impaired driving holds

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Court of Appeals in State v. Townsend Beefs Up Prejudice Required for Relief under Knoll

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[Author’s note:  State v. Townsend was withdrawn and replaced by a subsequent opinion, available here.  The portion of the opinion discussed below was unchanged by the subsequent opinion.] No one gets relief any more under State v. Knoll—at least not from the court of appeals.  State v. Townsend, decided today, is the latest in a series … Read more

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Be careful what you wish for . . . Kostick further muddles Knoll analysis

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The decades-old state supreme court decision in State v. Knoll, 322 N.C. 535 (1988), dismissing charges against three impaired driving defendants, is confusing.  For starters, the Knoll court’s decision hinged in part on its determination that the defendants were unlawfully detained.  Yet the court never even mentioned G.S. 15A-534.2—the statute authorizing the detention of impaired … Read more

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You’ve got to know when to hold ’em

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Magistrates walk a tight rope of sorts in setting conditions of pretrial release for defendants charged with impaired driving offenses.  In addition to taking into account all of the factors they must consider when setting conditions of pretrial release in any criminal case and setting conditions accordingly, see G.S. 15A-534, magistrates who set conditions of … Read more