48-Hour Rule Refresher

Pretrial release is generally set by magistrates at a defendant's initial appearance. As a special approach to setting conditions of pretrial release, the “48-hour rule,” as it is known in domestic violence cases, shifts that responsibility to judges. The rule comes from G.S. 15A-534.1, which provides that a judge rather than a magistrate must set a defendant’s pretrial release conditions during the first 48 hours after arrest for certain offenses. The 48-hour rule generates a lot of questions. Below, I have answered some fundamental questions that have arisen with this rule. What offenses under G.S. 15A-534.1 are subject to the 48-hour rule? G.S. 15A-534.1 lists the offenses subject to the 48-hour rule. Some offenses are subject to the rule based on the offense alone. Those are domestic criminal trespass and violation of a domestic violence protective order. A greater number of offenses are subject to the rule only if the defendant is charged with an offense listed in the statute and the defendant and victim are or have been in a relationship described in the statute. The covered offenses in this category are assault, stalking, communicating a threat, and the felonies proscribed by Articles 7B, 8, 10, or 15 of Chapter 14 of the General Statutes, such as rape, kidnapping, and arson. The requirement of a covered relationship is met if the offense is against “a spouse or former spouse, a person with whom the defendant lives or has lived as if married, or a person with whom the defendant is [...]