State v. Thompson

Citation508 S.E.2d 277
Decision Date31 December 1998
Docket NumberNo. 80PA98.,80PA98.
CourtUnited States State Supreme Court of North Carolina
PartiesSTATE of North Carolina v. Ronnie THOMPSON.

Michael F. Easley, Attorney General by Teresa L. Harris, Assistant Attorney General, for the State.

Office of the Public Defender by Russell J. Hollers III, Assistant Public Defender, Durham, for defendant-appellant.

The American Civil Liberties Union of North Carolina Legal Foundation by Mebane Rash Whitman, Raleigh, amicus curiae.

WHICHARD, Justice.

The issue is whether N.C.G.S. § 15A-534.1(b), regarding the bail and pretrial release of individuals accused of having committed crimes of domestic violence, is unconstitutional, on its face or as applied, under the Due Process and Double Jeopardy Clauses of the United States Constitution. We conclude that the statute, as applied to defendant under the discrete facts presented, deprived him of his federal constitutional right to procedural due process.

In 1979 Governor James B. Hunt, Jr., formally recognized that domestic violence is a "serious and invisible problem" in North Carolina. North Carolina Legislation 1979, at 61 (Inst. of Gov't, Univ. of N.C. at Chapel Hill, Joan G. Brannon & Ann L. Sawyer eds. 1979). Shortly thereafter, the General Assembly responded to public concern about domestic violence by passing Senate Bill 171, which was codified as N.C.G.S. § 15A-534.1. This legislation established a special pretrial-release provision for individuals charged with crimes of domestic violence. Id. at 62. The General Assembly recognized that in particular situations, individuals charged with crimes of domestic violence may pose an identifiable threat to their victims after these individuals have been released on bond. Thus, this legislation empowered judicial officials, including judges and magistrates, to order preventive, pretrial detention of a domestic-violence arrestee for a "reasonable period of time" while determining the conditions of the arrestee's release. Act of May 14, 1979, ch. 561, sec. 4, 1979 N.C.Sess.Laws 592, 594. This grant of authority to judicial officials also contained a limitation: They could order pretrial detention of a domestic-violence arrestee only if they specifically found that the arrestee's immediate release on an appearance bond posed a danger of injury or was likely to result in intimidation of the alleged victim. Id.

In 1995, almost two decades after the enactment of N.C.G.S. § 15A-534.1, the General Assembly amended this statute. Act of June 10, 1975, ch. 527, sec. 3, 1995 N.C.Sess. Laws 546, 546 (making amendments effective upon ratification). "[P]erhaps the most significant change" in this domestic-violence legislation "provides that a magistrate may no longer set conditions of pretrial release in certain domestic violence cases." North Carolina Legislation 1995, at 5-9 (Inst. of Gov't, Univ. of N.C. at Chapel Hill, Joseph S. Ferrell ed. 1995). Under the amended statute, "the judicial official who determines the conditions of pretrial release shall be a judge," N.C.G.S. § 15A-534.1(a) (1997), and a magistrate may act only "[i]f a judge has not acted" within forty-eight hours following the arrest of the accused, N.C.G.S. § 15A-534.1(b). Essentially, under the amended domestic-violence legislation, the arrestee "must be held in jail," without a consideration of the specific facts of his or her case, "until a judge [or, after forty-eight hours, a magistrate] sets conditions of pretrial release." North Carolina Legislation 1995, at 5-9. The amended statute provides:

§ 15A-534.1. Crimes of domestic violence; bail and pretrial release.
(a) In all cases in which the defendant is charged with assault on or communicating a threat to a spouse or former spouse or a person with whom the defendant lives or has lived as if married, with domestic criminal trespass, or with violation of an order entered pursuant to Chapter 50B, Domestic Violence, of the General Statutes, the judicial official who determines the conditions of pretrial release shall be a judge, and the following provisions shall apply in addition to the provisions of G.S. 15A-534:
(1) Upon a determination by the judge that the immediate release of the defendant will pose a danger of injury to the alleged victim or to any other person or is likely to result in intimidation of the alleged victim and upon a determination that the execution of an appearance bond as required by G.S. 15A-534 will not reasonably assure that such injury or intimidation will not occur, a judge may retain the defendant in custody for a reasonable period of time while determining the conditions of pretrial release.
(2) A judge may impose the following conditions on pretrial release:
a. That the defendant stay away from the home, school, business or place of employment of the alleged victim;
b. That the defendant refrain from assaulting, beating, molesting, or wounding the alleged victim;
c. That the defendant refrain from removing, damaging or injuring specifically identified property;
d. That the defendant may visit his or her child or children at times and places provided by the terms of any existing order entered by a judge.
The conditions set forth above may be imposed in addition to requiring that the defendant execute a secured appearance bond.
(3) Should the defendant be mentally ill and dangerous to himself or others or a substance abuser and dangerous to himself or others, the provisions of Article 5 of Chapter 122C of the General Statutes shall apply.
(b) A defendant may be retained in custody not more than 48 hours from the time of arrest without a determination being made under this section by a judge. If a judge has not acted pursuant to this section within 48 hours of arrest, the magistrate shall act under the provisions of this section.

N.C.G.S. § 15A-534.1.

On 21 October 1995, shortly after the amendments to N.C.G.S. § 15A-534.1 became effective, Tina Upchurch took out a warrant for defendant Ronnie Thompson's arrest. Upchurch alleged that defendant was formerly her domestic partner and that he had assaulted her, inflicting serious injury. Based upon these allegations, a magistrate determined that probable cause existed to issue a warrant for defendant's arrest for misdemeanor assault inflicting serious injury.

Seven days later, on Saturday, 28 October 1995, the police arrested defendant and charged him with three misdemeanor offenses: assault inflicting serious injury, N.C.G.S. § 14-33(b)(1) (1993); assault on a female, N.C.G.S. § 14-33(b)(2); and second-degree trespass, N.C.G.S. § 14-159.13 (1993). The charge of misdemeanor assault inflicting serious injury, N.C.G.S. § 14-33(b)(1), is the only charge of domestic violence. The assault on a female, N.C.G.S. § 14-33(b)(2), and second-degree trespass, N.C.G.S. § 14-159.13, charges were allegedly committed against Dorothy Bennett, who was a friend of Tina Upchurch's. There is no suggestion of a domestic-partner relationship between defendant and Bennett.

Immediately following defendant's arrest, at 3:45 p.m. on 28 October, defendant arrived before a second magistrate seeking a "Release Order" pending trial. The magistrate completed a "Release Order" form, but under recently amended N.C.G.S. § 15A-534.1, the magistrate did not authorize defendant's release pending trial. Instead, the magistrate denied bond, designated defendant as a "Domestic Violence" arrestee, and ordered him sent to jail. The magistrate completed an "Order of Commitment" form directed to the "Custodian of the Detention Facility" to which defendant was sent. He ordered that the custodian of the detention facility "[b]ring [defendant] before Judge or Magistrate 10/30/95 3:45 p.m. for Bond." The magistrate signed and dated this order at the time of its issuance on Saturday, 28 October 1995.

Upon this order of commitment, defendant spent almost forty-eight hours, including two nights, in jail without bond on three misdemeanor charges. On 30 October, officers led defendant from the jail to the courtroom. Following a bond hearing on the facts relevant to the charges, a judge released defendant on a $5,000 secured bond.

When defendant's case was called for trial in District Court, defendant argued that N.C.G.S. § 15A-534.1(b), the amended domestic-violence, pretrial-release legislation, was unconstitutional because it authorized a magistrate to detain defendant in jail for forty-eight hours prior to trial and without a prompt post-detention hearing before a judge. Defendant also moved to dismiss the charges against him under N.C.G.S. § 15A-954(a)(4) (1997), which authorizes a court to dismiss charges against a criminal defendant when that defendant's constitutional rights have been violated resulting in irreparable prejudice. The District Court concluded that "[t]he application of N.C.G.S. § 15A-534.1 was unconstitutional." The court recognized that defendant was automatically denied bond by a magistrate based solely upon defendant's status as a domestic-violence arrestee, that defendant was "not entitled to present evidence regarding appropriate conditions of pretrial release," and that "defendant [had] no right to appeal [the magistrate's] denial of conditions of release." The court also explained that defendant's "due process rights have been flagrantly violated," that defendant "was denied his constitutional right to reasonable conditions of pretrial release within a reasonable amount of time," and that "[f]urther prosecution would subject him to punishment for the same offense twice." The District Court dismissed the charges.

The State appealed, and the Superior Court reversed. The Superior Court concluded, without explanation, that "[t]he domestic violence bond law, N.C.G.S. § 15A-534.1[,] is constitutional and thus does not violate the Double Jeopardy Clause of the 5th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, the due process clause of the 14th Amendment, nor any other substantive law." The Superior Court reinstated the criminal...

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