State v. Thompson

In State v. Thompson, 349 N.C. 483, 508 S.E.2d 277 (1998), the defendant was charged with three misdemeanors, including assault inflicting serious injury, which was a domestic violence charge. The defendant was arrested on Saturday, 28 October 1995, and the magistrate's order of commitment did not authorize defendant's release from jail for a bond hearing until forty-eight hours later, which defendant received the following Monday afternoon. Id. at 497, 508 S.E.2d at 285. In Thompson, our Supreme Court took judicial notice that two district court judges and two superior court judges were available during morning sessions of court on Monday, 30 October 1995. Id. at 498, 508 S.E.2d at 286. The Court emphasized that "defendant was not brought before a judge upon the opening of court on Monday morning. He, instead, remained in jail until Monday afternoon, almost forty-eight hours after his arrest." Id. at 497, 508 S.E.2d at 285-86. The Court denied defendant's argument that section 15A-534.1 was facially unconstitutional, but held that section 15A-534.1 was applied unconstitutionally and violated defendant's rights to a timely pre-trial release hearing. Id. at 498, 508 S.E.2d at 286. The Court held: Under these discrete facts, we agree with defendant that the magistrate's order automatically detaining him without a hearing until well into the afternoon, while available judges spent several hours conducting other business, violated his procedural due process rights to a timely pretrial-release hearing under N.C. Gen. Stat. 15A-534.1(a). Id. Further, the Court stated that "resolution of whether the statutory procedures as implemented here are constitutionally sufficient requires analysis of the particular circumstances of the case." Id.