Revoked, but Still on Probation?

I was surprised by one of the provisions included in the omnibus criminal law bill, S.L. 2015-247, that Jeff summarized yesterday. The act amended G.S. 15A-1347 to say that when a defendant whose probation is revoked in district or superior court appeals that revocation, “probation supervision will continue under the same conditions until the termination date of the supervision period or disposition of the appeal, whichever comes first.” The change was effective immediately when the governor signed it on September 23, and people are already asking what it means. Here are my thoughts. First, a bit of background. Under existing law, no statute clearly spelled out what happened when a revoked probationer appealed his or her revocation—either from district court to superior court for a de novo revocation hearing, or from superior court to the appellate division for appellate review. In the absence of a specific revocation appeal statute, people generally applied the statutes governing appeals of front-end active sentences. For an appeal of a district court revocation, the activated sentence would, under G.S. 15A-1431(f1), be stayed pending the de novo violation hearing in superior court. For an appeal of a superior court revocation, G.S. 15A-1451(a)(3) indicated that confinement was stayed only when the defendant is released pursuant to Article 26 of Chapter 15A (Bail)—typically, if at all, under an appeal bond. Not many revoked probationers get bail, and so most of them go to prison pending their appeal. Occasionally, however, a judge will allow an activated sentence to be stayed by imposing [...]