Post-Release Supervision for Aggravated Level One DWI Offenders

Shea Denning summarized S.L. 2011-191, Laura’s Law, in a prior post. To recap, the law adds a new punishment level for impaired driving sentencing, Aggravated Level One (hereinafter Level A1), for situations in which three or more grossly aggravating factors apply. Today’s post picks up on some of the points Shea mentioned in her earlier post. I especially want to focus on the law’s requirement of post-release supervision of Level A1 offenders. The permissible punishment for a Level A1 sentence is a fine of up to $10,000 and sentence that includes a minimum term of not less than 12 months and a maximum term of not more than 36 months. The court can suspend the sentence only if it requires the offender to serve a split sentence of 120 days. Though the law appears to instruct the judge to impose a minimum sentence, the effect of that minimum is not altogether clear. Typically, the minimum imposed in a DWI sentence is for determining parole eligibility under G.S. 15A-1371 (which says that a DWI inmate is parole eligible upon completion of the lesser of the minimum or one fifth of the maximum penalty allowed by law, less good time), but Laura’s Law says that Level A1 inmates are not eligible for parole. The law does, however, say that Level A1 inmates shall be released from the Department of Correction “on the date equivalent to the defendant’s maximum imposed term of imprisonment less four months and shall be supervised by the Division of [...]