Law enforcement has authority to seize a person’s motor vehicle in several circumstances. Motor vehicles may be seized as evidence of a crime or for containing evidence of a crime, or as a consequence of being charged with certain offenses, including specified drug offenses, larcenies, and motor vehicle offenses. For some individuals charged with impaired driving or felony speeding to elude arrest, their vehicles may be seized and are subject to forfeiture pursuant to G.S. 20-28.3. In these cases, subsection (m) requires expedited scheduling and imposes additional requirements before the case can be continued. This post examines when subsection (m) applies, what it requires, and what may happen if it’s not followed.
vehicle seizure
Recent Legislation Outlaws Street Takeovers
Last month the General Assembly enacted new G.S. 20-141.10 criminalizing so-called street takeovers. S.L. 2023-97. A street takeover occurs when a person blocks or impedes traffic on a highway, street, or public vehicular area with a motor vehicle in order to perform a motor vehicle stunt, contest, or exhibition. The new statute, effective for offenses committed on or after December 1, 2023, makes it unlawful for a person to operate a motor vehicle in a street takeover or to participate in or coordinate such an event. S.L. 2023-97 further authorizes the seizure of a motor vehicle operated in violation of G.S. 20-141.10.
Trial Priority for DWI Cases and Motions to Dismiss
Deep in the statutory woods of the law allowing the seizure of motor vehicles driven by certain impaired drivers is a provision setting trial priority for the underlying criminal charges. G.S. 20-28.3(m) requires that district court trials of impaired driving offenses involving forfeiture of motor vehicles be scheduled on the arresting officer’s next court date … Read more
May the police seize and impound cars driven by people charged with minor traffic violations?
The News and Observer reported Sunday on the Hamlet Police Department’s seizure of vehicles from drivers charged with low-level traffic offenses and the subsequent selling of those vehicles as scrap in what the reporter characterized as a “series of questionable and off-the-books transactions handled by the police.” A story in today’s paper states that the … Read more