The General Assembly has just adjourned for the year. Last week, it passed, and the Governor signed, an omnibus criminal law bill, S.L. 2015-247. This post briefly summarizes its main provisions. Effective December 1, the bill changes from 20 days to 40 days the period of time that a defendant has to pay costs and fines before incurring an additional $50 penalty and risking license revocation. Effective immediately, the bill allows chief district court judges to designate magistrates to appoint counsel and to accept waivers of counsel. Previously, only attorney magistrates could be so designated and such magistrates were authorized only to appoint counsel, not to accept waivers. I am not sure whether any districts used the previous law; the new version seems more likely to be used. Effective immediately, the bill amends G.S. 15A-1347 to include a provision that “If a defendant appeals an activation of a sentence as a result of a finding of a violation of probation by the district or superior court, probation supervision will continue under the same conditions until the termination date of the supervision period or disposition of the appeal, whichever comes first.” I believe that Jamie has some thoughts about this provision and I hope that he will blog about it later. Effective immediately, the bill amends G.S. 15A-2005, which makes intellectually disabled (formerly, mentally retarded) people ineligible for the death penalty. Besides changing the name of the condition, the bill seeks to conform the statute to the Supreme Court’s recent decisions in [...]
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