NC 2019-2020 Report Final

6

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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