Smith's Criminal Case Compendium
Table of Contents
State v. Roulhac, 273 N.C.App. 396, 848 S.E.2d 512 (Sept. 1, 2020)
The trial court properly denied the Surety’s motion for relief from a bond forfeiture order where the motion was made prior to entry of final judgment and was not based on one of the seven grounds for relief enumerated in G.S. 15A-544.5(b). The basis for the Surety’s motion for relief was that the clerk did not provide notice of the bond forfeiture within the 30-day period after the date the defendant failed to appear as required by G.S. 15A-544.4(e). Failure to provide timely notice of a bond forfeiture is not among the seven “reasons for set aside” enumerated in G.S. 15A-544.5, the statute which is the exclusive avenue of relief from a bond forfeiture when the forfeiture has not yet become a final judgment. The court noted that G.S. 15A-544.8 permits a trial court to set aside a final judgment of forfeiture on the grounds of untimely notice.