State v. HinnantÂ, 255 N.C. App. 785

Background

Defendant Ricky Lee Hinnant failed to appear on multiple dates in a Wilson County DWI case; magistrate orders and a release order explicitly indicated a "second or subsequent failure to appear."
On 6 Jan 2016 Bail Agent posted a secured $16,000 appearance bond for Hinnant after an arrest order that noted prior failures to appear.
Defendant again failed to appear on 15 Apr 2016; the trial court ordered bond forfeiture and notice was mailed to Bail Agent and Surety.
Bail Agent moved to set aside the forfeiture on 15 Aug 2016, asserting the defendant had been surrendered to custody by the surety; Bail Agent produced a letter from a deputy describing a surrender.
The trial court granted the motion to set aside; the Board of Education (recipient of forfeiture proceeds) appealed.
The appellate majority held the court was statutorily barred from setting aside the forfeiture because the release order's checked notation satisfied the statute's definition of "actual notice." Dissent argued the record lacked evidence that Bail Agent or Surety actually saw the release order.

Issues

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether a trial court may set aside a bond forfeiture when the release order indicates two or more prior failures to appear	Board: release-order notation constitutes "actual notice" under N.C.G.S. § 15A-544.5(f), so forfeiture cannot be set aside	Bail Agent/Surety: produced evidence of surrender and at hearing relied on statutory ground for set-aside; argued (implicitly) that surrender sufficed	Held: Release-order notation alone satisfies statutory definition of "actual notice," so the court lacked authority to set aside the forfeiture; trial court order vacated
Whether the trial court's reliance on Bail Agent's surrender evidence was competent to override § 15A-544.5(f) bar	Board: statutory text is dispositive; evidence of surrender is immaterial once release order shows prior failures	Bail Agent/Surety: presented deputy's letter describing surrender; argued statutory ground (surrender) authorized set-aside	Held: Evidence of surrender was immaterial because statute unambiguously bars relief when release order indicates prior failures to appear
Proper standard of review and burden on appeal when record lacks transcript	Board: appeal reviews whether competent evidence supports trial-court findings and conclusions of law de novo for statutory interpretation	Bail Agent/Surety: pointed to hearing evidence (letter) and trial-court findings; dissent emphasized appellate presumption of regularity when record is incomplete	Held: Court applied de novo review to statutory meaning and held the recorded release-order notation in the appellate record was sufficient to require vacatur; dissent would have affirmed absent a complete record

Key Cases Cited

State v. Adams, 220 N.C. App. 406 (N.C. Ct. App.) (release-order notation constitutes statutory "actual notice")
State v. Williams, 218 N.C. App. 450 (N.C. Ct. App.) (§ 15A-544.5 is exclusive avenue for relief from bond forfeiture)
State v. Dunn, 200 N.C. App. 606 (N.C. Ct. App.) (standard of review for appeals from orders setting aside forfeiture)
In re Hall, 238 N.C. App. 322 (N.C. Ct. App.) (statutory construction reviewed de novo)
State v. Poteat, 163 N.C. App. 741 (N.C. Ct. App.) (prior interpretation that "notice" could include constructive notice under earlier statute)
State v. Davis, 364 N.C. 297 (N.C. Sup. Ct.) (courts must give unambiguous statutes their plain meaning)