The School of Government and North Carolina Judicial College are excited to announce that Brittany Williams has joined our faculty to work in the field of criminal law.
Shea Denning
Fielding a Few Questions About License Revocations for Failure to Appear and Comply
I wrote last week about the expiration of emergency orders that had temporarily halted clerks from reporting to DMV a person’s failure to appear or to pay monies owed in a Chapter 20 criminal or infraction case. When DMV receives such a report, it imposes a license revocation pursuant to G.S. 20-24.1, unless the person does one of the following before the revocation goes into effect:
- disposes of the charge;
- demonstrates that he or she is not the person charged with the offense;
- pays the penalty, fine, or costs ordered by the court; or
- demonstrates to the court that his failure to pay the penalty, fine, or costs was not willful and that he is making a good faith effort to pay or that the penalty, fine, or costs should be remitted.
Someone asked me recently about these sanctions for nonappearance and nonpayment — or incentives for appearance and payment — depending upon one’s perspective. How many revocations are imposed for failures to appear and failures to pay? Do other states have similar license revocation schemes? What other ways exist to incentivize appearance and payment?
Case Summaries — North Carolina Court of Appeals (August 4, 2020)
This post summarizes opinions issued by the Court of Appeals of North Carolina on August 4, 2020.
Time is Up: Failures To Comply Are Once Again Reported
Among the Chief Justice’s early emergency directives and orders to address court operations in light of the COVID-19 outbreak were extensions for the time for paying monies owed in criminal cases. Those directives, which extended the time for doing certain acts in criminal cases and directed clerks to delay the entry of reports of failures to comply, were extended and modified in subsequent orders. The upshot was that defendants ordered to pay sums that would have resulted in entry of a “failure to comply” and the assessment of additional costs (and, in Chapter 20 cases, a report to DMV that would trigger a license revocation) had until July 31, 2020 to pay monies owed without incurring those consequences. That date passed last Friday, so clerks now are entering failures to comply, assessing the $50 in costs and reporting the entry to DMV in Chapter 20 cases. 
New Emergency Directives: Facemasks Now, Jury Trials Later
The Chief Justice entered two new emergency directives last week, requiring people in court facilities to wear face coverings and directing senior resident superior court judges to craft a plan for jury trials to resume in the fall. Face coverings. Face coverings have been required in most public spaces since June 26, 2020 pursuant to … Read more
2020 Motor Vehicle Legislation of Interest — To Me and the Kids
It is somewhat rare for one of my children to know more about recently enacted legislation than I do. But it happened a few weeks ago when the General Assembly adopted legislation that allows my sixteen-year-old to get his driver’s license without taking a road test. This post will cover that legislation and other recent amendments to the state’s motor vehicle laws.
PDDs: Coming Soon to a Street Near You
What’s three feet long, two feet wide, weighs a few hundred pounds and can drive itself down a street or sidewalk to deliver cargo?
New Month Brings New Emergency Directives
The Chief Justice entered her first emergency order to address catastrophic conditions resulting from the COVID-19 outbreak on March 13, 2020. More than three months (and many orders) later, those catastrophic conditions remain. So, as we prepare to enter a new month in COVID-season, the Chief Justice yesterday issued two new orders extending and modifying earlier directives.
The first June 29, 2020 order, which will not be discussed further here, modifies and extends Emergency Directive 18, which imposes procedural requirements in eviction proceedings. The second June 29, 2020 order modifies and extends Emergency Directives 2 through 8. Two of these extended directives directly impact criminal cases: Emergency Directive 3, which authorizes judicial officials to conduct proceedings that include remote audio and video transmissions, notwithstanding any other provision of law; and Emergency Directive 7, which delays the reporting of a failure to comply based upon nonpayment of monies owed in a criminal or infraction case. 
Upcoming Webinar: Building Elder Protection Networks in North Carolina
My colleagues Meredith Smith and Aimee Wall are hosting a webinar on Thursday, July 16, 2020, from 11:00 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. that will provide an overview of North Carolina’s framework for protecting older adults from abuse, neglect, and exploitation. The program, which is offered at no charge, will focus on connectivity and collaboration across systems and on groups that work to empower older adults to remain free from abuse, neglect, and exploitation. You can register for the webinar here. 
New Emergency Orders Extend Deadlines in Criminal Cases
Chief Justice Cheri Beasley entered three emergency orders on Saturday affecting court operations during the COVID-19 pandemic. Two of the orders impact criminal cases. One extends the deadline for filing notices of appeal. The other extends the authorization for remote proceedings in Emergency Directive 3 and renews and modifies the provisions of Emergency Directive 7, which provides additional time to pay monies owed in a criminal or infraction case. (The third order stays eviction actions that currently are pending in the trial courts until June 21, 2020 and imposes other requirements related to eviction proceedings.)