0:04
[Music] there was a lot of editing gotcha so

0:10
just to warn you if you bumped that cord much it will you're not recording not a big deal for

0:16
you I'll try to figure it like I also don't want you to be still trying to sit perfectly still yeah for the next hour

0:22
yeah just just don't Lounge it if you do you know Lounge you can launch it so yeah

0:29
it's just I figure letting them know it's good yeah all right let's do this you ready I'm ready are you ready uh

0:35
sure are you starting or am I starting you're starting you got to read them it's right oh it's true that's true

0:41
welcome thank you we just wanted you to know that you know you have the right

0:46
not to answer any question you choose fair and should you need a lawyer we

0:52
figure you know lots of good ones because we're too poor to a point one for you

0:58
foreign [Music]

1:04
welcome to how I see it with me Mark Pratt and Justin Sternberg this is a

1:11
podcast that works to counter cultural polarization through thoughtful

1:16
conversations [Music]

1:22
hey Justin hey Mark I just uh recognized we just had a good

1:28
conversation we did yeah we did we had Jason judge Jason dispro in judge what's

1:35
his full title against it's this big long fancy it's a district court

1:46
yeah it's North Carolina senior resident Superior Court Judge Jason dispro

1:55
man that's a mouthful it is uh but I think he deserves that title fully yes

2:02
and we had a good conversation in a how I see it fashion yeah

2:08
and I think as we were able to talk about law and other things it was it was just

2:14
you understand where someone is coming from even when their views might be a

2:19
little different than yours yeah and what I love about it too is like you think of I mean I think about the show

2:26
Judge Judy or whatever it's like you get this harsh strong exterior whatever and

2:33
some of my favorite parts of shows are when the lawyers go confer sure with the

2:39
judge and you like get an insight into the person of that judge and yeah they are and like oh they tick like this

2:46
right yeah and that was I think that was my favorite thing about talking about Mr

2:52
judge Jason this row is just being able to like hear the person behind that

2:57
strong exterior up on the bench and seeing like the heart behind it and and

3:03
he is a man with a lot of heart and and that I really appreciated that no doubt and I think and I think I can appreciate

3:11
that opportunity that we not gave but you know to have yeah to be able for him

3:17
to demonstrate that yes it's not about you know the image but it's about the

3:22
passion that he has for people yeah and that he genuinely cares about the people

3:28
he serves in District there was a district with that it was a district

3:33
district 13B in in District 13 B the

3:38
North Carolina's second Superior Court division and so yes that may be a title yeah that

3:47
he has but yeah this this podcast which will get divided into two segments will

3:54
just give you a a great little opportunity to see a side of Judge dispro that you

4:03
might not have otherwise and I like to think that you get a chance to see a

4:09
side of that courtroom right like sure from behind the bench and I know he's a

4:14
unique individual and every judge is going to be different but it's it is cool to have a conversation from with

4:20
someone from that view no doubt and I know again I know that there are going to be judges with vastly different

4:26
opinions about things or whatever but it's just yeah I really did appreciate that and I specifically appreciate judge

4:33
Jason this bro sure because he's a good friend of ours and it was a good opportunity to get to know that side of

4:39
him because we know him from things like F3 working out together and kind of more casual atmospheres and so it was it was

4:47
great no doubt conversation with them so I hope you guys enjoy it yeah I think you will I know we did and this is how

4:54
we see it foreign [Music]

5:00
ER we figure you know lots of good ones because we're too poor to a point one

5:05
for you so fuel speed dial there you go so just by all means know that uh we're we're

5:12
glad to have you and want to extend a little humor in that process of the legal realm as we have as we think about

5:18
since we know so much about it yes yeah I think that was what the Amanda rights

5:23
he just Amanda is that right Amanda is close enough yeah we don't

5:30
Belinda well he's gonna start shaking you know it's like wow these guys know nothing well that's true uh yeah so this

5:38
is North Carolina's Senior residence Superior Court Judge Jason dispro now I

5:45
need to take a breath foreign and there's some other things I write on

5:51
did you know there's a thing called ballot pedia yes I I am aware of ballot PD I don't

5:56
know if I've ever actually looked at it I have no idea if it's accurate but there are some other words on there if

6:01
it's on the internet to me it's probably true yeah so District 13B of the North

6:07
Carolina's second Superior Court division is that previous role or is that current no so it I'm Judicial

6:14
District 13B uh and the Superior Courts are broken into divisions and I am

6:21
division two um there's about 13 14 counties in our

6:28
division so when we rotate out uh for every six months they try to keep you

6:33
within your division so you're you're assigned to one of those uh

6:38
counties or group of counties so for instance right

6:43
now I'm I'm assigned home in Brunswick beginning July 1st I'm assigned to uh

6:52
Craven Craven County Pamlico County and Carteret County for six months oh wow

6:59
does that mean you say yeah six months because you probably wouldn't move there or no so

7:04
I don't know yeah I'll stay I'll stay in a hotel uh during the week when I'm up

7:09
there but it's it's a bit of a

7:14
of a misnomer you're not actually a sign there for the entire six months as a senior resident you're always home your

7:22
first full week okay uh because that's when we have what's called case management in Brunswick County where

7:28
uh I'll sit with the lawyers I'll have conferences with them over their cases try to help the parties come to some

7:34
type of plea Arrangement and then I also preside over treatment courts that we have in Brunswick County and that's the

7:42
the first and third Tuesday and the first and third Thursday so it assures me that I'm going to be there at least

7:48
once a month and then there's other times where maybe Court breaks down in those counties where you're assigned and

7:55
you're assigned somewhere else from the administrative office of the courts they'll either assign me back

8:00
home or they'll assign me to another County even though I'm officially assigned

8:07
to those Three Counties over the next so when you say Court breaks down what's that means exactly

8:13
um could be a lot of reasons but as an example it just loses his temper

8:20
no no it's usually not that's usually not the reason but what's TV Justin

8:26
that's not real life so the best example when courts break

8:33
down are when you have a civil session so

8:38
Superior courts have jurisdiction over any civil case 25 000 more than twenty five thousand

8:45
dollars that's in controversy so let's say a big contract case is filed in in

8:51
Superior Court that case comes on for trial it's scheduled for trial months ahead of time

8:58
and lo and behold Monday morning as they come into the courthouse they announce

9:04
judge we've settled the case cool now you're now your civil session very

9:09
likely has broken down because the the cases that are on the calendar behind it have either settled several been

9:16
continued uh or you know those lawyers aren't ready for trial because they're 11th on the trial calendar and they just

9:22
didn't think that they were going to have a trial sure so what do you do

9:28
you call Raleigh you'd email them say hey my civil sessions broken down you guys

9:34
need want to send me somewhere sometimes they do sometimes they don't which gives you some administrative time in your

9:40
office now to brag on our County a little bit if that happens in Brunswick County you

9:46
don't really have a problem because remember when you have a a session you also have a jury that comes

9:51
in sure so in Brunswick County I implemented some rules when I was appointed to this job

9:57
that if a civil session breaks down we have a what's called a two o'clock calendar call on Mondays anytime there's

10:04
a civil session where criminal calendar is called so if your civil sessions

10:09
broken down that's okay you've got 15 to 20 criminal cases that are ready for trial and you utilize the jury for that

10:16
you can just use that same jury it doesn't matter it doesn't matter oh wow because you've summoned them for that week

10:22
it's it's a mixed session of course what it's called mix session and you roll on with your jury trial and you don't have

10:29
down time and I just think that's an efficient way to to utilize the court time that you have so as as we're

10:36
talking about this this very legal entity um what are some of the common

10:42
misconceptions that people have about your role in other words they see you in

10:48
this position with this job and it's like they've they've seen Law and Order they've seen you you understand that's

10:56
that's what they think of in that aspect of law how you see it what are the misconceptions

11:02
that uh it's a good question there's there's probably a lot of misconceptions it's it's funny you said Law and Order

11:09
because one of the one of the jury instructions that we give at the beginning of a of a jury

11:16
trial is is just that this is as we tell the jurors this is probably not going to

11:22
be like you think it's going to be sure yeah that uh it's gonna be boring you're

11:29
going to think that that this case is filled with with high drama

11:34
most cases are not filled with high drama and what Justin just said is true it

11:40
a lot of cases can be very boring and tedious at times and that's why they pay

11:45
you your 11 or whatever that's exactly right um so

11:52
the process of justice is is tedious sure uh it it's time consuming I think

12:01
to The Outsider it appears inefficient and maybe at

12:06
times it is there's no question that it could probably be more efficient sure uh

12:12
you know for instance jury selection which you don't see on television and you generally don't read about in books

12:19
is very tedious uh rather boring it's the same questions asked over and over

12:26
and over to 12 people in the box and then don't forget some of those people are excused sure now we've replaced them

12:34
with three or four more people with the same questions sure It's Not Unusual for jury selection to

12:40
take one two three days sometimes weeks depending on the type of case that you

12:47
have and holding people's attention can really be

12:53
a challenge so I think that's one misconception that people would have with the court system

13:00
um the other misconception is 95 of criminal cases

13:08
do not go to trial sure okay so a lot of people just think that you know I go to

13:14
work on Monday and we have jury trials all week well depend on a week right that's I'm in a

13:20
jury trial now that's carried over from last week and we're still going this week but at least half of my time is spent taking

13:29
please okay and that's all also somewhat monotonous when you say taking please

13:36
you're actually considering whether that case will come before you

13:43
in a course and or help me understand that okay assume we don't know all right so the so

13:49
the process of of taking a plea for a judge the district attorney

13:56
and the defense attorney will sit down together either with the judge

14:01
a lot of times outside of the judge's presence because a judge's presence is not required to negotiate a plea

14:08
okay so I'll give you an example let's say that the defendant is charged with

14:14
felony breaking and entering and felony larceny you know a typical case in Brunswick County would be a beach house

14:21
is broken into okay let's say for example that that

14:27
defendant doesn't have any prior criminal record hmm most times the district attorney would

14:34
offer some type of plea to that defendant's attorney

14:39
for a probationary sentence so what that means is it's a felony Larson he's a

14:44
class H felony there's Class A through class I it's a lower end felony gotcha uh

14:52
in case you want you know you're consideration try to stick to the agency

14:59
okay free advice

15:05
that is not on ballot I'll just text you next time you're gonna have to look elsewhere maybe the statutes the general

15:12
statutes but a typical sentence would be five months

15:18
minimum to 15 months maximum that sentence is suspended and the defendant is placed on supervised probation for 18

15:26
months that plea offer is made from the District Attorney's office to defense

15:32
counsel if there's a lot of evidence that points to the defendant committing that crime

15:40
it's likely that that plea offer is accepted sure

15:46
and a it's called a transcript of plea is filled out it's a

15:53
a form that's uh two pages front and back sure ask a lot of questions yeah

15:58
that's where the that's where the judge comes in so that's the the prosecutor

16:04
and the defendant and the defense counsel come into court prosecutor asks arraigns the defendant

16:10
how do you plead a one count of Shelby larceny and breaking or it may not even be breaking that entering now maybe

16:16
they've dismissed that case pursuant to this plea defendant pleads guilty and then I go through that transcript of

16:23
plea that I just described to you guys with the defendant it's on the record sure everything is recorded in Superior

16:31
Court it's called a court of record and then I placed the defendant on probation pursuant to that plea

16:39
Arrangement now I have the right as does any judge the presiding judge to decline

16:45
uh to to take the plea to intervene if you will yes I can intervene and say you

16:51
know I don't think this is a a fair inappropriate plea either for the state

16:59
of North Carolina or maybe for the defendant and I'm not going to take this

17:04
plea I'm going to continue it and allow you to put it in front of another judge yeah because it's a negotiated plea and

17:11
in my philosophy on that is I'm not going to punish the state or punish the defendant because I'm not comfortable

17:17
taking it this is what the state of North Carolina has offered and this is what the defendant has

17:23
agreed to to do pursuant to that offer so I want to give them an opportunity to

17:29
put it in front of another judge that that only happens that's a rare occasion when that happens

17:37
um it's happened a few times for me where I'm just not comfortable taking it what makes that decision for you

17:47
based on how you see it there are times where

17:55
I I think is probably more the the sex cases okay where

18:00
I I just feel that it's not an appropriate

18:06
disposition an appropriate outcome uh the times where I have declined to uh to

18:13
take to enter the plea are when

18:19
I personally felt that the defendant wasn't getting enough punishment okay

18:24
yeah um and again I and and to be fair it

18:29
I don't know the intricacies of the plea many times when they're brought before

18:35
me yeah yeah you get a snippet of the factual evidence yeah that's all you get

18:40
in the plea and which could breed some of the discomfort like I don't know correct yeah with the

18:49
information I have if I'm comfortable saying this is good enough right and you're saying that is correct that's

18:56
correct that we're just just from for my own

19:02
from my own perspective there's just and it's again it's a hand I think it's happened two or three times uh since

19:08
I've been a judge period where I just said I I'm not comfortable taking this plea uh I'd rather I'd Rather somebody

19:15
else but take this play and when you decline it it doesn't go to you is what you're sure

19:22
is what I'm understanding that's correct so remember every six months there's a new judge that comes through Brunswick County

19:28
um so I would just simply carry it over to a time when there's another judge

19:34
there's other times too even when I'm assigned where I have a conflict it's called a conflict week where I'm I'm

19:42
assigned somewhere else enough okay as an example you know a police

19:48
chief is charged well you know I may know that police chief personally and if

19:53
that police chief is going to take a plea that week or have a trial that week I'm not going to be involved in that

19:59
case yeah so they assign me somewhere else they bring in another judge so that'd be a time where I would

20:05
continue that case to that week sure so there are there are other people that

20:11
you can are continuing how many other judges are in that position that rotate

20:17
through so to be clear I can be assigned anywhere in the state

20:22
of North Carolina and I've I've been assigned to Johnston County uh Robeson

20:28
County Onslow County Craven County Columbus County Bladen County

20:34
there's a hundred uh Superior Court judges okay in the state yeah

20:41
I think it's 95 elected and then five appointed which are called special

20:47
Superior Court judges who are appointed by the governor sure and they there it

20:53
varied those five are various parts of the states the rest of us are elected out of our our County sure or

21:01
our uh District of counties for lack of a better phrase you know for instance you

21:08
Pamlico Craven and Carteret are all one District thanks I got you Brunswick

21:15
County is its own District based on population correct that you're getting ready to say most of this is based on population

21:22
if you have a a district that's comprised of of two or three counties

21:28
you're most likely going to have more than one Superior Court Judge as well we only have one Superior Court judge in Brunswick they only have one in Bladen

21:34
and Columbus because you're so good or exactly no I don't think it's because I'm so good I I I think it has more to

21:42
do with our population I'm just kind of ass because yeah exactly if you could

21:47
put that on ballot Just just add it let me go edit it right now

21:53
that's awesome so uh there's not a lot of crossover in what I do with what you

21:59
do except for I do know your websites down sit down

22:04
okay I would give the URL you know I'll say yeah go check out but no yeah I

22:10
utilize that um really for my campaign purposes yeah um

22:16
and I think I just made a choice maybe I won't pay for it for a couple of years my term is an eight-year term

22:23
uh so I don't think I have a lot of traffic on that website right now you are about to have like at least what

22:31
eight eight dollars yeah yeah maybe I better get it back up

22:36
but speaking of that at the same time we we recognize you know

22:41
there's all the law when we think of the law there is how I see it you know sure

22:48
sometimes I think of when I'm when I'm looking in my rear view mirror going down the road in blue lights That's the

22:55
Law sure you follow me yeah and when someone someone breaks into my beach house

23:03
I want the law I want Justice and so I'm recognizing the law itself

23:10
that word there's a lot of polarization with that there is especially especially

23:15
depending on potentially your upbringing or your particular

23:20
uh history with certain habits or even family right like your perspective

23:28
unlock can be so vastly different as you know in some cases Justice and the

23:33
righteous right hand in other cases the oppressor or um you know or the inefficient you know

23:40
system that keeps you down or whatever right like there's so many yeah

23:45
so what's the question so as you as you as uh Justin clarified

23:52
um how do you what makes the law so polarizing as far as you're concerned

23:58
yes I think like so many other

24:04
topics what makes the law so polarizing is

24:10
ignorant okay how so like the ignorance we've displayed I was

24:16
gonna say as if Justin and I have a demonstrated it let's so let me clarify that word a little bit you know

24:22
ignorance is not this is stupid it's not a disparaging word right sure uh

24:28
I'm ignorant to most things that relate to to Medicine

24:33
uh I'm ignorant to most things that are that are scientific that those are

24:40
things that I didn't I wasn't interested in in school sure uh I obviously have no

24:45
expertise in in medicine or or science uh my quote unquote expertise lies in

24:51
the law but particularly in our society now with with social media everybody seems to be

25:00
an expert okay uh in in every subject in every subject sure right I mean I think we can all say that we've we've seen

25:06
that if you're on Facebook or Twitter and uh whatever social media you use

25:14
and I there's just some of the comments that that I see made just shows a

25:21
general lack of understanding as an example hmm uh

25:27
you know I have friends who don't understand why when an individual is is

25:33
arrested uh why they get a bond why are they out why are they out of

25:40
jail I don't understand that they broke into somebody's house well you know the Constitution requires

25:46
um bail our Law requires a reasonable bail

25:53
sure now we can have discussions about what's reasonable and what's not reasonable but

26:01
you know having a discussion about why somebody's out of jail to me portrays an ignorance sure of

26:09
what's a fairly straightforward uh constitutional provision and and

26:16
statutory Provisions in the state of North Carolina and Most states uh to where an individual is arrested they are

26:23
they are charged but they are presumed innocent innocent of that crime

26:29
and that's where the bond comes in that's where a bond comes in and the purpose of

26:34
a bond is to ensure the defendant's appearance in court okay

26:40
and ensure the the safety of

26:45
the community sure can you break down a bond and bail those

26:52
two words so essentially the same thing uh some people use the term bail some

26:58
people use the term bond uh but a there's lots of options for

27:04
for bail bond in North Carolina a written promise to appear is one of them

27:10
sure they just signed that says I'm gonna I promise uh an unsecured Bond

27:17
which is very similar to a written promise to appear twenty thousand

27:22
dollars unsecured you don't have to put up any money at all uh you get a court date

27:27
uh GPS monitoring is another type of

27:34
ankle bracelets where uh for more serious offenses

27:40
that maybe we need to know where you're at correct maybe you have a victim of a

27:47
crime an assault on a female uh or uh attempted murder things like that you

27:53
might put somebody on GPS monitoring as well as a secured Bond and a secured

27:58
bond is just that either you put up let's say it's a hundred thousand dollar secured Bond you put up a d to trust for

28:05
a hundred thousand dollars of property you own or you get a bail bondsman sure uh you pay them 10 or 15 percent that

28:11
you never get that money back by the way and the bondsman is then securing your appearance for court and then

28:18
additionally there may be a GPS monitoring the only cases in North Carolina that you're not required to

28:25
give a bond is for capital murder okay first degree murder that's the only case

28:31
where a judge has these so it has the authority to say no bomb right every

28:37
other case uh requires a bond uh depending on the severity of the crime

28:43
obviously that that plays a significant role in the kind of bond and the amount of uh

28:52
monetary Bond you have a a drug trafficker there's a decent chance they're going to

28:58
get a significant significant Bond depending on their record because you

29:05
may be concerned a that they're going to come to court and B it's a it's a public

29:12
safety issue when someone is out trafficking drugs in our community yeah so bond is really almost an insurance

29:19
policy to say this person is going to become it's a good way to look at it you're paying this amount to have

29:25
protection for the people that have been offended and for the court to say this person will be back correct and in the

29:32
event you lose all the money you've been given and we're gonna come find you again that is correct okay and that is correct

29:39
the alternative is you stay still right we hold you and tell you that's how we

29:45
guarantees yes right exactly and and what happens is

29:51
you know for these low-level crimes I just talked about earlier h i felonies misdemeanors

29:58
there's somewhat of an epidemic in in our country that that poor people suffer

30:05
the consequences of that right okay so you know most crimes committed are not

30:10
these serious felony crimes sure of of you know murderers and and rapes that

30:16
that's a small percentage of crimes committed most crimes committed are misdemeanors sure simple assault that's

30:22
what I read on DWI I'm sorry that's not what I read on Twitter yeah correct

30:28
and you know these low-level crimes H and I felonies uh A1 one two and three

30:36
misdemeanors that's what you have class A1 class one class two and class three you only have four class of misdemeanors

30:41
in North Carolina which are the good ones none of them are good okay okay so avoid the misdemeanor correct but what

30:48
you have is you'll have folks who are charged with these low-level crimes where they either can't get prison time

30:56
or jail time or or they can only get a very small amount of time

31:02
and then these people will get stuck in jail on pre for pre-trial release on

31:07
even a a two thousand dollar Bond because they don't have they don't have the means to make it they may sit in

31:14
jail 60 90 days and their maximum sentence is 30 days oh wow yeah and you

31:19
see how I see it that's not remotely Justice No Doubt

31:24
yeah so there's there's been a

31:32
a rethinking if you will of the of the bond process to ensure that folks aren't

31:39
punished from a pre-trial standpoint based on

31:44
their poverty based on their inability to to make a bond again for a case that

31:51
they can't get serious jail time or prison time for now that doesn't change

31:57
the bonds for the the serious offenders for individuals we need to be concerned about

32:03
you know I'm concerned for your family my family our community uh

32:09
so there's we're trying to educate as judges what the purpose of of a bond is yeah

32:16
the per the purpose of pre-trial release and and remind folks that

32:23
innocent until proven guilty and in my line of work

32:28
that does happen there are innocent people who are charged uh you know it's it's not a majority of people yeah what

32:36
percentage would you say if you just had to throw a number at it that's it's such a hard question to answer I I don't know

32:43
um enough that it's good we do it that way yes enough that there are checks and

32:50
balances no don't forget we we're a state that

32:58
I'll give you an example sure I could go to the Magistrate

33:03
right now swear put my hand on the Bible raise my right hand swear that Mark Pratt assaulted me hmm

33:13
during this during the making of This podcast gotcha Mark wouldn't do that for any future

33:20
guests carry on but yes I appreciate the example but I could go take that warn

33:26
out and potentially maybe mark would get a secure Bond hmm

33:34
you know maybe I've got a mark on my face that I got yet yesterday evening

33:40
building something at my house I'm not very handy maybe I hit my face with a hammer and I left a mark and I might be

33:49
able to get a magistrate to believe my story and issue a warrant for Mark's arrest

33:56
gotcha so now we've got it he said he said yep

34:03
mark and in this example let's say Mark doesn't have any money and he goes to

34:09
jail and it's a 500 secured bond which means 75 dollars to a

34:15
uh bail bondsman sure for them to secure your appearance Mark doesn't have it um

34:21
so Mark May sit in jail for a day or two before he gets in front of the district court judge now that District Court

34:27
Judge May modify Mark's Bond and unsecure it sure but maybe the maybe the district court

34:34
judge doesn't maybe the district court judge believes because remember you've got we all have different perspectives

34:40
we all have different bearded guy and you know Mark Pratt's a bearded guy and

34:46
Mark came in Mark's mad because he just sat in jail for 48 hours he's kind of got a little bit of an attitude uh quite

34:52
possibly he's got a little bit of an attitude and the judge is there that day doesn't like his attitude so he doesn't

34:57
modify the bond and he gives Mark a new court date that's 25 days from today

35:03
Mark can't ever make bond he finally comes into court and the judge who's there that day hears the

35:10
evidence and says man this is hogwash hmm and dismisses the case now Mark sat

35:15
in jail for 25 days the attitude markings check the attitude so you know I'm

35:21
giving you an example yeah but these are things that that do happen yeah sure particularly in these he said he said he

35:28
said she said cases especially he said she says very very often in couples

35:34
Dynamics that's what you know correct yeah you got custody situation somebody

35:39
trying to gain an advantage it's less likely to happen when law enforcement's involved and they've investigated the

35:46
case sure they've talked to Witnesses and an indictment has happened in

35:52
Superior Court so it's less likely to happen in in my realm than it is in the

35:57
district court realm where I used to preside those types of things happen every day yeah where individuals come

36:03
off the street swear out a warrant now to be fair a lot of magistrates will just issue what's called a criminal

36:09
summons now where you're not arrested the sheriff just brings it to you and so you have to come to court you're summons

36:15
to court sure for that yeah instead of the process of being arrested in the

36:21
process of receiving bonds So speaking to that process as you just mentioned

36:26
where you you know you were in District and now you're Superior that's Superior that's a good word I like that word you

36:32
know some label but that's what I said how what changes have you seen I mean

36:42
even from your early days as a lawyer you know attorney that kind of thing is there a difference

36:54
[Laughter] that wasn't the label I was using but

36:59
either either way what changes have you seen in that amount of time in in that

37:05
aspect of Law and because I'm I'm respecting this fact

37:10
that you desire to implement change with your position

37:15
and so therefore you know you've seen that change and typically that desire

37:22
for change means this isn't as good as it could be how he sees it yes

37:29
yeah so I think the it first off

37:34
the change in laws should come from your legislature not the Judiciary okay that I want you

37:42
guys to understand that so the changes that I have seen are legislative changes

37:48
it's not people at your level making these changes well it's not supposed to

37:54
be people okay at this level making these changes uh unfortunately I do believe that there

38:01
are Judges who create laws sure that is not the role how I see it that is not my role

38:08
gotcha my role is to support maintain and defend the Constitution of the United States

38:15
and the constitution of North Carolina that's the offit every judge takes sure from Superior I mean from the Supreme

38:21
Court right on all the way down that's the oath that we take in North Carolina as judges

38:26
so it is not my role to well you know what I don't like this law so I'm going to create a new law my role is to

38:33
support maintain and defend the laws that are implemented sure by our legislature

38:40
but what I have seen from our legislature uh is is really similar to what I'm

38:47
talking about now we as judges we Implement Bond policies based on the law

38:52
okay right sure uh but again it's that can vary from from Judge to judge

38:59
from District to District as the senior resident Superior Court judge

39:04
I have pursuant to the law have to devise a a bond policy a bail policy for

39:14
our for our district court judges and our magistrates so I Implement that uh based

39:20
on how I see it and it's what I just described to you you know these lower level crimes

39:25
we don't need to be keeping these people in jail awaiting trial and again it goes

39:32
to the the justice of it but it also from a from a fiscal policy I consider myself a very strong fiscal conservative

39:38
I don't think taxpayers should be paying for Mark Pratt to be sitting in jail for

39:43
25 days on it correct on a misdemeanor case that he's not going to jail for in the first place

39:49
so there's there's you know fiscal reasons for that as well

39:55
but what I've seen change over the the course of my practice is

40:03
a reduction in the sentence of

40:10
some of these lower level crimes for instance driving while license revoked okay used to be a Class one misdemeanor

40:18
gotcha you can get 120 days for a class one missed me or that four months is a lot of time yeah no doubt now there are

40:25
two levels of driving while license revoked which I think is a good thing the legislature implemented that

40:31
years ago 10 years ago maybe 15 years ago one driving while license revoked the one type the higher level is you're

40:38
driving while your license is revoked pursuant to an impaired driving

40:45
revocation okay so you've had your license taken you've had your license to revoke because you

40:51
were driving while you were impaired sure you were convicted of that and your license was revoked pursuant to that all

40:57
right so that's a that's a level that's a Class one misdemeanor the other driving while license revoked

41:04
is a Class III misdemeanor it's your lowest level misdemeanor gotcha and the reason that is a class three is because

41:11
your license is revoked because you didn't pay a court fine you had too many times because you to me speaking that

41:19
happened to me yes correct correct and I was like 18 and I got new and I got

41:24
pulled over after oh boy yeah right but you see the level of Justin now but you

41:30
see the difference right yeah there didn't used to be a difference gotcha but our legislature in their wisdom and

41:36
I I I personally think it's it's a good law I don't think all laws are good but I think this is a good one where we have

41:43
different differentiated sure the the punishment the the first off the level

41:48
of misdemeanor and and we've differentiated the punishment because the the most time you can get for a

41:54
class 3 misdemeanor is 20 days [Music]

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