New DWI Court in North Carolina

The Winston-Salem area is looking to streamline DWI cases as Forsyth County adds a DWI specific court, and works to get through the backlog of DWI cases that have piled up.According to the Winston-Salem Journal, the problem started after the US Supreme Court’s Melendez-Diaz ruling changed the way evidence is handled in DWI cases. This ruling requires a representative from the state crime lab to testify to scientific and forensic evidence in drug and DWI cases, such as breath test machine results. Previous to this decision, the evidence could be provided in documents alone.

This new requirement, passed last year, has caused cases to move much more slowly as the prosecution must be prepared to introduce breath test evidence with an expert state witness on hand, if required.

While considered a win for the DWI accused in getting a fair hearing at trial, the current backlog problem created is causing problems for defendants as well. One local attorney notes that the backlog often requires a person accused of drunk driving to appear in court as many as 10 or 11 times in order to resolve their case, where it used to take only a couple of court dates.

Having to take that many days off from work is a significant burden, and may even be legally questionable around the issue of the right to a “speedy trial”.

A new dedicated DWI court should help move more cases along. DWI courts are also used in other North Carolina Counties, such as Wake and Columbus.