A UNC School of Government Blog
Jeff wrote here about State v. Fields, ___ N.C. App. ___ (March 6, 2012), a case in which the officer’s observation of the defendant’s vehicle as moving within its lane “like a ball bouncing in a small room” provided reasonable suspicion for a traffic stop that culminated in an impaired driving charge. Another recent court … Read more
I ended last week’s post by noting that the date on which a prior impaired driving conviction occurs for purposes of the seven-year-look-back period in G.S. 20-179(c)(1)(a) may not be immediately obvious when a district court conviction for an impaired driving offense has been appealed to superior court and the appeal is later withdrawn. When … Read more
As most readers know, sentencing for most misdemeanor and felony convictions in North Carolina is governed by the structured sentencing provisions set forth in Article 81B of Chapter 15A of the General Statutes. See G.S. 15A-1340.10. The misdemeanor offense of impaired driving as defined in G.S. 20-138.1 and several related offenses, however, are excepted from … Read more
Since the start of the new year, I’ve been meaning to return to the court of appeals’ December 2011 opinion in State v. Clowers, __ N.C. App. __ , 720 S.E.2d 430 (2011), to explore the application of the defenses of automatism and involuntary intoxication to charges of impaired driving. Two months later, I’ve finally … Read more
The lead story in the January 30, 2012 issue of North Carolina Lawyer’s Weekly was headlined “Necessary’s Restraint: The night police officer Richard Necessary sat on a drunk-driving suspect in order to get a blood sample might prove to be the night when courts realized enough is enough.” The newspaper reported that a superior court … Read more
A recent en banc decision from the Supreme Court of Missouri adds to the growing divide among state appellate courts regarding whether the exigency created by the dissipation of blood-alcohol levels is sufficient, by itself, to render a nonconsensual, warrantless blood draw from a person arrested for impaired driving a reasonable search and seizure under … Read more
As most readers of this blog know, many people charged in North Carolina with driving while impaired and other implied consent offenses suffer the immediate consequence of having their driver’s licenses revoked pursuant to G.S. 20-16.5 by the magistrate at their initial appearance. North Carolina enacted its administrative license revocation procedure as part of the … Read more
G.S. 20-138.1(a)(2) prohibits a person from driving a vehicle upon a highway, street or public vehicular area after having consumed sufficient alcohol that the person has, at any relevant time after the driving, an alcohol concentration of 0.08 or more. S.L. 2006-253 amended this subsection to provide, effective for offenses committed on or after December 1, … Read more
When a person’s license is revoked for certain offenses involving impaired driving, the person must, before his or her license may be restored, obtain a substance abuse assessment and complete the treatment or education recommended based on that assessment. G.S. 20-17.6. This requirement applies when a person’s license is revoked upon conviction of any of … Read more
The North Carolina Supreme Court decided Lee v. Gore last Friday, affirming the court of appeals and holding that DMV lacked authority to revoke the petitioner’s driving privileges pursuant to G.S. 20-16.2 based upon an affidavit that failed to allege that he willfully refused to submit to a chemical analysis. I’ve written about this case … Read more