Every year, many people start off the New Year facing the consequences and expense of a DWI/DUI arrest.  Unfortunately, holiday festivities often even take a deadly turn when a person chooses to drink alcohol and then get behind the wheel.

In an effort to remove impaired drivers from the roads, State Transportation Secretary Gene Conti announced on December 2, 2011 that state and local law enforcement officers will be out in force as part of the Holiday “Booze It & Lose It” campaign.  Checkpoints and stepped-up patrols will be conducted through Monday, January 2, 2012 across North Carolina.  This means that an increased police presence is to be expected.

Collins Law Firm always urges people not to drive while impaired.  If you consume alcohol, we encourage you to have a designated driver or to take a taxi home.  However, if you are charged with a DWI/DUI, underage drinking, or any other crime in or around Wilmington, NC in New Hanover County, Brunswick County (Bolivia, NC), or Pender County (Burgaw, NC) and need a lawyer or attorney to represent you, call Collins Law Firm at: 910-793-9000 for a confidential consultation.

By Jana Collins, Office Manager

The Fourth of July celebration is commonly associated with fireworks, parades, hot dogs, picnics, and other parties.  Also, it is a day where many Americans will be consuming alcohol.

As North Carolinians across the state flock to the Southeastern North Carolina coast to celebrate the 4^th of July Weekend, the state has begun “Booze It & Lose It: Operation Firecracker” to deter drunk drivers across the entire state and remove impaired drivers from the roads.  Operation Firecracker began Monday, June 27, and continues through Monday, July 4.

Operation Firecracker is conducted by the North Carolina Department of Transportation and it coordinates the Highway Patrol, sheriff’s offices and police departments.  During this period there will be additional checkpoints and stepped up patrols that will be conducted across the state.

The Fourth of July holiday is considered one of the deadliest for highway travel.  In 2010, according to the North Carolina Department of Transportation, there were 205 alcohol-related automobile accidents during the Independence holiday, which resulted in six deaths.  Additionally, alcohol-related crashes also accounted for 105 injuries in the state during the same week last year.  During the 2010 “Booze It & Lose it: Operation Firecracker” campaign officers conducted more than 4,600 patrols and checkpoints, which resulted in more than 1,200 North Carolina motorists being charged with driving while impaired.

This means there will be an increased police presence at the beaches in Pender, New Hanover, and Brunswick Counties.  The beaches that will be affected will be Surf City, Topsail Beach, Wrightsville Beach, Kure Beach, Carolina Beach, Holden Beach, Ocean Isle Beach, and Sunset Beach.

Collins Law Firm always urges people not to drive while impaired.  If you consume alcohol, we encourage you to have a designated driver or to take a taxi home.  However, if you are charged with a DWI/DUI, underage drinking, or any other crime in or around Wilmington, NC in New Hanover County, Brunswick County (Bolivia, NC), or Pender County (Burgaw, NC) and need a lawyer or attorney to represent you, call Collins Law Firm at: 910-793-9000 for a confidential consultation.

When Americans get into their car for their commute to work, to drop the kids off for school, or for any other reason, they are likely to either talk on their cell phone or use text messaging. Just this morning when our summer intern drove the 55 miles from Sunset Beach, NC (Brunswick County) to Wilmington, NC (New Hanover County) on Highway 17 passing through Ocean Isle and Bolivia, he told me he counted twenty-two people who were texting on their cell phone.

Texting while driving is quite dangerous for three reasons: 1) You are taking your eyes of the road; 2) You are taking your hands off the wheel; and 3) You are taking your mind off what you’re doing.  A study released by the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute found that truck drivers who were texting were 23 times more at risk of a crash or a near crash event than drivers who were not distracted.  Additionally, the study found that texting took a driver’s focus away from the road for an average of 4.6 seconds, which is enough time to travel the length of a football field at 55 mph.

Studies like these have caused state legislatures across the country to pass legislation banning text messaging while driving. In June 2009, the North Carolina Governor signed new legislation, § 20-137.4A, which banned text messaging by all drivers who operate a vehicle on a public street, highway, or public vehicular area.  This bill makes it unlawful to read email, text message, use your camera, or look up information on the internet.  However, the law has a number of exceptions where it does not apply: 1) If you are parked, 2) If you are a law enforcement officer, a member of a fire department, or the operator of a public or private ambulance; 3) If you are using a factory-installed or aftermarket GPS or wireless communications devices used to transmit or receive data as part of a digital dispatch system; and 4) If you are using a voice operated technology.

Since December 1, 2009, a violation of this law shall be an infraction and shall be punishable by a fine of $100 plus court fees.  The violation will not add points to your driving record and an insurance surcharge will not be assessed.  Additionally, failure to comply with the provisions shall not constitute negligence per se or contributory negligence per se by the operator in any action for the recovery of damages arising out of the operation of a vehicle.

The new law is quite difficult to enforce.  WWAY News Channel 3 reported that Wilmington Police Chief Ralph Evangelous said, “You assume that someone’s texting, when in fact they could just be dialing a phone number, which technically is legal.”  In the first six months of the new law only 300 tickets had been given to drivers in North Carolina.  In New Hanover County only 12 had been issued.  The Wilmington Police Chief believes the law is “dumb” and said, “we ought to ban the use of cell phones – period.”

If you have been issued a citation because you were texting while driving, or have been charged with any other traffic violation or crime in Southeastern North Carolina, in Wilmington, NC, New Hanover County, or the surrounding areas including Bolivia, NC, Brunswick County, Burgaw, NC, or Pender County, you should contact a lawyer or attorney at Collins Law Firm at 910-793-9000 for a consultation.

Jon David, the District Attorney in Brunswick, Bladen, and Columbus Counties (with county seats Bolivia, NC, Elizabethtown, NC, and Whiteville, NC respectively) filed a petition with the state appeals court yesterday, Thursday, May 19, 2011 appealing the Chief District Court Judge’s administrative order which halted the traffic court program in the district.  The District Attorney, Jon David, also filed a request for a temporary stay.  Dick Ellis, a spokesman for the North Carolina Court of Appeals, said a ruling could be issued as early as this week.  “That would make his order dead in the water right now until they can rule whether they want to overrule him permanently,” Ellis said. Ellis said that the court’s final decision may be issued in the next two weeks.  The controversy between the District Attorney and the Chief District Court Judge has been brewing for over a month now.

The fifth prosecutorial district in North Carolina is comprised of New Hanover and Pender Counties, of which the county seats are Wilmington, NC, and Burgaw, NC, respectively.  The thirteenth prosecutorial district and the fifth prosecutorial district are adjacent geographically, and separated by the Cape Fear River, located in the southeast corner of North Carolina on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean.  These two prosecutorial districts are unique in the fact that the elected district attorneys in these districts are brothers, and identical twins.  The brothers are Ben David and Jon David – both lawyers who have served as prosecutors at times independently, and at times in the same office, for many years.  We are not aware of any other pair of prosecutorial districts anywhere that are served by identical twins.

Recently, the Winston-Salem Journal reported that greater than half of the defense lawyers on the court appointed lists in Forsyth County removed their names from the lists when they heard that the $75-per-hour fee may be reduced by $25 under the next state budget.  Danielle Carman, assistant director of the state Office of Indigent Defense Services, said that the move could result in defendants having less-experienced attorneys representing them and could lead to a backlog of criminal cases. She also said that the move would mean that there will be fewer attorneys on the court-appointed lists available to represent clients who can’t afford to hire their own attorneys.  Judges have authority to appoint lawyers who are not on the lists, and attorneys with little to no criminal defense experience may be assigned to represent defendants.  “If I were buying a house, I would want a real estate lawyer,” Carman said.  “If I were a criminal defendant, I would very much prefer a criminal attorney representing me.”
The Journal reported that David Botchin, a Winston-Salem criminal defense lawyer, organized a meeting of criminal defense attorneys.  Thirty-eight attorneys out of 68 on court-appointed lists removed their names from the lists, and more lawyers are planning to remove their names. He said attorneys in Durham, Catawba and Wayne counties are considering a similar move.
The vast majority of the criminal lawyers in Bladen County,  if not all, have removed their names from the court appointed lawyer list, Carman said.  About most of the criminal defense attorneys in Alamance County have removed their names from the lists, she said.
Carman said that if the Office of Indigent Defense Services (IDS) cuts the fees, it will mean that attorneys would receive $50 an hour for handling cases for indigent clients. She said that most lawyers spend about $58 an hour in overhead, including rent, computer access, office assistants and other expenses.
The Journal reported that David Freedman, a Winston-Salem criminal defense attorney, said that private criminal defense attorneys can charge from $200 to $400 an hour depending on their experience.
In Wilmington, NC, located in New Hanover County, we have a Public Defenders Office which handles the majority of the appointed counsel cases.  Private assigned counsel in New Hanover County handle overflow and conflict cases for the Public Defender’s Office.  Private assigned counsel in Pender County, in the court house in Burgaw, handle the bulk of criminal cases in that County.  In Brunswick County, at the courthouse located in Bolivia, NC, there is no public defenders office, and the vast majority of court appointed cases are handled by local private attorneys.
The times news reported that attorneys say they can’t pay assistants, receptionists, pay rent and run their offices on less than $75 an hour. IDS estimates that attorneys pocket less than $17 of the hourly rate. If trials last longer than a day or two, several attorneys said Friday that they operate at a loss.  Rep. Alice Bordsen, D-Alamance, who is on the judicial and appropriations committee says the cuts threaten to undermine the justice system.  She said that she is concerned that indigent defendants will not receive fair representation if experienced lawyers can’t afford to remain on the court appointed counsel lists.

On Friday, April 15, 2011, Chief District Court Judge Jolly issued an administrative order, stating that newly elected District Attorney Jon David’s proposed traffic court program would be a “gross impropriety” because the owner of the company which would provide some of the driving courses under the program, contributed to David’s campaign.  The part of Mr. David’s proposed program to which the Judge referred is called StreetSafe, and is a program for people aged 16 to 21 who are charged with committing traffic offenses, and is supposed to educate young people about the dangers of risky driving.  The owner of the program, Doug Darrell, contributed money to Mr. David’s campaign, according to state records.
In Chief District Court Judge Jerry Jolly’s order, he wrote that because people were to be referred to the program, and would be required to pay money to the program operated by one of his campaign contributors, that the program would constitute a conflict of interest that “brings the criminal justice system into disrepute.”  Judge Jolly’s order puts a stop to all traffic court days, which were to be held in effect in Brunswick, Columbus and Bladen Counties, which comprise the 13th prosecutorial district.  The order shutting down traffic court stated that “the District Court of the Thirteenth Judicial District will not be a party to the scheme of the District Attorney Jon David and will not tolerate District Attorney Jon David financially profiting one of his financial contributors.”  Mr. David said that no hearing was held on the issue and he was not aware of the judge’s concerns until he read the order.
On Monday, April 18, 2011, Mr. David responded in a letter in which Mr. David wrote that the order was “slanderous” and was based on a “petty personality conflict.”  He further stated that the order contained factual errors, and he questioned why there was no hearing on the issue.
On Thursday, April 21, 2011, the Star News, the main news paper in the Wilmington, NC area, reported that a number of high-ranking law enforcement officials in Brunswick County indicated support of Mr. David’s program, and that they disagreed with the Judge’s order as misguided and that it would ultimately undermine public safety.  The law enforcement officials issuing the statement included Brunswick County Sheriff John and Police chiefs from Holden Beach, Oak Island, Shallotte, Leland, Northwest, and Bald Head Island.  Their statement said that law enforcement officials opposed Jolly’s ruling to close the traffic program because it would hamper their ability to patrol their jurisdictions because law enforcement officers would have to spend more time in court since the traffic court is eliminated.  Under the traffic court program, officers are not required to be in court, and the traffic charges are resolved without trials – usually by dismissals or pleas to reduced charges.  And in traffic court, lawyers could appear in traffic court for defendants to resolve their charges for them.
On Monday, April 25, 2011, the Star News reported that two groups connected with the Brunswick County Republican Party indicated support for District Attorney Jon David regarding the dispute with Judge Jerry Jolly over the traffic court program.  The story reported that Brunswick County GOP Chairman George Bell said “Mr. David, who had the support of 68 percent of the voters in Brunswick County in last year’s election, would not violate the trust of the citizens of Brunswick, Bladen or Columbus County,”.   “It appears that partisan politics is at play here and we agree with Mr. David that the charges are slanderous.”  The story also reported that the Brunswick County Republican Women’s Club President Kathryn Lawler wrote an email to Senior Resident Superior Court Judge Ola Lewis, asking her to intercede in the matter.
On Tuesday, April 26, 2011, the Star News published a story stating that District Attorney David is currently abiding by the judge’s order, but that the traffic court dispute “continues to simmer without resolution … It’s been just more than a week since David sent the judge a letter asking him to rescind his order that blocked David’s administrative traffic court and threatening to take legal recourse if Jolly did not change his mind,” the story reported, and it indicated that the District Attorney had not yet filed an appeal, and that while Mr. David disagrees with the order, he had instructed law enforcement officials to comply with it.  Mr. David said that “It’s an order that’s in effect right now, and until it’s rescinded or overturned by a superior jurisdiction, I am instructing officers to follow that.”
If you have been issued a traffic citation, or charged with any traffic violation or crime in Southeastern North Carolina, in Wilmington, NC or the surrounding areas including Bolivia, NC, Brunswick County, New Hanover County, Burgaw, NC, or Pender County, you should at least consult with a lawyer or attorney about your charges.  We may be able to represent you, go to court for you, and prevent you having to appear in court at all. You can call the professionals at Collins Law Firm for a confidential consultation at: 910-793-9000.