A North Carolina lawyer and judge were indicted after a scheme was enacted to convict people of DWI’s that had been backdated, meaning the judge was signing orders to charge people with DWI after several months, thus moving back the license suspension date. The result is that, by moving the date back, the license suspension could be reduced to almost nothing, because a license suspension starts on the conviction date.
Backdating, or “nunc pro tunc” rulings are usually used to fix clerical errors or to correct a judges own order; but, here they were used to overrule another judge’s order. The judge here s accused of omitting and neglecting to discharge the duties of her office, and she resigned last year. The lawyer is being charged with two counts of obstruction of justice, one count of conspiracy, and one count of altering documents. The judge has stated that the defense attorney misled her when he asked her to sign the orders.
