there any debates or get to know meetings scheduled for the Sheriff Candidates?” Nowhere did Mr. Hewett ask specifically about Kilby! Mr. Hewett wanted to get to know the other candidates as well as campaign against Kilby. • He also made Posts that he FIRED his 10/22 rifle which is made to harass and intimate [sic] me, my family and close personal associates - Under subpoena Kilby could not produce any such posting nor presented any posting in court! • Offered a reward for information - During 2017 Hewett’s run for political office in Stokes Co. Mr. Kilby made claims he could not substantiate which were on video. Mr. Hewett offered a reward for anyone that could prove Mr. Kilby’s statement was correct. This had nothing to do with offering a reward for information on Kilby’s the candidate . In conclusion, Kilby fabricated and exaggerated information to obtain a criminal charge against Mr. Hewett to the point he committed perjury in his affidavit knowing such facts stated were false, a criminal offense.

January 16, 2018 Kilby takes out 50C No Contact Order

to silence Mr. Hewett and stop him from coming to political meetings!

Kilby made a statement that he wanted to take out the 50C No Contact order the same day that he took out the Criminal Summons for Cyberstalking. This shows the urgency at which they were trying to silence Mr. Hewett in order to stop him from making anymore posts on Facebook as well as attend any political meetings in Forsyth County. His 50C request reflects his goal in Block 9. (List Other Places Where You Want Defendant Ordered Not To Be) and he wrote in “Political Meetings In Forsyth County.” This was not so much about staying away from Kilby even though he indicated that in Block 10 - “Defendant to stay at least 300 yards from the plaintiff and family” that alone would have been sufficient. But Kilby showed that it was about keeping Mr. Hewett away from “all political” meetings whether Kilby was there or not. His excuse was he didn’t know which ones that he or his family would attend and by having him barred from all political meetings kept Mr. Hewett from exercising his freedom of speech, handing out fliers or making comments about Kilby as a candidate for Sheriff. So now let’s analyze his 50C affidavit as well. • After Novermber 8, 2016 Steven Hewett started putting out false information on the internet knowing that the information was false, • He Posted that all legionnaires lied about him and were deplorable Republicans, • And He Disclosed That He Had a 10/22 Rifle • …talking about American Legion Post 290… • Now He Knows I Am Running for Sheriff in Forsyth County. • Has Made a Website with False Information • Post on Democratic Facebook. • All These and More Hewett Did to torment and terroize [sic] me, my family and close personal associates. • Block 9. (List Other Places Where You Want Defendant Not To Be) Political Meetings in Forsyth County Where’s the evidence? • To this date Kilby has not once stated what was false nor refuted any information that has been posted online, • You can review the pages on this website and see where Post 290 members lied about Mr. Hewett, • Had disclosed to Kilby he had a 10/22 rifle, still waiting for that screenshot/evidence! • Has nothing to do with cyberstalking Kilby, he’s just throwing stuff out there to in an attempt to say his associates where harassed. For agruments sake if they felt harassed it’s up to them to presue civil action not for Kilby to do it for them! • Knew he was running for Sheriff and was stalking him online. You’re running for political office people have the right to watch your postings and comment about who you are as well as their personal knowledge of you! That’s not stalking! • Made a Website with False Information about him. Again, has never once refuted nor proven what was false. • Post on Democratic Facebook. Many people posed on the Democratic Facebook page commenting about Kilby! It’s a political page, this is where you discuss candidates! • Did all this to torment and terroize [sic] him, his family and close personal associates. Kilby was tormented and terrorized by Mr. Hewett’s comments! Good thing he’s not Sheriff or he’d have a mental break down of all the comments the public would be making about him! During a 50C hearing a Judge will not only review the request but ask questions and accept any additional information submitted. Findings: Block 2 • Defendant has continuously posted, followed and sent out false legal documents. (Wording verified as per email request) • Facebook page post sent Jan 10, 2018, Internet post last night. Block 4 • continued harassment/stalking in person and on internet. Conclusions: Block 1. The defendant committed acts of unlawful conduct against the plaintiff. In reviewing Judge Hartsfields findings Block 2 • There were no documents presented at this hearing by Kilby, if there were they would be part of file. Kilby has yet to produce any “false” legal documents either during the trial or since showing any documents that Mr. Hewett has posted as being false. As a political candidate the public has the right to follow their online postings. All legal documents Mr. Hewett has posted on the internet are from government websites or actual District Court or Federal Court hearings. • Mr. Hewett has the right to post comments and documents on his Facebook page or any Political Facebook page about a political candidate. • Again, same reason, Mr. Hewett has the right to post on his political or even personal Facebook Page about a political candidate. Block 4 • Not once has Mr. Hewett harassed/stalked Kilby in person. Kilby has not once stated a date and time Mr. Hewett has in person approached or contacted him. • Again, internet postings about a political candidate is not harassment/stalking, but free speech! Conclusion: Block 1 • Is not a conclusion of guilt since this is not trial but a hearing to show cause by the plaintiff for a temporary no-contact order. Kilby fabricated and/or exaggerated information to obtain a 50C against Mr. Hewett to the point he committed perjury in his affidavit.

January 16/26, 2018 Subpoena for Discovery

Mr. Hewett on these two dates had issued subpoenas for discovery in both the criminal and civil actions that Mr. Kilby took against him. It should be noted that in North Carolina discovery is not required to be answered by either party in District Court. In reality you have to wait until the day of and during the trial to see what evidence is being used against you. But discovery is allowed in Civil Court where a 50C procedure is heard. However, in Kilby’s case he answered both subpoenas through his personal attorney Mark Jones. The information is too lengthy to post here at this time, however, there was no screen shot or facebook posting of Mr. Hewett shooting a 10/22 rifle as Kilby claims in his affidavit. The very element that was the basis for the criminal charge and the 50C. The overwhelming information submitted were screen shots made by Kilby’s webmaster John Cox of Mr. Hewett’s facebook pages. Kilby had instructed in an email to Cox on Jan. 11th 2018, Kilby asked Cox to make copies and in a later email dated Jan.23rd he stated, “I have looked at all of Hewett’s FB pages all the way back to the first of January, 2017 and specifically the January 19, 2017 date and have been unable to find where he refers to shooting his gun.” This search goes back a full year from the date of Kilby’s charge and 50C. Certainly if there was such a post would not Kilby or Cox screen shot that as evidence immediately? Especially, Kilby being a former Sheriff’s Deputy would know this is evidence and needs to be secured for future hearings! When we look at the definition of cyberstalking Mr. Cox by his own admission and by all accounts was stalking Mr. Hewett. When Kilby answered the subpoenas just about all the internet information produced was by Mr. Cox. He admits that he went through all Mr. Hewett’s FB pages all the way back to January 2017. Cox apparently was looking for any postings that they could associate Mr. Hewett threatening Kilby with a 10/22 rifle so they could use against Mr. Hewett to bring a charge against him or to use it in court. During the trial Cox admitted he was asked by Kilby to go online view and make copies of Mr. Hewett’s personal and political activities. We assume in order to use whatever he found as a basis for his criminal and civil actions and as an ulterior-motive, to silence Mr. Hewett’s internet and personal campaign against him.

February 9, 2018 Initial Court Hearing

On February 9th Mr. Hewett went to court prepared to defend himself against the Criminal Summons and the 50C. However, Kilby’s attorney had other plans. Kilby’s attorney Mark Jones of Bell, Davis & Pitt got himself delegated as “Private Prosecution” by Forsyth Co. District Attorney Jim O’Neill. Why would the DA’s Office need to appoint private prosecution? They had ADA Morgan Reece designated as the prosecuting attorney for the county in District Court that day. For one we speculate the DA’s office just as Jones saw that Kilby had zero evidence of any crime nor justification for a 50C to be issued. We feel that the DA’s Office was not going to prosecute but dismiss all actions Kilby brought against Mr. Hewett. There certainly apperars to be back door attorney dealings the DA’s Office does with attorneys and used a clause in the statutes that allows the DA to appoint private prosecution, Jones was appointed. This certainly seems to go against the fact that DA’s are suppose to also protect individuals who are innocent from those who bring frivolous or unwarranted actions against others. To give a background on Mark Jones of Bell, Davis & Pitt we have to go back to the City of King. Bell, Davis & Pitt have been the City’s law firm since the beginning of its incorporation, some thirty odd years ago. They also represented the City in the federal lawsuit filed by Mr. Hewett over city sponsored religious symbols and ceremonies at the Veterans Memorial (you can read the background page here for more info) which Mr. Hewett won in an out of court settlement. Mr. Jones also represented Legion Post 290 member Ronald Shouse in Stokes County for a 50C Mr. Hewett had brought against him. The City of King also did not renew their contract with Bell, Davis & Pitt in a sense firing them after the City’s loss in the lawsuit. It certainly appears that Bell, Davis & Pitt and Mark Jones had some type of vendetta against Mr. Hewett and this gave them an opportunity to carry that out. Of course, this is just speculation and they are more than welcome to give their reasons to us in pursuing the private prosecution against Mr. Hewett. Mr. Jones had the charges changed to a different element of the Cyberstalking Law 14-196.3, changing the “Threatening to Inflict Bodily Harm” to “Electronically Mail or Electronically Communicate repeatedly, whether or not conversation ensures, for the purpose of abusing, annoying, threatening, terrifying, harassing, or embarrassing Clifton Kilby.” We would like to again point out that in neither affidavits were email(s) mentioned. Only Facebook postings. We would also like to remind you of the last element in the Cyberstalking Law. North Carolina § 14-196.3. Cyberstalking. • (e) This section does not apply to any peaceable, nonviolent, or nonthreatening activity intended to express political views or to provide lawful information to others. This section shall not be construed to impair any constitutionally protected activity, including speech, protest, or assembly. After this hearing Mr. Hewett went to the expense of hiring legal council at a cost of $17,000.00 to represent him since this now became a more of an out to get Mr. Hewett at all costs. Kilby hires an attorney to represent him and then gets the same attorney to be appointed as a private prosecutor. During the next several months there were a few more trial dates with motions submitted. A special outside Judge had to be brought in to ensure that there was no conflict of interest between the Judge and Kilby since he was a former Forsyth Co. Sheriff’s Deputy and a Candidate for political office. Many Judges had already recuse themselves due to these conflicts. A trial date with an outside Judge was made for June 7, 2018. During this interim time several 50C temporary orders were issued and expired, they are only good for 10 days unless reissued under motion. Kilby on several occasions tried to claim he had a active 50C order, however he failed to read the fine print, “case is continued in effect for ten (10) days from the date of this Order.” Once the tenth day expires the order is no longer valid and without a renewal Mr. Hewett was then free to attend meetings and continue with Facebook postings against Mr. Kilby. What Kilby still had was a 50C hearing to determine if a limited temporary or permanent order was necessary to be issued.

June 7, 2018 Court Hearing NOT GUILTY - 50C DISMISSED

Prior to the hearing their was a mediation ordered by the Judge. What is said in mediation meetings could not be used in court that day, however, we can talk about it here. Kilby wanted everything taken down off the internet, all comments on Facebook and all comments about him on this website removed and he would then drop the criminal charge and the 50C and no future comments could be made about him by Mr. Hewett. This was all about Kilby not wanting the public to know the kind of person he is, prior to and during the election needless to say Mr. Hewett declined the offer. Just a side note Kilby lost in the 2018 Democratic Primary to Bobby Kimbrough the candidate Hewett was backing. Kilby had zero chance of even winning, just like in his 2014 run he never got out of the single digits. We will just make this short and state that Kilby was unable to prove any of the claims he stated in his Criminal Charges or the 50C No- Contact Order. During the trial Kilby tried to blame the Magistrate that he never wanted the criminal summons to be about “threatening to inflict bodily harm” it was supposed to be about emails. However, his affidavits points to just that, referenced Facebook Posting with the threat of the 10/22 rifle he claims to have made to him and his family. Mr. Hewett was found, NOT GUILTY of Cyberstalking and the 50C NO-CONTACT ORDER - DISMISSED • CONCLUSIONS: Block 2. The plaintiff has failed to prove grounds for issuance of a no-contact order. • ORDER: Block 9. The order was denied and the case is dismissed. In conclusion, as stated in the January 11th email these charges were really about keeping Mr. Hewett silent during the Election Process. To stop him from attending, speaking, asking questions at political forums as well as posting lawful information about Kilby as a Candidate for Political Office. Mr. Kilby abused the law for his own personal gain to silence Mr. Hewett’s opposition to his run for Sheriff of Forysth County. Just think what Kilby would have done to others if he had succeeded in becoming Sheriff.

December 28, 2018 Civil Lawsuit Filed Against Clifton Kilby

Lawsuit against Clifton Kilby has been filed in Forysth County for - Abuse of Process. 18CVS6516 • Malicious Prosecution - Civil Proceeding • Malicious Prosecution - Criminal Proceeding A week prior to the scheduled March 16, 2020 jurty trial Kilby’s attorneys tried to have the case dismissed. It was heard by Superior Court Judge Lora Cubbage. During the proceedings Stefanie Nicholes attorney for the defendant attempted to argue there were no grounds for the case to proceed and that no violations of the law were incurred by Kilby. However, Judge Cubbage would have nothing of what was being stated and allowed the case to go to trial to address the constitution issues surrounding Mr. Hewett’s freedom of speech. The case was set to be heard on March 16, 2020 but the courts were closed down for Covid-19. Hearing was on hold till the courts reconvene last summer or fall. The hearing is now scheduled to be heard March 1, 2021 barring any further delays due to covid-19.