Blog: Information about North Carolina Criminal & DWI Law

Probation Violations and Revocations in North Carolina

On 01.07.12, By Damon Chetson

Recent changes to North Carolina’s post-conviction laws change the authority of the judge to handle probationers who violate the terms of their probation.

For all probation violations on or after December 1, 2011, the judge may only revoke for a new criminal offense or for absconding. The practice in many parts of the state is that a judge will not revoke on a new pending criminal matter, although in Wake County sometimes the probation office will sometimes file violations even where the new criminal offense has not resulted in a conviction.

For other violations, a court may order contempt, modification, or confinement in response to violation (CRV). A CRV for felony probation is 90 days and for misdemeanor probation is up to 90 days. If the remaining sentence in a felony is less than 90 days, then the Defendant will serve the entire remaining sentence. It’s unclear whether the same rule applies for misdemeanors.

The CRV is also called a “dunk”.

Any time served on the CRV is credited against the active time available.

Note sex offenders are treated differently. Any type of violation is grounds for possible revocation is a sex offender case.

Wake County lawyer Damon Chetson helps people accused of serious felonies, misdemeanors, drug charges, DWI and traffic offenses in Raleigh, Apex, Chapel Hill, and Wake County, NC. Chapel Hill lawyer Damon Chetson also represents people charged with felonies and criminal charges in Raleigh, Wake County, Apex, Chapel Hill, and Durham, North Carolina. Our lawyers are available day or night, weekdays or weekends. Call (919) 352-9411 for a free in-person or phone consultation.

Post Supervision Release and New Maximum Sentences

On 01.06.12, By Damon Chetson

In light of recent changes to North Carolina’s post-supervision release and post-conviction laws, all offenses, except now have post supervision release.

Everyone convicted of an offense committed on or after December 1, 2011 will be required to complete Post-Release Supervision. Class B1 to F have twelve months of post supervision release. Class F through I will have 9 months of post supervision release. Under previous law, a prior-record-level II offender sentenced for a Class H felony at the top of the presumptive would receive 8 to 10 months, with no post-supervision.

Under the new law, the same person would face a sentence of 8 to 19 months, where the person would serve between 8 and 10 months, with the balance of the sentence hanging over the person’s head upon release at no later than 10 months. In other words, the person would have at least 9 months hanging over his head while on post supervision release.

The 19 months represents real time, which means if the person violates the conditions of Post Supervision Release, the person could end up serving the additional 9 months. But the Justice Reinvestment Act restricted the ability of the Post Supervision Release Commission to immediately impose the active time upon revocation, and may require the PSR Commission to initially impose “quick dunks” for the offender. Those quick dunks would be credited against the time.

Next, the new maxes will affect splits. Splits are calculated off the max. This may have been an unintended consequence of the new maxes, but the quarter of the total maximum sentence now has increased as well.

A person on a split could end up serving, for instance, as much as almost 5 months on a Class H, Level II felony presumptive range sentence, which is just one month shy of the bottom of the presumptive. Obviously, splits are usually negotiated with the Assistant District Attorney, which means that the split might be much lower. But in this scenario, it may not make much sense for the defendant to agree to a plea involving a split that is nearly as long as the minimum sentence he might serve on straight active time.

Damon Chetson is a North Carolina Lawyer. He practices in Raleigh, Apex, and Wake County, North Carolina. He also defends individuals charged with crimes throughout the Research Triangle. He works hard to defend his clients’ rights. He represents people charged in all parts of the Research Triangle. If you’re looking for a lawyer in Raleigh or Wake County, NC, you can call the us for a free in-person or phone consultation at (919) 352-9411 weekdays, evenings, weekends, and Holidays.

Magistrates and Criminal Law in North Carolina

On 01.06.12, By Damon Chetson

A magistrate is not a judge, but is a judicial officer of the District Court. Each of the 100 counties in North Carolina has at least one magistrate. A magistrate has civil functions – including to marry, and to hear small claims suits – and has criminal functions, which I’ll discuss below.

The general statutes for magistrates are located in Article 16, Chapter 7A of the N.C.G.S. A magistrate is selected by the Resident Superior Court Judge – in Wake County, The Hon. Donald Stephens – to a term of first 2 years, and then 4 years from a list of nominees provided by the Clerk of Superior Court. A magistrate need not have any formal legal training before being selected as a magistrate, although before being renominated for a second term, the magistrate must have completed the basic education required of magistrates in North Carolina.

As of 2009, Raleigh (Wake County) had a minimum of 18.5 magistrates (magistrates may be part-time).

Under N.C.G.S. 7A-273 magistrates have the authority in criminal actions to:

In infraction cases in which the maximum penalty that can be imposed is not more than fifty dollars ($50.00), exclusive of costs, or in Class 3 misdemeanors, other than the types of infractions and misdemeanors specified in subdivision (2) of this section, to accept guilty pleas or admissions of responsibility and enter judgment;
In misdemeanor or infraction cases involving alcohol offenses under Chapter 18B of the General Statutes, traffic offenses, hunting, fishing, State park and recreation area rule offenses under Chapter 113 of the General Statutes, boating offenses under Chapter 75A of the General Statutes, and littering offenses under G.S. 14?399(c) and G.S. 14?399(c1), to accept written appearances, waivers of trial or hearing and pleas of guilty or admissions of responsibility, in accordance with the schedule of offenses and fines or penalties promulgated by the Conference of Chief District Judges pursuant to G.S. 7A?148, and in such cases, to enter judgment and collect the fines or penalties and costs;
In misdemeanor cases involving the violation of a county ordinance authorized by law regulating the use of dune or beach buggies or other power?driven vehicles specified by the governing body of the county on the foreshore, beach strand, or the barrier dune system, to accept written appearances, waivers of trial or hearing, and pleas of guilty or admissions of responsibility, in accordance with the schedule of offenses and fines or penalties promulgated by the Conference of Chief District Court Judges pursuant to G.S. 7A?148, and in such cases, to enter judgment and collect the fines or penalties and costs;
To issue arrest warrants valid throughout the State;
To issue search warrants valid throughout the county;
To grant bail before trial for any noncapital offense;
Notwithstanding the provisions of subdivision (1) of this section, to hear and enter judgment as the chief district judge shall direct in all worthless check cases brought under G.S. 14?107, when the amount of the check is two thousand dollars ($2,000) or less. Provided, however, that under this section magistrates may not impose a prison sentence longer than 30 days;
To conduct an initial appearance as provided in G.S. 15A?511; and
To accept written appearances, waivers of trial and pleas of guilty in violations of G.S. 14?107 when the amount of the check is two thousand dollars ($2,000) or less, restitution, including service charges and processing fees allowed by G.S. 14?107, is made, and the warrant does not charge a fourth or subsequent violation of this statute, and in these cases to enter judgments as the chief district judge directs.

Arguably the most important act a magistrate takes in a criminal case is to set bail. In Wake County, bail is generally set using a set of guidelines supplied by the Chief Resident Superior Court Judge and Chief District Court Judge. Magistrates generally operate within those guidelines, unless there is good reason to deviate or unless a judge has already set the bond or a District Attorney has already consented to a particular bond being set.

Raleigh DWI lawyer Damon Chetson defends people charged with felonies, misdemeanors, traffic and DWI charges in Raleigh, Wake County, Apex, and Chapel Hill, NC. Durham DWI lawyer Damon Chetson also defends people charged with crimes in Durham, Chatham, and Harnett Counties. We are available day or night, weekdays or weekends. Call The Chetson Firm for a free in-person or phone consultation (919) 352-9411.

Pre Trial Release Conditions

On 01.04.12, By Damon Chetson

Jennifer Smith at the UNC School of Government’s criminal law blog has a useful post explaining the various exceptions to the general rule that people arrested ought to have conditions set upon which they can be released from custody. Those conditions may be as lenient as a “written promise to appear” or as part of a “pre-trial release” program, or may be unsecured bonds, secured bonds, or released into the custody of another (such as a parent or guardian). More here.

Among the various categories of people who are excepted from having conditions set are: drug traffickers, certain fugitives, people accused of certain methamphetamine offenses, probation violators, parole and post-supervision release violators, and people accused of capital offenses.

There are additional categories of defendants who may be denied pre-trial release, if only for a short time, including Domestic Violence defendants, who can be held for up to 48 hours or until they see a District Court judge, and DWI arrestees who may be held without bond until they either sober up or are able to be released into the custody of a sober person.

In addition, while the pre-trial release statutes are clear that the default position is a “written promise to appear,” in a very significant number of cases, bond is set no matter what the default position.

NPR aired a three part report on the Bail Bonding business a while back in other jurisdictions that noted the unhealthy connections between bail bondsmen who support candidates for judge who establish bonding conditions that then enrich the bail bondsman while, at the same time, keep thousands of people in jail who cannot afford to bond out under any condition or amount.

I’m unaware of any problems with connections between bail bondsmen and pre-trial release conditions in North Carolina, but it is always a concern where you have a semi-private system (bail bonding) in a public framework (the judicial system.)

Raleigh criminal lawyer Damon Chetson helps individuals charged with crimes – misdemeanors, felonies, and DWI and traffic charges – in Raleigh, Wake County, Apex and other communities in Wake County and the Research Triangle of North Carolina. Durham DWI lawyer Damon Chetson also represents people throughout the Research Triangle. We are available day or night, weekdays or weekends. Call (919) 352-9411 day or night.

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DWIs at Historically Low Rates, Drug Influenced Driving on the Rise

On 01.03.12, By Damon Chetson

As you can see from this chart, Driving While Impaired fatalities have declined as an absolute number, and as a percentage of all traffic fatalities, since 1982:

Alcohol-related deaths in the US since 1982:

	Total fatalities	Alcohol-related fatalities

Year	Number	Number	Percent
1982	43,945	26,173	60
1983	42,589	24,635	58
1984	44,257	24,762	56
1985	43,825	23,167	53
1986	46,087	25,017	54
1987	46,390	24,094	52
1988	47,087	23,833	51
1989	45,582	22,424	49
1990	44,599	22,587	51
1991	41,508	20,159	49
1992	39,250	18,290	47
1993	40,150	17,908	45
1994	40,716	17,308	43
1995	41,817	17,732	42
1996	42,065	17,749	42
1997	42,013	16,711	40
1998	41,501	16,673	40
1999	41,717	16,572	40
2000	41,945	17,380	41
2001	42,196	17,400	41
2002	43,005	17,524	41
2003	42,643	17,013	40
2004	42,518	16,919	39
2005	43,443	16,885	39
2006	42,532	15,829	37
2007	41,059	15,387	37
2008	37,261	13,846	37
2009	33,808	12,744	38

While drunk driving has declined nationwide, and in North Carolina, drugged driving – by that, I mean driving while under the influence of an impairing substance other than alcohol – has most certainly increased, in part because the detection of driving while drugged cases is much harder to accomplish.

All sorts of tools exist to catch drunk drivers, from Standardized Field Sobriety Tests to handheld Portable Breath Tests (PBTs) to breathalyzer machines (Intox EC/IR II) to laws that are geared toward stopping drunk drivers. In addition, the legal framework has established per se limits that mean that in certain cases people who have registered a .08 or above will be found guilty and punished.

The legal framework to handle drugged driving cases is much less well developed. In NC, while any amount of opiates in the system can mean a DWI conviction, other drugs are not so strictly and clearly regulated. For instance, the NC DWI statutes do not establish a cut-off limit for the metabolites of marijuana, or Ambien or a whole host of other drugs. So it’s left to the finder of fact to determine whether a close enough link was made between the substance found, and the impaired actions of the defendant.

In addition, there are fewer tools to identify whether someone is drugged while driving. For instance, there is no PBT device. And not every police officer is trained in how to identify the impairing effects of drugs. While any police officer who has completed the 24-hour NHTSA SFST course can conduct DWI arrests, far fewer police officers, whether Raleigh Police Department officers or Wake County or Apex police officers, are trained as Drug Recognition Experts.

The relative scarcity of DREs means that these cases are much harder for the prosecution to prove.

North Carolina’s Advanced Supervised Release

On 01.02.12, By Damon Chetson

The Criminal Justice Reinvestment Act, parts of which went into effect on December 1, 2011, and parts of which went into effect on January 1, 2012, creates a new Department of Corrections program called the Advanced Supervised Release program.

The program is similar to parole or post-supervision release, but by a different name. Here’s how it works, and how it can benefit people who committed felony offenses after December 1, 2011 and are found guilty of those felonies after January 1, 2012.

If the Assistant District Attorney does not object, the judge may order the Department of Corrections (DOC) to place certain defendants into the DOC’s ASR program. Eligible defendants include:

Class D Felonies (robbery with a deadly weapon, first degree burglary, etc.) with prior record levels of I to III
Class E Felonies (certain violent assaults, felony child abuse, etc.) with prior record levels of I to IV
Class F Felonies (involuntary manslaughter, assault inflicting serious bodily injury, certain arsons) with prior record levels of I to V
Class G Felonies (felon in possession of a firearm, second degree burglary) with prior record levels of I to VI
Class H Felonies (certain drug crimes including PWISD, larcenies, certain embezzlement crimes) with prior record levels of I to VI

If the sentencing judge orders the Defendant into the program, then defendants who complete “risk reduction incentives” in prison are released on post-supervision release on their Advanced Supervised Release Date. This date is determined by calculating the person’s lowest minimum sentence in the mitigated range for the defendant’s offense and prior record level or 80 percent of the imposed minimum if a mitigated-range sentence was imposed.

If the Defendant was not eligible to complete “risk reduction incentives” perhaps because he spent most of his sentence in a local jail, the defendant is still eligible for the ASR program if it’s mandated by the judge.

Once the Judge authorizes ASR, the DOC must allow the defendant to participate in ASR programs. However, the person may not successfully complete ASR risk-reduction programs, such that the person may not benefit.

More information about this program is available here.

North Carolina May Toughen NC DWI Laws

On 01.02.12, By Damon Chetson

On the heels of several laws that have toughened North Carolina DWI laws comes a news report about people who are charged twice in a single night for a DWI.

The report, citing State v. Knoll, notes that magistrates are incentivized to release DWI defendants from custody quickly after arrest because, if they don’t, the defendant may later argue that he was prevented from collecting evidence in his defense.

The report is about a Holly Springs man who was arrested for a DWI, blew a high BAC, and then was released by the magistrate. After his release, he got into his car again, and was re-arrested on a second DWI.

The report implies that State v. Knoll encourages magistrates to let drunk people back onto the road, and ignores the fact that the North Carolina General Assembly already addressed that case in the 1990s.

N.C.G.S. 15A-534.2 provides that:

If at the time of the initial appearance the judicial official finds by clear and convincing evidence that the impairment of the defendant’s physical or mental faculties presents a danger, if he is released, of physical injury to himself or others or damage to property, the judicial official must order that the defendant be held in custody and inform the defendant that he will be held in custody until one of the requirements of subsection (c) is met; provided, however, that the judicial official must at this time determine the appropriate conditions of pretrial release in accordance with G.S. 15A-534.

This provision permits the person to be released into the custody of a sober person, or be held until such time as he himself is sober. In addition, this provision requires the magistrate to inform the defendant of his right to have witnesses come to the jail or detention facility to observe him, thus satisfying State v. Knoll.

In essence, this provision is exactly what the news report suggests should be enacted.

Raleigh criminal lawyer Damon Chetson defends people charged with felonies, misdemeanors, traffic and DWI charges in Raleigh, Wake County, Apex, and Wake County, NC. Durham Criminal Lawyer Damon Chetson also represents people charged in Wake County, Durham County, Orange County and Chatham County. The Chetson Firm is available day or night, weekdays or weekends. Call day or night for a free in-person or phone consultation (919) 352-9411.

Happy New Year and Don’t Drink And Drive

On 12.31.11, By Damon Chetson

I represent a lot of people charged with DWIs. And a lot of DWIs are the result of holiday and New Year partying that leads to too much drinking, and far too much drinking and driving.

If you do plan to drink, plan on a Designated Driver. Or hire a taxi. Or sleep at a friend’s house. But don’t drink and drive.

If you are ultimately charged with drunk driving, understand your rights. You are not required to submit to a Portable Breath Test (PBT). You are not required to answer any questions (although you are required to provide your license and proof of registration or insurance). You are not required to perform any Standardized Field Sobriety Tests (SFSTs). You are not required to explain to the police officer where you are coming from, or where you are going to. You are not required to say how much you’ve had to drink or whether you’ve had anything to drink at all.

You can say, politely, to the officer that you’d like to have an attorney present. Or you’d like to be on your way.

If the police officer requests you submit to a Intox EC/IR (breathalyzer) test at the Public Safety Center (Jail) or at a police station, you have a difficult decision to make. If you do submit, the results will be used against you in a court of law. If you don’t submit, your license is likely to be suspended for a year automatically with only a brief Refusal Hearing as your recourse. And if you don’t submit, the police officer may simply go get a search warrant to draw your blood.

Our offices will be open throughout the New Year’s weekend. If you wish to talk about a recent DWI, a recent misdemeanor charge, or a recent felony charge, feel free to call (919) 352-9411 day or night.

But, above all, be safe for you and your fellow drivers’ sakes.

North Carolina Expungements

On 12.29.11, By Damon Chetson

The gold standard in the resolution of a criminal case is an expungement, which involves a removal of the record of the arrest (or conviction, in certain cases) from most of the state’s files, including public records. Article 5 of Chapter 15A of the North Carolina General Statutes governs expungements, and is quite complicated.

N.C.G.S. 15A-145 governs the expunction for first-time offenders under age 18 and for certain other misdemeanors, including the expungement of a misdemeanor conviction for larceny after a 15 year waiting period.

N.C.G.S. 15A-146 governs the expunction in cases where charges have been dismissed or the person has been found not guilty, and no previous expunction has been granted under any other statute. In addition, a person may have the fact of a civil revocation (in DWI cases) removed from the person’s criminal and driving record if the person’s DWI was dismissed or upon a finding of not guilty if otherwise eligible for an expungement.

After the expungement is granted, a person can truthfully answer on a job application, for instance, that he has never been arrested or convicted of a crime (assuming the person has not gotten into additional trouble).

There are a couple of caveats to keep in mind, provided you are even eligible for an expungement.

Expungements can take a long time to be processed – The Administrative Office of the Courts, among other entities, processes expungements in North Carolina. With budget cuts, the state has had to cut back on the number of people who review and process expungements. Criminal lawyers have reported that expungements that used to take 4 to 6 months are taking much longer – 8 to 10 months or longer. Consequently, you should expect that your expungement may take up to a year (or longer!) to process. During this time, the expungement enters something of a black box, meaning that it’s difficult, if not impossible, to discover the exact status of the expungement.
You only get one expungement per lifetime – Current North Carolina law permits you just one expungement during your lifetime, so use it wisely. For instance, it may not be wise to use an expungement for a Second Degree Trespassing case (a Class 3 misdemeanor) since if you were to later be charged with a more serious charge such as a DWI, the expungement of the Second Degree Trespassing would preclude you from earning an expungement for a dismissed or not-guilty DWI.
An expungement does not force private entities from removing a record of arrest – If you’ve been arrested, you may find your face on WRAL.com’s website or one of a number of private websites that tracks arrestees, or in the pages of The Slammer. While you might be offended by your name, photograph, and arrest details being featured in one of these more or less reputable places, your expungement does not entitle you to demand that your name and photograph be removed. You may politely email the website or publisher and request that you be removed. Some of the less reputable sites charge a fee for removal of your record. Whether you choose to do this is up to you.
Removal from Google or other Search Engines – Along those lines, an expungement does not require Google, Bing, Yahoo or any other website or search engine to remove your name from its records. It’s unlikely for Google to respond to an individual request, however you can certainly try. I recommend being polite. You might choose to try to build up positive stories about you on the web (by creating webpages that enhance your online reputation) to push down the unwanted or unsavory search results. This is the basic strategy used by services such as ReputationDefender.com.
Background Search Services – These services download arrest records periodically from North Carolina’s computer system ACIS and are supposed to refresh their results. Still, private background services may inadvertantly retain a record of your arrest after the matter has been expunged in North Carolina’s system. Consequently, do not be shocked if you apply for a new job and your employer discovers that you were arrested even though you and your lawyer believed the matter was expunged. North Carolina is a right-to-work state. Employers have wide discretion in choosing who to hire, and so long as they do not discriminate against a protected class, you have virtually no recourse if they find out you’ve been arrested in the past, even if that information should’ve been expunged.
Top Secret Background Checks – If you’ve had a criminal arrest and are now applying for a position in law enforcement, security, or national security, you may be required to report all criminal matters, even if they’ve been expunged. In addition, if you are applying to be a member of a Bar (to be a lawyer) or if you are applying to be a medical doctor, you may be required to reveal any arrest, even if it has been expunged. Some of these applications are exhaustive, and it may be possible for an agency to discover you were arrested because…
There will always be a record of your arrest – Even if your matter has been expunged in North Carolina, North Carolina will keep a record of your arrest and expungement in a closed file held by the Administrative Office of the Courts. That’s because North Carolina only permits one expungement, and so the AOC is required to keep evidence of all expungements to ensure that a person only gets one in his lifetime. Since there is always a possibility that those records may become public – government is never obligated not to reveal them – there is always the chance, even if the matter has been expunged, that it pops up years latter.

While an expungement is a the so-called “gold standard” in terms of a result, an expungement may not be possible in many cases (especially where there’s been a conviction for an offense that occurred after the age of 18) and the expungement itself is not a guarantee that no one will ever find out about the arrest and criminal record.

Charged with a Crime in Raleigh, Wake County, Apex or any part of Wake County?

On 12.28.11, By Damon Chetson

In Wake County, North Carolina you’ll usually be charged with a crime in one of two ways. Either the police stop you believing that you are in the process of committing a crime. This could be something as simple as driving with license revoked (DWLR) or as serious as in the middle of robbing a bank. Either way, you will be arrested, and almost immediately charged as the police officer swears out an arrest warrant in front of a magistrate.

Or allegations may arise that you have committed a crime in the past. The police may investigate for a period of time, during which they will probably try to interview you, friends, witnesses, and acquaintances. When they think they have enough information to charge you with a crime, the police officer will generally swear out a warrant for your arrest.

You will not know that an arrest warrant has been sworn out for you until one of two things happen. Either the police show up at your door or at your work to arrest you. Or, sometimes, the police request you either directly show up at the police station or request your lawyer to surrender you to the police station for your arrest.

Obviously it’s much more preferable to receive a call from the police officer asking you to surrender yourself. First, it prevents the embarrassment of you being arrested and placed in cuffs in front of your family or your co-workers. Second, it prevents the chance for a confrontation. Everything is peaceful and orderly with a surrendered arrest.

I recommend that anyone who is being accused of a crime or being asked about a crime where the questions are accusatory, should seek out an attorney. Why? An attorney can help facilitate the surrender, and can work to secure your release from jail. An attorney will also help you preserve your rights, and protect you and your family from further criminal liability.

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Raleigh criminal lawyer Damon Chetson helps people in Raleigh, Wake County, and Apex, NC and Wake County, North Carolina. Call (919) 352-9411 anytime.

Damon Chetson, a Raleigh criminal lawyer, offers determined, and professional legal representation for those charged with serious felonies, misdemeanors, and driving or DWI offenses in Raleigh, Apex, Wake County, NC (Wake County). For more information or a free in-person or phone consultation with a criminal lawyer, email info@chetson.com or call (919) 352-9411 weekdays, evenings, weekends or holidays.

About Damon Chetson

Damon Chetson is a Raleigh criminal lawyer. He represents people in Raleigh, Wake County, Apex and other counties in Wake County who have been charged with serious felonies, misdemeanors, or drunk driving offenses.

He is also a Wake County criminal lawyer, representing individuals who live in Wake County, NC and are charged with felonies. As a former resident of Wake County, and now a resident of Apex, he knows the particular issues that are important to residents of Wake County, a bedroom community of Raleigh. He knows how to protect reputations, how to make sure that his clients are treated properly by police, and how to work with Wake County District Attorneys.

In addition, Mr. Chetson is an Apex criminal lawyer. A former resident of Wake County, NC, he now lives in Apex, NC and is familiar with the people who live in this bedroom community. He cares about the people who live in Apex and Wake County, NC and he works to make sure that not only them, but their families are prepared from the criminal process.

He works on serious felonies, misdemeanors, DUI/DWI and traffic cases, and is willing to travel to Wake County or Apex if clients cannot come to his downtown Raleigh office.

Advice from a Raleigh Criminal Lawyer

Probation Violations and Revocations in North Carolina January 7, 2012
Recent changes to North Carolina’s post-conviction laws change the authority of the judge to handle probationers who violate the terms of their probation. For all probation violations on or after December 1, 2011, the judge may only revoke for a new criminal offense or for absconding. The practice in many parts of the state is... […]
Damon Chetson
Post Supervision Release and New Maximum Sentences January 6, 2012
In light of recent changes to North Carolina’s post-supervision release and post-conviction laws, all offenses, except now have post supervision release. Everyone convicted of an offense committed on or after December 1, 2011 will be required to complete Post-Release Supervision. Class B1 to F have twelve months of post supervision release. Class F through I […]
Damon Chetson
Magistrates and Criminal Law in North Carolina January 6, 2012
A magistrate is not a judge, but is a judicial officer of the District Court. Each of the 100 counties in North Carolina has at least one magistrate. A magistrate has civil functions – including to marry, and to hear small claims suits – and has criminal functions, which I’ll discuss below. The general statutes... […]
Damon Chetson
Pre Trial Release Conditions January 4, 2012
Jennifer Smith at the UNC School of Government’s criminal law blog has a useful post explaining the various exceptions to the general rule that people arrested ought to have conditions set upon which they can be released from custody. Those conditions may be as lenient as a “written promise to appear” or as part of... […]
Damon Chetson
DWIs at Historically Low Rates, Drug Influenced Driving on the Rise January 3, 2012
As you can see from this chart, Driving While Impaired fatalities have declined as an absolute number, and as a percentage of all traffic fatalities, since 1982: Alcohol-related deaths in the US since 1982: Total fatalities Alcohol-related fatalities Year Number Number Percent 1982 43,945 26,173 60 1983 42,589 24,635 58 1984 44,257 24,762 56... […]
Damon Chetson
North Carolina’s Advanced Supervised Release January 2, 2012
The Criminal Justice Reinvestment Act, parts of which went into effect on December 1, 2011, and parts of which went into effect on January 1, 2012, creates a new Department of Corrections program called the Advanced Supervised Release program. The program is similar to parole or post-supervision release, but by a different name. Here’s how... […]
Damon Chetson
North Carolina May Toughen NC DWI Laws January 2, 2012
On the heels of several laws that have toughened North Carolina DWI laws comes a news report about people who are charged twice in a single night for a DWI. The report, citing State v. Knoll, notes that magistrates are incentivized to release DWI defendants from custody quickly after arrest because, if they don’t, the... […]
Damon Chetson
Happy New Year and Don’t Drink And Drive December 31, 2011
I represent a lot of people charged with DWIs. And a lot of DWIs are the result of holiday and New Year partying that leads to too much drinking, and far too much drinking and driving. If you do plan to drink, plan on a Designated Driver. Or hire a taxi. Or sleep at a... […]
Damon Chetson
North Carolina Expungements December 29, 2011
The gold standard in the resolution of a criminal case is an expungement, which involves a removal of the record of the arrest (or conviction, in certain cases) from most of the state’s files, including public records. Article 5 of Chapter 15A of the North Carolina General Statutes governs expungements, and is quite complicated. N.C.G.S.... […]
Damon Chetson
Charged with a Crime in Raleigh, Wake County, Apex or any part of Wake County? December 28, 2011
In Wake County, North Carolina you’ll usually be charged with a crime in one of two ways. Either the police stop you believing that you are in the process of committing a crime. This could be something as simple as driving with license revoked (DWLR) or as serious as in the middle of robbing a […]
Damon Chetson