GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA

SESSION 2009

 

 

SESSION LAW 2009-389

HOUSE BILL 1464

 

 

AN ACT to clarify domestic violence laws reGarding when a law enforcement officer shall arrest a person who has knowingly violated a valid protective order despite the 2006 holding by the north carolina court of appeals in cockerham-ellerbee v. the town of jonesville.

 

Whereas, in a 2006 opinion in Cockerham-Ellerbee v. The Town of Jonesville, the North Carolina Court of Appeals interpreted G.S. 50B-4.1(b) to be a discretionary provision rather than a mandatory one; and

Whereas, the intent of the North Carolina General Assembly in enacting G.S. 50B-4.1(b) was to create a mandatory provision; Now, therefore,

 

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

 

SECTION 1.  Notwithstanding the holding by the North Carolina Court of Appeals in Cockerham-Ellerbee v. The Town of Jonesville, 176 N.C. App. 372, 626 S.E.2d 685 (2006), G.S. 50B-4.1(b) creates a mandatory provision requiring a law enforcement officer to arrest and take a person into custody without a warrant or other process if the requirements set forth in the subsection are met.

SECTION 2.  G.S. 50B-4.1(b) reads as rewritten:

"(b)      A law enforcement officer shall arrest and take a person into custody custody, with or without a warrant or other process process, if the officer has probable cause to believe that the person knowingly has violated a valid protective order excluding the person from the residence or household occupied by a victim of domestic violence or directing the person to refrain from doing any or all of the acts specified in G.S. 50B-3(a)(9)."

SECTION 3.  This act is effective when it becomes law.

In the General Assembly read three times and ratified this the 23rd day of July, 2009.

 

 

                                                    s/  Walter H. Dalton

                                                         President of the Senate

 

 

                                                    s/  William L. Wainwright

                                                         Speaker Pro Tempore of the House of Representatives

 

 

                                                    s/  Beverly E. Perdue

                                                         Governor

 

 

Approved 12:25 p.m. this 31st day of July, 2009