From time to time, an officer or a magistrate asks how to respond when a defendant who is properly subject to fingerprinting under G.S. 15A-502 refuses to be fingerprinted. There are at least three good ways to address this situation: First, the magistrate can make fingerprinting a condition of release. This is probably permitted under G.S. 15A-534, which allows magistrates a broad authority to “place restrictions on the . . . conduct . . . of the defendant as [a] condition[] of pretrial release.” Perhaps that statute could be read to allow a magistrate only the power to regulate the defendant’s conduct while out on release, as opposed to his conduct necessary to be released, but I think a court would probably rule otherwise. Again, this procedure is probably permitted in the case of a defendant who refuses to, or is unable to, produce identification. See Jessica Smith, Criminal Procedure for Magistrates, Administration of Justice Bulletin 2007/06, at 13. Second, the officer can attempt to induce compliance by threatening to have the defendant charged with resisting an officer. Such a charge would be proper given the officer’s duty to take the defendant’s fingerprints. Cf., e.g., People v. Hasenflue, 169 Misc. 2d 766, 648 N.Y.S.2d 254 (N.Y. Sup. 1996) (“[T]he defendant's alleged conduct of refusing to be fingerprinted and his attempt to leave . . . could have given rise to a charge of Obstructing Governmental Administration in the Second Degree,” a charge apparently similar to the North Carolina offense of resisting [...]
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