In the criminal law context, magistrates primarily conduct initial appearances for individuals who have just been arrested, issue criminal process in the form of charging documents, and issue search warrants. A less common, and no less important, function magistrates can fulfill is to accept guilty pleas. G.S. 7A-273 establishes the general authority of magistrates in infractions and criminal actions and authorizes magistrates to accept guilty pleas and enter judgment in certain circumstances. This post reviews when magistrates can accept guilty pleas, the types of cases they can preside over, the requirements for a valid plea, and the rules for determining the sentence.
G.S. 7A-273(1). The first authorization for magistrates to accept guilty pleas is G.S. 7A-273(1). This subsection authorizes magistrates to accept guilty pleas or admissions of responsibility for infractions (when the maximum penalty is a $50 fine) and Class 3 misdemeanors, except for infractions or Class 3 misdemeanors included in G.S. 7A-273(2) (described below). If an infraction with a maximum penalty of $50 or Class 3 misdemeanor is not included in G.S. 7A-273(2), then a magistrate may accept a guilty plea or admission of responsibility and enter judgment in accordance with G.S. 7A-273(1). Unlike other subsections further in the statute, magistrates are not granted the authority to accept waivers of appearance, which means for these offenses the defendant (or their attorney) must personally appear in court to enter the plea. This is distinct from some of the offenses described below, where a person may enter a plea without appearing in court. This subsection does not further limit or direct the magistrate’s authority in determining judgment. That means that if a person admits responsibility for an infraction, or pleads guilty to a Class 3 misdemeanor, the magistrate has the same discretion as a district court judge when entering judgment for the same offense.
In practice, this authority is very rarely used for a few reasons. Primarily, it applies to quite a small set of infractions and misdemeanors. By default, all infractions may be punished by a fine of up to $100 unless otherwise specified, which makes them ineligible for a plea under this subsection (G.S. 14-3.1). Further, many infractions and Class 3 misdemeanors are traffic offenses, which are excluded from this subsection by their inclusion in the authority to accept pleas described in G.S. 7A-273(2). Given these factors, it’s very uncommon for a court session to be established for the sake of accepting pleas pursuant to G.S. 7A-273(1). More often, magistrates accept guilty pleas pursuant to the three other statutory authorizations.
The three remaining statutory authorizations to accept guilty pleas share a limitation that does not apply to G.S. 7A-273(1). This limitation is that the magistrate may not determine the sentence. For pleas accepted pursuant to G.S. 7A-273(2) and 7A-273(2a), the judgment imposed per offense is determined by the Conference of Chief District Court Judges pursuant to G.S. 7A-148. For pleas accepted pursuant to G.S. 7A-273(8), the judgment imposed is determined by the chief district court judge of the district in which the plea is being entered.
G.S. 7A-273(2). Among these three subsections, the one that is used most often and includes the most offenses is G.S. 7A-273(2). As noted earlier, any offense that may be included under this authority is excluded from the magistrate’s authority in G.S. 7A-273(1). Subsection 273(2) applies to all misdemeanor or infraction cases involving:
- Alcohol offenses under Chapter 18B;
- Traffic offenses;
- Hunting, fishing, State park and recreation rule offenses under Chapters 113 and 143B;
- State forest rule offenses under Articles 74 and 75 of Chapter 106;
- Boating offenses under Chapter 75A;
- Open burning offenses under Article 78 of Chapter 106; and
- Littering offenses under G.S. 14-399(c) and G.S. 14-399(c1).
This collection of offenses subject to this authority is otherwise known as the “waiver list.” For these offenses, unlike G.S. 7A-273(1) described above, a person may submit a written appearance, enter their guilty plea, and have judgment entered against them without personally appearing before the magistrate or having an attorney appear for them. The list of offenses and their respective punishments are considered and decided on an annual basis by the Conference of Chief District Court Judges. The resulting list is effective statewide and cannot be altered or bypassed by local judicial districts. Consequently, there is predictability and uniformity in the disposition of these offenses. If a defendant is pleading to more than one offense on the waiver list, they are only fined for the offense carrying the highest fine under one bill of costs.
G.S. 7A-273(2a). This subsection operates identically to G.S. 7A-273(2) and provides authority for magistrates to accept pleas and enter judgment in an additional set of offenses. This set of offenses includes all misdemeanors involving the violation of a county ordinance regulating the use of dune/beach buggies or other specified power-driven vehicles on the foreshore, beach strand, or the barrier dune system. For these offenses, when included in the schedule of offenses established by the Conference of Chief District Court Judges, the magistrate may accept written appearances, guilty pleas, and impose the judgment designated by the Conference just as in G.S. 7A-273(2).
Worthless checks. There are two subsections that grant magistrates the authority to accept pleas and enter judgment for worthless check offenses.
When authorized by the chief district court judge, magistrates may accept guilty pleas and enter judgment for any worthless check offense under G.S. 14-107 pursuant to G.S. 7A-273(6). Similar to pleas accepted pursuant to G.S. 7A-273(1), there is no authority to accept written appearances and the defendant or their attorney must appear in person. However, the judgment in these cases is pre-determined by the chief district court judge, and may not exceed 30 days imprisonment.
If the defendant has not been charged with this offense more than 3 times, restitution and any service or processing fees have been paid, and the check value is $2,000 or less, then magistrates may also accept a guilty plea and enter judgment pursuant to G.S. 7A-273(8). Under this authority, magistrates may accept waivers of appearance, which means the defendant or their attorney are not required to appear in person if they have properly executed the waiver. Sentences for these worthless check offenses are also pre-determined by the chief district court judge.
As always, feel free to reach out to me with any questions or comments. I can be reached at elrahal@sog.unc.edu.
