About Dan
Personal | Experience | Education | Professional | Community Involvement
Personal
I have been a Wake County resident since 1967 and graduated from Cary High School in 1973.
My wife Valerie (Val) Brandon Nagle and I have been married for 31 years, and we are the proud parents of our daughter Caroline who is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. We are members of the Asbury Methodist Church in Raleigh.
I enjoy my family, the beach, kayaking, college sports, old cars, electronics, and I have a passion for public service and the law.
Experience
Prior to my election as district court judge in 2012, I served as an assistant district attorney with the 10th judicial district (Wake County). During my tenure with the District Attorney’s Office, I handled close to 24,000 cases of which approximately 300 were bench trials. I spent all day, every day, in the courtroom, and I saw the significant impact the court has on people’s lives.
While in law school, I interned with the North Carolina Supreme Court, the Wake County District Attorney’s Office and the Wake County Public Defender’s Office. Each of these assignments provided me an opportunity to experience the practice of law from varied perspectives within multiple levels of our State courts.
Prior to attending law school, I contracted with the State of North Carolina to provide training to law enforcement agencies across the State on “Responding to Missing and Abducted Children.” I enjoyed traveling to the many regions of our beautiful State and met many interesting people as I taught this course and prepared for entering law school.
I retired from the Wake County Sheriff’s Office as Major of Administration after proudly serving 3 sheriffs: Sheriff Robert J. Pleasants, Sheriff John H. Baker, Jr., and Sheriff Donnie Harrison.
My law enforcement career spanned 28 years during which I served in a broad spectrum of assignments. I served as: an assistant jailer; a patrol officer; and as an investigator in the general investigations, drugs and vice, fraud and arson, and major crimes units.
As I continued to serve the citizens of Wake County, I progressed through the ranks from Sergeant, then Lieutenant in juvenile investigations to Captain of the patrol division, and finally to Major of Administration where I administered a $33 million budget and led the finance, property, evidence, records, computer technology, training and staff development, personnel, and crime prevention units.
During my tenure in law enforcement, I earned the following certifications
- Advanced Law Enforcement Certification – NC Sheriffs’ Training & Standards Commission
- General Instructor Certification – NC Criminal Justice Training & Standards Commission
- Fire and Arson Investigator Certification – NC Department of Insurance
Before beginning my law enforcement career, I worked for Winn Dixie Stores where I was promoted to 2nd assistant store manager and for The North Carolina Fire Insurance Rating Bureau where I served as special agent.
Education
I received my Juris Doctorate from the Albert E. Turner School of Law at North Carolina Central University.
While there, I served as:
- Student Bar Association treasurer,
- 1L class treasurer,
- moot court board member,
- trial advocacy board member,
- association of trial lawyers member,
- black law students association member,
- Phi Delta Phi member,
- co-chair of the statutory revision committee, and
- student representative for faculty recruitment interviews.
In addition, I competed with my fellow team members in a moot court competition at Howard University in Washington, D.C.
Prior to enrolling in law school, I received my B.A. (summa cum laude) in Justice Studies at North Carolina Wesleyan College where I attended the night program while working full-time and helping raise our wonderful daughter Caroline. I was inducted into the Alpha Sigma Lambda and Pi Gamma Mu honor societies and was selected as the 1999-2000 Outstanding Student of the Year for the Adult Degree Program.
While attending North Carolina Wesleyan, I also graduated with High Honors from Wake Technical Community College where I was inducted into the Phi Theta Kappa honor society and served as its treasurer. I also completed the Administrative Officers’ Management Program at North Carolina State University while attending North Carolina Wesleyan and Wake Tech programs.
Professional
Throughout my law enforcement and legal careers, I have been involved in a number of professional organizations, including:
- North Carolina Association of District Court Judges
- American Bar Association
- North Carolina Bar Association – Young Lawyer’s Division – Scholarship Committee
- 10th Judicial District Bar
- Wake County Bar Association
- North Carolina Law Enforcement Officers’ Association
- North Carolina Sheriff’s Association
- North Carolina Association of Juvenile Investigators
- North Carolina Association of Arson Investigators
Community
Public service has been my passion since I was 18 years old. The following list is representative of my committment to serve the citizens of my community and State.
- Member, usher – Asbury United Methodist Church
- Sachem, Chief – YMCA Indian Princess “Spirit of the Oaks” tribe
- Lieutenant – YRAC Volunteer Fire Department
- Chairman – Town of Holly Springs Police Advisory Council
- Co-chair – State Child Fatality Task Force, Intentional Death Committee
- Member – Wake County Child Protection Team
- Member – Wake County Child Fatality Prevention Team, member
- Volunteer – Wake County Teen Court – program development and first year of operation
- Volunteer – Project Graduation, a chemical free celebration for graduating seniors
- Volunteer – NC Center for Missing Persons
- Volunteer – Wake County Sheriff’s Office – Citizens’ Well Check Program
- Chief Judge – Wake County Board of Elections, House Creek Precinct (07-02)
- Judge – NC AAJ Wade Edwards Mock Trial Regional Competition, Wilmington
- Judge – NCCU School of Law Appellate Advocacy Oral Arguments
