State v. Thompson

WHICHARD, Justice.

The issue is whether N.C.G.S. § 15A-534.1(b), regarding the bail and pretrial release of individuals accused of having committed crimes of domestic violence, is unconstitutional, on its face or as applied, under the Due Process and Double Jeopardy Clauses of the United States Constitution. We conclude that the statute, as applied to defendant under the discrete facts presented, deprived him of his federal constitutional right to procedural due process.

In 1979 Governor James B. Hunt, Jr., formally recognized that domestic violence is a “serious and invisible problem” in North…