Probation Violations Arising During a Tolled Period

I recently presented at the North Carolina Probation and Parole Association’s annual conference. I received a lot of really good questions, but the subject that raised the most questions (by far) was tolling probation under G.S. 15A-1344(g). I wrote about it in this post if you care to review the basics. The general concept is that a probationer’s term of probation ceases to run when he or she has a new criminal charge pending that could result in revocation proceedings, and doesn’t start running again until the new charge is resolved. Any pending criminal charge (including charges for traffic offenses) tolls the probation period, except a charge for a Class 3 misdemeanor which, under G.S. 15A-1344(d), may not result in revocation. The law has a changed a little bit since I last wrote about it, adding a provision intended to mitigate the effect of tolling if a new criminal charge is resolved favorably for the probationer. Under the new law “[i]f the probationer is acquitted or if the new charge is dismissed, the time spent on probation during the tolled period shall be credited against the period of probation.” The law was added by S.L. 2009-372 and made effective for offenses committed on or after December 1, 2009. I interpret “offenses” in that context to mean the offense for which a person is on probation, not the new criminal charge that tolls the probationary period. More than once, I’ve been asked what should happen to violations that arise during a tolled [...]