If you’ve been dragging your feet about having an old DWI expunged, you had better hurry up. A law enacted last week removes convictions for offenses involving impaired driving from the types of convictions that may be expunged. The change is effective for petitions filed or pending on or after December 1, 2015. So if you are eligible for such an expunction, your window of opportunity is closing fast. Read on to find about the other changes S.L. 2015-150 makes to the state’s DWI laws. No statutory deferred prosecution or conditional discharge for DWI. G.S. 15A-1341 sets forth a statutory scheme pursuant to which certain defendants may be placed on probation as part of a deferred prosecution agreement or as part of an agreement following a determination of the defendant's guilt. This first type of agreement and probation commonly is referred to as “statutory deferred prosecution” so as to distinguish it from other ad hoc deferred prosecution arrangements that may be entered into by a district attorney and a criminal defendant. The second is commonly called a "conditional discharge." A defendant’s successful completion of probation leads to dismissal of the charges under either arrangement. See G.S. 15A-1342(i) (granting a defendant immunity from prosecution upon the expiration of probation imposed after deferral of prosecution). Charges are dismissed by the prosecutor if the defendant is placed on probation before entering a plea. See G.S. 15A-1341(a1), (a2). Charges are dismissed by the court and the defendant discharged if the defendant pleads or is found guilty [...]
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