Laura's Law

In yesterday’s post, Jeff mentioned Laura’s Law, which increases the maximum punishment for impaired driving.  Today’s post discusses those provisions in more detail. S.L. 2011-191, dubbed Laura’s Law in recognition of 17-year-old Laura Fortenberry, who died last summer when the car she was riding in was struck by an impaired driver who had previous DWI convictions, increases the maximum punishment for impaired driving, increases the length of time that continuous alcohol monitoring may be required as a condition of probation, and makes other changes applicable to defendants charged with and sentenced for DWI. The act is effective for offenses committed on or after December 1, 2011. Currently, the most severe sentence that can be imposed for any of the impaired driving offenses sentenced pursuant to G.S. 20-179 is a Level 1 sentence, which carries a maximum term of imprisonment of 24 months and a maximum fine of $4,000. A person convicted of impaired driving is sentenced at Level 1 if two or more grossly aggravating factors exist. (You can read more about grossly aggravating factors and the offenses sentenced pursuant to G.S. 20-179 here.) S.L. 2011-191 requires that a judge impose Aggravated Level One punishment when there are at least three grossly aggravating factors in an impaired driving case sentenced under G.S. 20-179. (For ease of reference, I’ll refer to this as a Level A1 DWI.) Level A1 DWI requires a minimum term of 12 months imprisonment up to a maximum term of 36 months. The maximum fine is $10,000. A [...]