North Carolina Court Monitoring Project 2019-2020
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction_____________________________________________________ 3 State Overview__________________________________________________4 Carteret County _________________________________________________6 Cumberland County ______________________________________________7 Forsyth County__________________________________________________8 Person County __________________________________________________9 Wake County __________________________________________________ 10 Conclusions and Recommendations ________________________________ 11
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INTRODUCTION
MADD’s Court Monitoring Program was created to ensure that impaired driving offenders are
prosecuted by having court monitors observe and document what happens during impaired driving
case proceedings.
The goals of MADD’s Court Monitoring Program are to enhance transparency, accountability and to
promote appropriate sentencing within the criminal justice system for drunk driving cases.
This is accomplished by:
• Compiling information on the handling of DWI cases in our court system.
• Promoting public interest and awareness of the outcomes of criminal cases in the justice system • To report the relevant information collected and publicizing the findings through an annual report released by MADD National as well as local reports.
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STATE OVERVIEW
North Carolina had over 30,000 DWI arrests in 2020 alone and through our court monitoring program we were able to
observe around 2,400 cases per year in 2019 and 2020. It is important to note that the Court Monitoring Project is only
monitoring a random sample of the overall cases that are handled in certain counties in North Carolina. Due to the
program being reliant on mostly volunteers to attend court sessions, the counties that we monitor can change throughout
the year due to the loss of a volunteer.
MADD’s North Carolina Court Monitoring Program observes DWI cases in counties throughout the state with funding
provided by the Governors Highway Safety Program. Data is collected by trained volunteers and staff by observing court
proceedings held in District Court throughout the state. Volunteers monitored weekly in 10 counties while a dedicated
staff member covered an additional 9 counties on a rotating basis. Most volunteers attend one court session the same
day every week and observe any DWI cases on the docket for that day. A new court monitor was trained to observe in
court in Robeson County in early 2020 but was unable to attend any court proceedings due to the COVID-19 shut down.
Additional information is collected from the public use terminals at clerk of court’s office. Due to the courts being closed
for several months and capacity limited from the COVID-19 pandemic, most data from April through December 2020 was
collected through the public use terminals which limits the available data to that which was entered into the system by the
court clerks.
Through the examination of the data from the years 2019- 2020, the following are overall general observations followed by
a more in depth look at five of the counties with court monitoring in North Carolina:
In the data, we see that 73% of cases monitored were found guilty and 19% dismissed. It is important to note that this
statistic varies greatly from county to county. In some counties we observed almost the same number of dismissals as
guilty verdicts. We observed that almost 40% of offenders have at least one previous conviction for DWI with some as
many as 10 previous convictions. More than 60% of offenders were between the ages of 21 – 39 years old and almost
75% were males.
Total Number of Open and Adjudicated Cases 2019-2020
Overall Disposition of cases 2019-2020
0%
19%
2094
8%
2811
73%
Guilty Not Guilty Dismissed Amended
open closed
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Disposition of Cases in 2019-2020
Dismissed/Failure to Prosecute
Disposition Sealed/Unable to Determine Disposition
County
Guilty
Not Guilty
Total
NC Carteret
110 300 135
15 62 26
88
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 2
213 463 210
NC Cumberland
101
NC Davidson
49
NC Davie
45
6 0 2
6 1 6
57
NC Duplin
4
5
NC Durham
55
63
NC Forsyth
371
12
40
423
NC Franklin
20 48 38 69
1 0 3 9 6 1 2 0
5 7
26 55 52
NC Guilford
NC Harnett
11 33
NC Johnston
111
NC Lee
7
4
17
NC Mecklenburg
11 37
3
15 55
NC Onslow
16
NC Pender
7
1
8
NC Person
276
32
78 13 61
386
NC Robeson
1
8 1
22
NC Union
62
124
NC Wake
375
37
88
501
NC Wayne
4
0
1
6
Total
1975
223
611
2811
Previous DWI Convictions
Age and Gender of DWI Defendants
2% 2%
80-89
70-79
9%
60-69
50-59
26%
40-49
61%
30-39
21-29
Under 20
First Offense
2nd Offense
3rd Offense
0
200
400
600
800
1000
4th Offense
5 or More Offenses
Female Male
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Carteret County
2019-2020
Carteret County is in the 3B District Court District and the 4 th Prosecutorial District of North Carolina. Most DWI cases are heard in one courtroom and there is not a lot of turnover in the assistant district attorneys prosecuting cases. There is one volunteer who attends court weekly to observe impaired driving cases.
Carteret County has a very large number of cases on the docket each day; often over 350 cases for one
courtroom. Continuances are common and are often at the request of the defense attorney. Continuances delay the resolution of DWI cases and add to the already extensive docket. The volunteer has observed cases with more than 12 continuances from the defense noted in the database. As our volunteer noted, cases often end up dismissed when the state requests a continuance if the officer was unavailable or not present. Another
effect of cases taking so long is seen in cases get dismissed due to the arresting officer having left law
enforcement and has become unavailable for the hearing which leads to the dismissal of the case.
Carteret County Average Length of Case
Carteret County Disposition 2019-2020
140
120
2+ yrs 20%
112
120
0-1 Yrs 36%
100
80
60
40
15
20
1-2 yrs 44%
4
3
0
Guilty Not Guilty Dismissed Amended Unable to determine dispostion
0-1 Yrs 1-2 yrs 2+ yrs
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CUMBERLAND COUNTY
2019-2020
Cumberland County is in the 12 th District Court District and the 14 th Prosecutorial District of North Carolina. There are several courtrooms that hear DWI cases which leads to many different assistant district attorneys
and judges handling all the cases. There is one volunteer who attends court once per week to observe
impaired driving cases. Large dockets and multiple continuances are often the cause of more than half of the cases taking up to two years to reach a final disposition. The volunteer has seen all cases in one courtroom
continued despite defendants and officers being present and most of the time is not able to hear the reason for
the continuance. There is a lot of waiting as defense attorneys have cases in different courtrooms at the same time which slows down the ability to keep the cases moving along in the judicial process. The volunteer will
sometimes move to a different courtroom in hopes of finding cases that will be heard for a plea, motion, or trial.
Cumberland County Disposition 2019-2020
250
223
200
150
76
100
44
50
0
0
Guilty
Not Guilty
Dismissed
Unable to determine dispostion
Cumberland County - Case Age
2+ yrs 7%
0-1 yrs 37%
1-2 yrs 56%
0-1 yrs 1-2 yrs 2+ yrs
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FORSYTH COUNTY
2019-2020
Forsyth County is in the 21st District Court District and the 31 st Prosecutorial District in North Carolina. Most DWI cases are handled in one courtroom with several Assistant District Attorneys prosecuting the cases. There is one volunteer who attends court once a week. In 2019, there was also a student intern who attended
court once per week for the semester. Again, this is a court with a large docket number that sometimes runs
out of space in the courtroom for defendants requiring observers to wait outside until some defendants leave. According to volunteer monitors, it can be difficult to hear the proceedings and information must be obtained from the computer despite being present in the courtroom. As with other counties, continuances are commonplace due to the large dockets extending the average length of case to 1-2 years.
Forsyth County Disposition 2019-2020
371
100 150 200 250 300 350 400
12
40
0 50
0
Guilty
Not Guilty
Dismissed Unable to determine dispostion
2+ yrs 6% Forsyth County - Case Age
0-1 yrs 46%
1-2 yrs 48%
Forsyth 0-1 yrs 1-2 yrs 2+ yrs
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PERSON COUNTY
2019-2020
Person County is in the 9 th District Court District and the 11 th Prosecutorial District. The prosecutorial district covers five counties with 15 assistant district attorneys while there are five District Court judges who cover 3 ½
counties in the district. Person County has one courtroom that hears the DWI cases for the county. Multiple
ADAs may collect discovery and attend hearings as the case progresses as well as several different judges. There is not a lot of turnover in the ADAs office which allows them to become more proficient at the
complicated DWI trials. There is one volunteer who attends court at least once a week since early 2019. Our
volunteer noted that continuances are a common occurrence, and it is not always clear why the request was made by either the defense or the prosecution.
Person County Disposition 2019-2020
300
241
250
200
150
100
33
50
9
0
0
Guilty
Not Guilty
Dismissed Unable to determine dispostion
Person County
2+ yrs
0-1 yrs 46%
1-2 yrs 42%
Wake 0-1 yrs 1-2 yrs 2+ yrs
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WAKE COUNTY
2019-2020
Wake County is in the 10 th District Court District and the 10 th Prosecutorial District of North Carolina. Wake County has several courtrooms that hears DWI cases including a dedicated DWI courtroom. There are several
assistant district attorneys who handle cases in the DWI courtroom as well as the other courtrooms in the
courthouse. Multiple ADAs may collect discovery and attend hearings as the case progresses as well as several different judges. There has been frequent turnover in the ADAs who handle the DWI cases in the past
few years.
MADD NC has had at least one trained volunteer attend court once a week to gather data and observe cases.
The program also had a criminal justice class from William Peace College attend court for at least 10 hours to
observe DWI cases part of their class requirement; as well as two student interns for one semester each. Most volunteer court monitors attend the same court session every week (i.e., Wednesday morning sessions every week). Even with the dedicated DWI courtroom which has a small docket, cases are often continued many times prolonging the time for a case to reach final disposition. Like so many counties experience, there is a lot
of waiting time as defense attorneys are serving cases in multiple courtrooms at the same time which often
limits the number of cases heard that day.
Wake County Disposition 2019-2020
Wake County
2+ yrs 9%
350
300
300
0-1 yrs 51%
250
200
150
1-2 yrs 40%
80
100
26
50
2
0
Guilty Not Guilty Dismissed Amended Unable to determine dispostion
Wake 0-1 yrs 1-2 yrs 2+ yrs
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CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the judicial system experienced court closures and limited capacity which has
severely reduced the number of cases being handled in the courts. This continues into 2021 and it will be
some time before we are able to see the full impact of the delays and closures. Every county had their own specific restrictions and closures which made in-person court monitoring difficult in most counties. Some courts utilized virtual appearances through WebEx which enabled cases to move forward while capacity was limited. Some counties have not published the dockets during these closures which has been another obstacle
in continuing to court monitor cases during the pandemic. Being reliant on the information from the courthouse
database for the past year has made it difficult to note any new trends in causes for dismissals of cases. Being present in the courtroom is crucial in gathering more comprehensive data and identifying issues that are
addressed during hearings and trials.
In the data that we have gathered over these past two years, we are able to see that many DWI cases in most
counties take up to two years to reach a final disposition. When cases drag on for this long, it requires the officer to be present at each court date and continues to keep large numbers of cases on the already
overcrowded dockets. This will only get worse with the backlog that we will experience from the effects of the
pandemic and court closures. Another observation is how challenging and time consuming DWI trials have become and that makes these delays even more important as officers need to remember every detail of an
arrest from two years ago. Pretrial motions have become common and require Adequate training is crucial to
assist both law enforcement, prosecutors, and judges in the handling of these legally complicated cases. Making sure that all parties have access to training and resources to help address the increase in drugged driving cases and the complicated legal issues that arise is important. Another observation by court monitors is that it can be difficult for some counties to get the chemical analyst from the state, who is needed for testimony
about the blood draw. These cases then often end up getting dismissed when the state requests a motion to
continue in order subpoena the chemical analyst again for trial. This will be a concern as we see a rise in drugged driving cases that most often require a blood draw and the chemical analysts’ testimony in a trial.
As we look ahead to 2021, we still see capacity limits and restrictions on access to courtrooms due to Covid-19 restrictions. This directly impacts the court monitoring program as in-person courtroom observation is a crucial component of the information collected and in identifying trends in DWI cases. We look forward to continuing to develop and grow our working relationships with key stakeholders to raise awareness about the disposition
of DWI cases and any improvements needed to make the enforcement and prosecution of these cases efficient
and equitable.
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