Background. In State v. Byrd, 363 N.C. 214 (2009), the state supreme court concluded that an ex parte domestic violence protective order, or DVPO, was not a “valid protective order” for purposes of the sentencing enhancement under G.S. 50B-4.1(d). (As explained in this prior post about Byrd, the enhancement provides that a felony that also constitutes a DVPO violation shall be punished one class higher than it otherwise would be.) The ruling cast broad doubt on the validity of ex parte DVPOs, and the General Assembly subsequently enacted legislation that appeared to be intended to reverse Byrd and to bolster the efficacy of ex parte DVPOs. Today, the court of appeals considered whether the legislation achieved its desired outcome. The case is State v. Poole. As a side note, the State was represented in the case by new School of Government faculty member LaToya Powell, back when she was still at the Attorney General’s office. Poole involved the following series of events. October 14, 2011: The defendant’s wife sought and obtained an ex parte DVPO based on the defendant’s threatening and harassing behavior. The order required the defendant to surrender his firearms to the officer who served the order. October 17, 2011: A deputy sheriff served the DVPO on the defendant. October 18, 2011: Officers returned to the defendant’s home and found a shotgun. The defendant was “arrested for violating the DVPO and indicted for ‘owning, possessing, purchasing, or receiving a firearm’ in violation of [G.S.] 14-269.8.” Defendant's motion to dismiss. [...]
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