Criminal Processes in the Context of the Pretrial Integrity Act

By now, court officials are familiar with the pretrial release laws as amended by the Pretrial Integrity Act. The application of G.S. 15A-533(b) regarding defendants charged with certain high-level felonies has been fairly straightforward. Application of the 48-hour provision, G.S. 15A-533(h), has not been as simple and has given rise to several questions, including what procedures to apply when a criminal process other than an arrest warrant is used. Under the new law, when a defendant is arrested for a new offense while on pretrial release for a pending proceeding, a judge—rather than a magistrate—must set conditions of release for the new offense within the first 48 hours after arrest. This post addresses the application of this provision with regard to citations, summonses, orders for arrest, and indictments. Charges Initiated by Citation or Summons There are two scenarios to consider when charges are initiated by citation or summons. One is when a defendant was initially charged by citation or summons, then commits a new offense and is arrested. Because citations and summonses do not authorize a law enforcement officer to take the defendant into custody, a defendant charged by either of those instruments cannot be considered to be on pretrial release for the charged offenses, since they were neither taken into nor released from custody. Accordingly, an arrest for a subsequent charge would not trigger the 48-hour provision under G.S. 15A-533(h) because the defendant was not on pretrial release. Under this scenario, a magistrate has immediate authority to set conditions of release [...]