Pretrial Release – Part 4: Refusal to Provide Identification & Noncitizens

In the last in this series of posts on pretrial release I’ll address two issues that continue to create problems for judicial officials: defendants who refuse to identify themselves and setting conditions for noncitizens. Defendants Who Refuse to Identify Themselves Sometimes defendants refuse to identify themselves. Without knowing a defendant’s identity, it is almost impossible for a judicial official to determine what conditions of pretrial release should be imposed. The judicial official will not be able to determine, among other things, whether the defendant has a record, has previously failed to appear, or what connections the defendant has with the community that are relevant to flight risk. If the relevant local policy does not address the situation, a judicial official probably may delay the initial appearance while a law enforcement officer completes an investigation into the defendant’s identity. Such an investigation may not be feasible in all cases, particularly when the crime is not a serious one. Note, however, that if a person (1) is charged with an offense involving impaired driving, as defined in G.S. 20-4.01(24a), or driving while license revoked when the revocation is for an impaired driving revocation, as defined in G.S. 20-28.2, and (2) cannot be identified by a valid form of identification, then the arresting officer must have the person fingerprinted and photographed. G.S. 15A-502(a2). This requirement does not necessarily result in an identification of the person, but it does impose additional duties on law enforcement. If the judicial official delays the initial appearance to allow [...]