Advice for Defenders Handling H & I Felonies in District Court

Shea wrote about changes to the law around the practice of entering low-level felony pleas in district court last fall, here. More and more districts have begun adopting the practice of accepting guilty pleas to class H and I felonies in district court since then. In light of the expansion of the practice across North Carolina, I wanted to remind defenders of the rules and best practices when entering a felony guilty plea in district court. Read on for the details. Jurisdiction. Pursuant to G.S. 7A-272(c), a district court has jurisdiction to accept guilty or no contest pleas for class H and class I felonies in two scenarios. Under G.S. 7A-272(c)(1), the district court has this authority when the case is pending at the district court level, the case has not yet been indicted, and a bill of information charging the felony offense has been filed. Under G.S. 7A-272(c)(2), the district court may also act when a class H or I felony has been indicted but has been transferred from superior court to district court to conduct the plea hearing pursuant to G.S. 15A-1029.1. The more common method of conferring jurisdiction on the district court to accept felony pleas is for a bill of information to be filed, so I want to focus on those. Bills of Information. G.S. 15A-641(b) defines a bill of information as a written accusation by a prosecutor that is filed in superior court and charges a represented defendant with the commission of one or more noncapital [...]