Is There a Tolling Donut Hole?

I wrote previously (here and here) about the “donut hole” in the probation law regarding absconding. In short, due to a wrinkle in legislative effective dates, persons on probation for an offense committed before December 1, 2011 who abscond after that date cannot be revoked for absconding. Today’s post considers whether a similar phenomenon arises in the context of probation tolling. (Incidentally, I have learned that some judges do not like it when people use the undignified term “donut hole,” which I borrowed from a coverage gap in Medicare, to describe the absconding issue linked above. With that in mind you may wish to use a different description in court. But I stand by it—and continue to think the Absconding Donut Holes would be a great name for your office softball team. My trademark application for this logo concept is pending, but I’d probably let you use it with my express written consent.) Back to tolling. Tolling in the probation context was a law that stopped the running of a person’s probation period when he or she had pending charges for an offense which, upon conviction, could result in revocation—so, essentially, anything other than a Class 3 misdemeanor. I first described the law, as codified in G.S. 15A-1344(d) between the late 1970’s and 2009, here. The law was amended in 2009, as described here (page 8). The 2009 amendment moved the tolling provision to G.S. 15A-1344(g), and added a provision stating that if the charge that tolled a person’s probation was acquitted or [...]