Two of Three Driving-Related Charges Dismissed in Juvenile’s Appeal to N.C. Court of Appeals; Appeal Continues to N.C. Supreme Court
A Winston-Salem juvenile from was placed on probation as a delinquent for a trio of driving-related charges, including reckless driving, unauthorized driving, and driving without a license. A juvenile delinquency hearing is similar to a criminal trial in that charges must be proved beyond a reasonable doubt.
Mark Hayes represented the juvenile in his appeal to the N.C. Court of Appeals. In a unanimous decision, the Court held that the first two charges should have been dismissed. The Court upheld the third charge, a controversial decision which made the front page of Lawyers Weekly, a long-established newspaper in the North Carolina legal community.
Mr. Hayes is seeking to overturn the third and final charge at the North Carolina Supreme Court. The petition for discretionary review at that Court is pending at the time of this writing.
“Petitions for Discretionary Review are the mechanism for getting an appeal to the N.C. Supreme Court when the Court of Appeals has unanimously ruled against you,” Mr. Hayes explained. “Even though we won on the reckless driving and unauthorized driving charges, we lost on the unlicensed driving charge. As a result, I’ve had to file a PDR with the N.C. Supreme Court to hear that last issue.”