GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA

SESSION 1997

S	1 

SENATE BILL 517

Short Title:  Calendaring Criminal Cases.	(Public)

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Sponsors: Senators Ballance; Albertson, Gulley, Jordan, and Kinnaird.

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Referred to:  Judiciary.

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March 26, 1997

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT TO PROVIDE FOR CRIMINAL CASES IN SUPERIOR COURT TO BE CALENDARED BY THE COURT.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
Section 1.  G.S. 7A-49.3 reads as rewritten:
"§ 7A-49.3.  Calendar for criminal trial sessions.
		(a)	For purposes of this section, 'to calendar or calendaring' means to select the criminal cases to be tried or otherwise brought before the court for a particular session of court and to publish those cases in a particular order on a trial calendar for that session.
The authority to calendar criminal cases in superior court is vested in the senior resident superior court judge as defined in G.S. 7A-41.1.  The senior resident superior court judge is responsible for the calendaring of all superior court criminal cases, motions, or other proceedings for trial or hearing.
The responsibilities for the calendaring of criminal cases in superior court may be delegated by the senior resident superior court judge to a trial court administrator or other person designated by the judge as deemed appropriate by the judge.  However, the responsibilities for the calendaring of criminal cases in superior court may not be delegated to the district attorney, to an assistant district attorney, or to any member of the district attorney's staff.  Calendars shall be published in sufficient time for all parties to a case to have adequate notice.
(b)	All witnesses shall be subpoenaed to appear on the date listed for the trial of the case in which they are witnesses. Witnesses shall not be entitled to prove their attendance for any day or days prior to the day on which the case in which they are witnesses is set for trial, unless otherwise ordered by the presiding judge.
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Section 2.  G.S. 7A-61 reads as rewritten:
"§ 7A-61.  Duties of district attorney.
Subject to the provisions of G.S. 7A-49.3, the district attorney or the district attorney's designee shall prepare the trial dockets in district court.  The district attorney shall prosecute in the name of the State all criminal actions and infractions requiring prosecution in the superior and district courts of his prosecutorial district, advise the officers of justice in his district, and perform such duties related to appeals to the Appellate Division from his district as the Attorney General may require. Effective January 1, 1971, the district attorney shall also represent the State in juvenile cases in which the juvenile is represented by an attorney. Each district attorney shall devote his full time to the duties of his office and shall not engage in the private practice of law."
Section 3.  G.S. 15A-943 reads as rewritten:
"§ 15A-943.  Arraignment in superior court – required calendaring.
(a)	In counties in which there are regularly scheduled 20 or more weeks of trial sessions of superior court at which criminal cases are heard, and in other counties the Chief Justice designates, arraignments must be calendared in the superior court on at least the first day of every other week in which criminal cases are heard. No cases in which the presence of a jury is required may be calendared for the day or portion of a day during which arraignments are calendared.
(b)	When a defendant pleads not guilty at an arraignment required by subsection (a), he may not be tried without his consent in the week in which he is arraigned.
(c)	Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (a) of this section, in any county where as many as three simultaneous sessions of superior court, whether criminal, civil, or mixed, are regularly scheduled, arraignments may be calendared in any of the criminal or mixed sessions, at least every other week, upon any day or days of a session, and jury cases may be calendared for trial in any other court at which criminal cases may be heard, upon such days."
Section 4.  This act becomes effective December 1, 1997.