North Carolina § 14-7 - 3. Charge of habitual felon.

§ 14-7. 3. Charge of habitual felon.

The district attorney, in his or her discretion, may charge a person as an habitual felon pursuant to this Article. An indictment which charges a person who is an habitual felon within the meaning of G.S. 14-7.1 with the commission of any felony under the laws of the State of North Carolina must, in order to sustain a conviction of habitual felon, also charge that said person is an habitual felon. The indictment charging the defendant as an habitual felon shall be separate from the indictment charging him with the principal felony. An indictment which charges a person with being an habitual felon must set forth the date that prior felony offenses were committed, the name of the state or other sovereign against whom said felony offenses were committed, the dates that pleas of guilty were entered to or convictions returned in said felony offenses, and the identity of the court wherein said pleas or convictions took place. No defendant charged with being an habitual felon in a bill of indictment shall be required to go to trial on said charge within 20 days of the finding of a true bill by the grand jury; provided, the defendant may waive this 20-day period. History (1967, c. 1241, s. 3; 2011-192, s. 3(c).) Editor's Note. - Session Laws 2011-192, s. 3(e), provides: "This section becomes effective December 1, 2011, and applies to any offense that occurs on or after that date and that is the principal felony offense for a charge of either the status offenses of habitual breaking and entering or habitual felon. Prosecutions for offenses committed before the effective date of this act are not abated or affected by this act, and the statutes that would be applicable but for this act remain applicable to those prosecutions." Session Laws 2011-192, s. 9, provides: "This act shall be known as 'The Justice Reinvestment Act of 2011'." Effect of Amendments. - Session Laws 2011-192, s. 3(c), effective December 1, 2011, added the first sentence. For applicability, see Editor's note. Legal Periodicals. - For note, "United States v. Bryant, Federal Habitual Offender Laws, and the Rights of Defendants in Tribal Courts: A Better Solution to Domestic Violence Exists," see 39 Campbell L. Rev. 205 (2017).