15A-534 Archives – North Carolina Criminal Law

North Carolina’s First Appearance Process Amended for Second Time in this Legislative Session

November 29, 2021 Tom Thornburg

In this earlier blog post, I discussed changes made to North Carolina’s first appearance process, to be effective for criminal processes served on or after December 1, 2021. Additional amendments have been made in new legislation.

In Session Law 2021-182 (S183), Section 2.5.(a) revised G.S. 15A-601 as previously amended by S.L. 2021-138.

Defendants charged with misdemeanors and in custody to get first appearance

This amendment does not affect a significant change made by S.L. 2021-138–the expansion of first appearance to include defendants charged with misdemeanors who are in custody. Under current law, only criminal defendants with felony charges are required to get first appearance.

Does a No Contact Order Apply While the Defendant Is in Jail?

June 6, 2018June 6, 2018 Shea Denning

When setting conditions of pretrial release in domestic violence cases, magistrates and judges often order a defendant not to contact the victim. Those directives clearly apply to a defendant once he is released from jail subject to those conditions. But what about a defendant who remains in jail? Is he also subject to a no contact condition included on a release order? The court of appeals addressed that issue yesterday in State v. Mitchell.