DA named in alienation lawsuit by former White Lake commissioner married to former county commissioner

ELIZABETHTOWN — The husband of a former Bladen County commissioner is claiming that District Attorney Jon David caused the dissolution of his marriage and is seeking damages.

Tracey Trivette, former town commissioner in White Lake, filed the legal complaint Dec. 4 in Bladen County. In his complaint, Trivette alleges alienation of affection, criminal conversation, and intentional infliction of emotional distress.

However, proceedings in the matter are currently on hold based on a March 5 ruling by Superior Court Judge Kent Harrell. That ruling decreed that the Trivettes’ divorce proceedings, filed in New Hanover County on Dec. 31 by Ashley Trivette, be resolved first.

“The parties are seeking alternative methods to resolve the pending conflicts outside of court,” the March 5 order states.

The complaint was first reported by North Carolina Lawyers Weekly, a Charlotte-based trade publication.

Tracey Trivette claims that, in 2017, David began “an illicit relationship” with his wife Ashley, a county commissioner representing District 3, following her October 2017 arrest in Brunswick County for DWI.

Eventually, David recused himself from the prosecution of Trivette’s case. The DWI charge ended in an “Alford Plea” in which a defendant pleads guilty based on the evidence being likely to persuade a judge or jury, but does not admit to the criminal act and maintains their innocence.

Tracey Trivette’s complaint claims that David “began willfully and deliberately seducing, enticing and alienating the affection of (Ashley Trivette) from (Tracey Trivette), destroying the love and affection which previously existed…”

Actions included “numerous enticing texts, calls and communications, which later led to a sexual relationship between (Jon David) and (Ashley Trivette),” the complaint says, later claiming that David and Ashley Trivette had sex “on more than one occasion during the course of (Tracey Trivette’s) marriage to his spouse, which include the time frames between Oct. 6, 2017, and present.”

In the complaint, Tracey Trivette claims “emotional trauma and embarrassment” due to David’s public exposure of the relationship, such as going to social events with Ashley Trivette, taking trips together and posting about it on social media.

Tracey Trivette said in the complaint that he and Ashley Trivette split up on Jan. 15, 2018, following which David and Ashley Trivette “continued this relationship and eventually began residing in the same residence together.”

Ashley Trivette, a Republican, decided against running for reelection as a Bladen County commissioner in 2020, telling the Bladen Journal in 2019 that, “Personal considerations dictate that I make this difficult choice in the best interest of my family.”

In the same 2019 statement, Trivette said that she had just completed the four-year process of adopting her daughter.

According to the March 5 order staying the civil case, David claims entitlement to any “credit or offset against any award equal to the value of property which (Tracey Trivette) receives in his (divorce proceedings)” the order states.

Charlotte TV station WBTV in 2018 disclosed the relationship between Ashley Trivette and David during its reporting on the 2018 Congressional election fraud case that centered in Bladen County. The story noted that David potentially had a conflict of interest in prosecuting McCrae Dowless — currently charged with illegal ballot handling, obstruction of justice and perjury for his alleged actions in the 2016 and 2018 elections — because Dowless worked for Ashley Trivette’s 2016 campaign.

Tracey Trivette asks for “in excess of $25,000” as compensatory damages for each of the three claims and the same amount for each of the three instances of punitive damages. As of Friday, David had not filed a response to the complaint, asking for and receiving an extension multiple times before the stay halted the proceedings.

Attorney Gary Grady of Hester, Grady & Hester in Elizabethtown represents Tracey Trivette. When reached Friday, Grady declined to speak on the case, saying he doesn’t comment on pending litigation.

Requests for comment sent to Jon David’s Brunswick County office and his lawyer Tamara Avis Smith of Pennington & Smith in Wilmington were not immediately returned.

The matter of the lawsuit is not new to Tracey Trivette. In January 2007, he filed a lawsuit against Pennsylvania doctor William H. Risher, alleging that criminal conversations with his then-wife, Cheryl Trivette, had caused an alienation of affections between the couple. In that suit, Risher claimed any conversations he had with Cheryl Trivette were just because of her father’s medical treatments.

That case was dismissed with prejudice due to a settlement in August 2008.