The North Carolina legislature recently agreed on a budget that is expected to be approved and signed by Governor McCrory. One change in the budget that will affect attorneys and defendants is the re-classification of certain misdemeanors. Anyone who is facing a Class 3 misdemeanor charge will only face a fine while is not to exceed $200 as long as that person does not have more than three prior convictions. So as long as a defendant charged with a Class 3 misdemeanor does not have more than three prior convictions he or she will not face jail time.
A defendant is only entitled to appointed counsel if he or she is facing jail time. Therefore with the new provisions a defendant who cannot afford an attorney will not be able to have one appointed if he or she is only charged with a Class 3 misdemeanor. The new budget will not only change this for current crimes that are classified as a Class 3 misdemeanor, but have also changed the classification of other misdemeanors so that they will now be considered a Class 3. Some of the new Class 3 misdemeanors include driving while license revoked (unless revoked for DWI), misdemeanor speeding and obtaining property by worthless check.
The state expects to save around $2,000,000 by re-classifying these misdemeanors since legal counsel will no longer have to be appointed by the state.
