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DURHAM (AP) — A special inquiry has been delayed on whether to permanently remove Durham County District Attorney Tracey Cline following allegations of misconduct she leveled against the county's most senior judge.

Superior Court Judge Robert Hobgood granted the delay after Cline said she had been sick for a week and had been unable to hire a lawyer to defend her.

Cline arrived 7 minutes late to today's hearing. Her voice creaking, she told the judge said she was not prepared to represent herself.

"I thought it was stress, but it was only pneumonia," Cline said when the judge inquired about her condition.

Hobgood rescheduled the hearing for Feb. 20.

Cline was suspended last month after Durham defense lawyer Kerry Sutton filed a motion seeking her removal, saying her ongoing disputes with Senior Resident Superior Court Judge Orlando Hudson has damaged the court's reputation.

Cline tried unsuccessfully in December to have Hudson removed from presiding over any proceedings involving her office after the well-respected judge had ruled against her in a series of criminal cases.

Though Hobgood agreed to delay considering Cline's removal Monday, he attempted to proceed with hearing a motion from a lawyer for The News & Observer to quash subpoenas Cline issued for a reporter and two top editors. The Raleigh newspaper has published a series of articles using court records and transcripts to show that Cline withheld exculpatory evidence from defendants and made factual misrepresentations in arguments and legal filings.

Cline began rehashing a series of assertions she previously made in her effort to remove Hudson, alleging the judge had been part of a larger conspiracy of courthouse personnel, defense lawyers and the newspaper to make her look bad. He voice cracked several times as she spoke and Hobgood told her to stop, saying he was concerned her voice was not yet strong enough make her case well understood.

Hobgood said he would delay the motions a week as well, by which time Cline said she could have a lawyer.

It is highly unusual in North Carolina for an elected district attorney to be forcibly removed from office. A courtroom inquiry like the one being held in Cline's case has happened only once before, after a white DA in New Hanover County used a racial slur in a bar against a black man nearly two decades ago.

A career prosecutor, Cline was elected in 2009 after her former boss, Michael Nifong, was forced to resign and was disbarred over his pursuit of charges against three members of the Duke University lacrosse team who were accused of raping an adult entertainer. The state's attorney general later declared the men innocent after questions arose about the mental stability of the accuser.