NORTH CAROLINA GENERAL ASSEMBLY

1973 SESSION

CHAPTER 122

SENATE BILL 209

AN ACT TO PROVIDE THAT APPEALS IN CRIMINAL CASES AFTER PLEAS OF GUILTY OR NOLO CONTENDERE SHALL BE ONLY BY WRIT OF CERTIORARI.

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

Section 1.  Article 18 of Chapter 15 of the General Statutes is hereby amended by adding a new section to read as follows:

"§ 15-180.2.  Appeal after plea of guilty or nolo contendere. — Notwithstanding any other provision of law, when a defendant pleads guilty or nolo contendere to a charge pending in the Superior Court Division of the General Court of Justice, there shall be no right of appeal to the Appellate Division of such plea of guilty or nolo contendere but such defendant shall have the right to petition the Appellate Division for the issuance of a writ of certiorari to review the proceedings in the Superior Court Division of the General Court of Justice. In the event the sentence imposed is life imprisonment the petition shall be directed to the Supreme Court; in all other cases it shall be directed to the Court of Appeals."

Petitions for writ of certiorari made under the provisions of this section shall be as provided in the Rules of Practice in the Appellate Division.

Sec. 2.  The provisions of this act shall apply to all pleas of guilty or nolo contendere entered in the Superior Court Division of the General Court of Justice after the ratification of this act.

Sec. 3.  This act shall become effective upon ratification.

In the General Assembly read three times and ratified, this the 30th day of March, 1973.