District Court is in Session . . . But for How Long?

Editor's note: This post has been revised slightly in response to a helpful comment from a reader. A district court session usually lasts one day, so many court actors have gotten in the habit of thinking that a district court session is a day as a matter of law. Some North Carolina publications refer to this day-long rule as if it were a foregone conclusion. However, "session" is not defined statutorily and there is authority to suggest that a district court session may span days. For those of you who can't stand the suspense, see the last paragraph. For those of you who are less intrigued, this is not an academic exercise! Consider how the definition of "session" comes into play in sentencing. Under G.S. 15A-1340.21(d), if a defendant is convicted of more than one offense in a single session of district court, only one of the convictions can be used to determine the prior conviction level for misdemeanor sentencing. By way of illustration, let's say Donald Defendant's record reflects that he was convicted of 8 counts of misdemeanor larceny on August 11, 2009, and has no other prior convictions. He is being sentenced today for Assault on a Government Official, a Class A1 misdemeanor. Donald is a prior conviction level II; only one of the larcenies can be used because he was convicted of all of them in a single session of court. He can therefore receive a sentence of up to 75 days. If the district court judge erroneously [...]