Legal Question in DUI Law in North Carolina

Re: Statue of Limitations for Hearing(DWI,NC)

This is not a statute of limitations problem.

Statutes of limitations protect people from the commencement of stale legal charges. In NC there is a two-year statute of limitations on misdemeanors. This means the prosecution has two years to bring charges from the time a person is alleged to have committed a crime. For instance, assume a person commits a crime on January 1, 2002: aformal charge cannot be brought against him for a misdemeanor offense after January 1, 2004 because there is a two year statutue of limitations on misdemeanors in NC. there is NO statutue of limitations on felonies.

Once a prosecution has begun (as in your case), you are dealing with a Speedy Trial matter. Based on my experience I doubt that any appellate court will dismiss a charge against you that is only one year old. Year old charges are routinely prosecuted in every county in this state.

Whether or not some one has been deprived of his or her right to Speedy Trial, depends on a number of things including the reason for the delay (was the case delayed because you took a long time in paying your lawyer or was it caused because the police officer who arrested you not coming to court when subpoenaed), and whether or not you have been "prejudiced, (meaning have you lost witnesses or evidence helpful to your case as a result of delay caused by the prosecution.)

You said you had a lawyer. He or she knows the specifics of your case, and I do not. You should be directing your questions to him or her. He or she can give you specific answer, while I can only talk in generalities.