Last month, the North Carolina court of appeals decided State v. Graves, No. COA09-595 (March 16, 2010), a case involving the defendant’s appeal from his convictions for felony speeding to elude, driving while license revoked (DWLR), reckless driving to endanger, and impaired driving. The court vacated the defendant’s conviction for DWLR on the basis that the state did not present sufficient evidence that defendant committed that crime, a point conceded by the state in its brief, and upheld the other convictions. Given the state’s concession that the evidence of DWLR was insufficient, the court did not discuss the point in any detail in its opinion. But I was curious so I read the briefs and reviewed the record on appeal. Turns out that Graves had two prior convictions for impaired driving—one in 1998 and another in 2004. As a result, when his license was restored in 2006, it was restored with a restriction that he operate only a vehicle equipped with ignition interlock (for one year), see G.S. 20-17.8(a)(2), (b), and that he not drive with an alcohol concentration greater than 0.00 (for three years), see G.S. 20-19. Both restrictions applied when Graves drove a friend’s car on July 24, 2007 in the incident giving rise to the charges. There was no ignition interlock on the vehicle; moreover, Graves was driving while impaired. G.S. 20-17.8(f) provides that a person who violates an ignition interlock restriction “commits the offense of driving while license revoked under G.S. 20-28(a) and is subject to punishment [...]
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