If I had to answer the question in the title of this post in the briefest possible way, I would say: not usually. But there’s a lot of uncertainty and nuance packed into that short answer. This post gets into the details.
Example. Let’s make the issue more concrete. Suppose that Fred Farmer comes to a magistrate one day and asks the magistrate to charge his neighbor, Mike Munchie, with stealing an apple. Fred explains that he has an apple tree on his lot, near the property line. Just minutes ago, Fred witnessed Mike standing on Mike’s property but reaching over the line to take an apple from Fred’s tree. Fred pulled out his cell phone and recorded the crime. The video shows Mike biting into the crisp, sweet fruit, and wiping a little trickle of apple juice from his chin. Mike smiles with what Fred characterizes as “the remorseless sneer of a hardened criminal.” Fred says he didn’t authorize Mike to take the apple and asks the magistrate to charge Mike with misdemeanor larceny. (He really thinks Mike is guilty of felonious larceny of ungathered crops under G.S. 14-78, but he’s willing to let that slide, just this once.)
The magistrate isn’t keen to charge Mike with anything. She doesn’t think that would be a good use of judicial resources and doesn’t think a criminal charge will help the neighbors live together peaceably. She asks Fred whether he’s tried talking to Mike about the situation and Fred says no. The magistrate acknowledges that there’s probable cause and that she could issue criminal process. But is she required to do so? Or does she have the discretion not to issue the charge?
In general, magistrates have a great deal of discretion. Magistrates are an integral part of our criminal justice system. They make important decisions, and in some situations, exercise considerable discretion. For example, magistrates regularly decide which conditions of pretrial release to impose, a decision that may make the difference between a defendant awaiting trial at home and the same defendant being confined in jail. There are some statutory and local policy constraints on pretrial release decisions, but magistrates nonetheless retain significant discretion. Magistrates also generally have the discretion to choose whether to issue an arrest warrant or a criminal summons when charging a defendant, another decision that has major consequences for the person charged. Still, the fact that magistrates make some discretionary decisions doesn’t mean that all of their decisions are discretionary. So, is the decision whether to issue process upon a finding of probable cause discretionary?
No discretion after a warrantless arrest. It clearly is not if an officer has made a warrantless arrest. If an officer arrests a defendant without a warrant and brings the defendant to the magistrate for an initial appearance, the magistrate is required to assess whether the arrest is supported by probable cause. If it is, the magistrate “must issue a magistrate’s order” charging the defendant. G.S. 15A-511(c)(3) (emphasis supplied).
What about prior to arrest? But if the defendant hasn’t been arrested yet, and an officer or a citizen seeks the issuance of an arrest warrant or a criminal summons, G.S. 15A-511(c)(3) doesn’t apply. The key statute is the arrest warrant statute, G.S. 15A-304, which repeatedly uses the word “may” rather than “must” or “shall.” For example, subsection (d) states that “[a] judicial official may issue a warrant for arrest only when [the official] is supplied with sufficient information [to establish probable cause].” Arguably, the use of the word “may” implies discretion. That view is further supported by the contrast with G.S. 15A-511(c)(3) and with the statute governing the issuance of search warrants, G.S. 15A-245(b), which provides that upon finding probable cause, a judicial official “must issue a search warrant.”
However, the specific phrases in which the word “may” is used in G.S. 15A-304 don’t strike me as clearly authorizing the exercise of discretion, nor does the official commentary suggest that the legislature intended to grant magistrates discretion. Furthermore, the case law tends to support the opposite view – that the decision whether to issue process is not normally discretionary. The cases highlight two key considerations. First, the discretion in our criminal justice system generally rests with the prosecutor. Allowing a judicial official to refuse to charge a crime may implicate the separation of powers. Cf. State v. Diaz-Tomas, 382 N.C. 640 (2022) (stating that judicial officials may not “invade the purview of the exclusive and discretionary power of a district attorney”). Second, and relatedly, the general rule is that a judge can’t dismiss a case, without a legal basis, simply because the judge doesn’t like the charge or doesn’t think it is in the interest of justice. See Wayne R. LaFave, et al., 4 Crim. Proc. § 13.2(c) (4th ed.) (stating that a judge generally cannot “foreclose conviction on policy rather than evidentiary or legal grounds” and that absent express authority to the contrary in a particular state, a “judge does not have authority either to dismiss charges or to reduce charges merely because the prosecutor” could have done so in the prosecutor’s discretion). If a judge can’t dismiss a case, it seems to follow that a magistrate can’t refuse to charge it in the first place.
Here’s the case law. The most important case in this area is Ex Parte United States, 287 U.S. 241 (1932). In that case, a grand jury indicted a defendant for criminal violations of the banking laws. Nonetheless, a federal judge declined to issue an arrest warrant for the defendant. The Supreme Court ruled that a judge does not have discretion to refuse to issue a warrant under those circumstances. Given that the indictment “conclusively determine[d] the existence of probable cause,” the judge “should have issued the warrant as a matter of course.” In the Court’s view, “[t]he refusal of the trial court to issue a warrant of arrest under such circumstances is, in reality and effect, a refusal to permit the case to come to a hearing . . . and falls little short of a refusal to permit the enforcement of the law. The authority conferred upon the trial judge to issue a warrant of arrest upon an indictment does not, under the circumstances here disclosed, carry with it the power to decline to do so under the guise of judicial discretion.”
Clearly, the Court was concerned with the separation of powers: the judiciary interprets and applies the law, but the judicial power does not extend to simply “refus[ing] to permit the enforcement of the law” after probable cause has been “conclusively determine[d].” Of course, in Ex Parte United States, the probable cause determination was made by the grand jury while the warrant was sought from a judge. But conceptually, the same principle would seem to apply even when the judicial official makes the probable cause determination.
There are a handful of other cases that reinforce the thrust of Ex Parte United States:
- People v. Franklin, 323 N.W.2d 716 (Mich. Ct. App. 1982) (a defendant was arrested in one county on an outstanding warrant and was found to be carrying a concealed weapon and to be in possession of items recently stolen in another county; a magistrate in the county of arrest charged the defendant for possessing the weapon but declined to issue charges related to the theft, apparently because the magistrate thought it would be better for those charges to be obtained in the other county; the state appealed the magistrate’s refusal to charge and the defendant responded that a magistrate’s charging authority is discretionary; the reviewing court rejected the defendant’s position, stating that “[w]hen a warrant is sought by the prosecutor, the magistrate’s function is limited to determining whether sufficient probable cause exists” and that “[i]f the magistrate does find that probable cause exists, [the magistrate] must issue a warrant”)
- Gremp v. Little, 2009 WL 2969468 (N.D. Cal. September 11, 2009) (unpublished) (stating in passing that “a magistrate . . . does not have discretion to refuse to issue a warrant if probable cause exists,” citing Cal. Penal Code § 813(a), which in turn states that a magistrate “shall issue a warrant” if the magistrate finds probable cause).
Possible exceptions. Based on the foregoing, the general rule seems to be that a magistrate does not have the discretion to refuse to issue charges upon finding probable cause. But there may be exceptions to the rule. One example is Pugach v. Klein, 193 F. Supp. 630 (S.D.N.Y. 1961), where a federal judge declined to issue charges in part because doing so would interfere with a case pending in state court. The matter arose when a disbarred attorney who was charged with committing crimes under state law alleged that the state officials investigating him had themselves committed federal crimes during the investigation, including violations of the federal wiretap laws. He asked a federal judge to issue arrest warrants against the state officials, including the state judge. The federal judge declined, apparently finding no probable cause but stating that even if there were probable cause, “the Court would nevertheless, in the exercise of discretion, refuse to issue warrants in the circumstances shown here” because doing so would “embarrass, impede, and obstruct state criminal proceedings.” The court also stated that a warrant need not issue “merely because probable cause is shown,” and that “[t]he decision turns on the exercise of judgment by the Court.”
Are citizen-initiated cases an exception? They’re a lot more common than the sort of complex, multi-jurisdictional problem in Pugach. And there is some non-binding authority for the idea that magistrates have discretion in citizen-initiated cases. Specifically, there is a line of cases in Massachusetts holding that judicial officials have the discretion to refuse to issue process in citizen-initiated cases, but lack discretion when a case is officer-initiated or when the prosecutor’s office has indicated its intent to prosecute a citizen-initiated case. The specific reasoning turns in part on the language of the Massachusetts statutes, but it is also partly grounded in separation of powers considerations. The idea is that if the state – acting through a prosecutor or an officer – has decided to pursue a case for which probable cause exists, a magistrate lacks the discretion to refuse to charge. But if a private citizen is seeking a charge, and the state hasn’t weighed in one way or the other, the separation of powers concerns are reduced and a magistrate does have discretion. Compare Victory Distributors, Inc. v. Ayer Div. of Dist. Court Dept., 755 N.E.2d 273 (Mass. 2001) (a grocery store sought criminal complaints against fifty customers who had paid with worthless checks, but a judge refused to issue criminal process because the court “lacked the resources necessary to pursue these matters”; the store appealed, but the reviewing court held that “a judge or clerk-magistrate can decline to issue a criminal complaint even in cases such as the present ones where probable cause may exist to support the issuance of complaints”; it noted that an aggrieved party could request the Attorney General or a district attorney to pursue the matter, in which case “neither a judge . . . nor a clerk-magistrate may bar the prosecution, as long as the complaint is legally valid”), with Boston Globe Media Partners, LLC v. Chief Justice of Trial Court, 130 N.E.3d 742 (Mass. 2019) (citing Victory Distributors and noting that the rule is otherwise in other circumstances: “Where a law enforcement officer applies for a felony complaint, a clerk-magistrate who finds probable cause must authorize the complaint unless a prosecutor’s office opposes its issuance. . . . Where a private citizen applies for a felony complaint, or where anyone applies for a misdemeanor complaint, a clerk-magistrate who finds probable cause must authorize the complaint if the prosecutor’s office communicates to the clerk-magistrate its intention to prosecute the case if probable cause is found.”).
Massachusetts isn’t North Carolina, but our courts might find these cases persuasive. The cases are consistent with the rule in G.S. 15A-511 that a magistrate “must” issue a magistrate’s order after a warrantless arrest with probable cause. They recognize the discretionary authority of the state. And yet they leave room for judicial discretion in citizen-initiated cases, cases that are often troublesome or problematic in various ways and that the state has not committed itself to prosecute.
Cross warrants. A recurrent fact pattern with citizen-initiated process deserves special mention. Magistrates are often asked to issue “cross warrants,” when two parties involved in a single altercation seek charges against one another. Typically, the parties are seeking assault charges, often after an episode of domestic violence. Some magistrates are reluctant to issue charges against both parties. If a magistrate reaches that conclusion in a particular case because the magistrate thinks that it is clear that one party was the victim and should not be charged, that’s perfectly fine. But if a magistrate decides that he or she will never charge more than one party in an altercation, perhaps thinking that cross warrants will create conflicts of interest for the prosecutor, that seems like an exercise of discretion. And that specific exercise of discretion would be a particularly questionable one given G.S. 15A-304(d), which provides that a “judicial official shall not refuse to issue a warrant for the arrest of a person solely because a prior warrant has been issued for the arrest of another person involved in the same matter.”
Conclusion. So, can the magistrate refuse Fred’s request to charge Mike? The answer isn’t crystal clear, but I lean toward yes, because the matter is citizen-initiated. By contrast, if an officer were seeking the issuance of process, I don’t think the magistrate would have the discretion to refuse if probable cause were present. And, as noted above, if an officer has already made a warrantless arrest, it is clear by statute that the magistrate must issue a magistrate’s order if the arrest is supported by probable cause.
As a final observation, there isn’t a great deal of authority on this issue. I suspect it comes up regularly in practice but isn’t readily susceptible to judicial review. When a magistrate declines to issue process, the magistrate may not provide an explanation that is easily reviewable, or may couch the decision in terms of concerns about probable cause even if probable cause is actually present. Furthermore, other remedies, like asking another magistrate to issue process or contacting the district attorney, may be more practical than attempting appellate review.
Perhaps all of that means that this is a “no harm, no foul” situation. But I know that magistrates generally are quite conscientious about their roles, so I thought it was worth digging into this issue in case it helps magistrates think through some of the difficult cases that come before them.