AREAS WE SERVE
Beaufort Criminal Defense Attorney
Defending clients in Beaufort and across Carteret County
Who Can Charge You in Beaufort
Most charges in Beaufort come from one of two agencies. But Beaufort sits at the meeting point of a highway, a waterfront, and a working waterway, and that means almost every state agency with jurisdiction in this part of North Carolina turns up here at some point.
- Beaufort Police Department handles most charges in town, including downtown and along the waterfront.
- Carteret County Sheriff’s Office covers the county and works in town as well.
- North Carolina Highway Patrol works Highway 70, Highway 101, and the bridges.
- NC Alcohol Law Enforcement (ALE) works alcohol offenses, including the downtown bars and restaurants.
- NC Marine Patrol and NC Wildlife Resources Commission officers work Taylor’s Creek and the surrounding waters.
Which agency stopped you shapes the case. A charge written by a Beaufort officer downtown, a trooper on Highway 101, and a Marine Patrol officer on the water are three different kinds of case, with different procedures behind them and different paperwork to examine.
The first thing we do is establish exactly who charged you and what their agency’s own procedure required of them. The answer to that question can make a significant difference in crafting your defense.
The Places in Beaufort Where Charges Start
The same handful of places account for most of what we defend here.
The downtown waterfront
The docks, bars, restaurants, and shops along the waterfront are the busiest part of town and the most common source of charges. Assaults and alcohol-related charges at the downtown bars come up regularly, particularly in season and particularly at night.
Leaving downtown toward the bridge
DWI charges in Beaufort most often come from people leaving downtown and heading back toward the bridge. It is a short, predictable route, and it is watched.
Coming down the bridge into town
Highway 70 and the bridges connect Morehead City to Beaufort. Coming down the bridge into town is a well-known source of speeding charges — drivers carry their speed off the bridge and into a town that is not built for it.
Highway 101
Highway 101 connects Beaufort to Newport and on into Craven County. We see a steady stream of speeding charges along 101.
Taylor’s Creek
Taylor’s Creek runs the length of the waterfront, and people reach the bars and restaurants by boat as easily as by car. That produces a charge that comes up here and in very few other places in the county: boating while impaired.
Boating while impaired is not the same offense as DWI. It is charged differently, the officers who bring it are usually from Marine Patrol or Wildlife rather than a police department, and the circumstances of a stop on the water are different from a traffic stop. Even the field sobriety tests are different. If you were charged on Taylor’s Creek, the case needs to be looked at on its own terms.
The gateway to Down East
Beaufort is the hub that leads to the rest of the Down East communities. Traffic from across that whole side of the county passes through here, which is part of why the roads in and out of town produce as many charges as they do.
What a Conviction Costs in a Town This Small
The formal penalties — fines, court costs, probation, a license suspension, possibly jail — are the part people expect. They are usually not the part that does the most damage.
Beaufort is small, and a conviction is a matter of public record. Employers here are largely small businesses, and they check. In a town where the courthouse is on the same few streets as the restaurants and the shops, a criminal charge is not an abstraction.
Some consequences land harder than others:
- Anyone who drives for a living — a license suspension is not an inconvenience, it is the job.
- Anyone who works on the water, or holds a license or credential tied to it.
- Anyone in a licensed profession, where a conviction can trigger a separate process entirely.
A criminal record in North Carolina does not simply expire. Expunction is possible in some circumstances, but it is limited, and it is far easier to avoid a conviction than to remove one afterwards.
How We Approach a Beaufort Case
What we do depends on what you were charged with and who charged you.
A DWI leaving downtown
We look at the reason for the stop first, then the timing — how long between driving and testing, what happened in between, whether procedures were followed. The route from downtown to the bridge is short, and short timelines are where problems in the State’s case tend to show up.
Boating while impaired on Taylor’s Creek
These cases turn on different questions than a DWI. Why were you stopped on the water? What did the officer observe, and from where? The field sobriety tests used on the water are not the same as the roadside tests, and they were administered on a boat rather than on level ground — so how they were given, and under what conditions, matters. A boat is not a car, and the case should not be handled as though it were.
A speeding charge on the bridge or on 101
What matters is your driving record and the speed alleged. Often the charge can be reduced to a non-moving violation such as improper equipment, so no speeding conviction goes on your record and your insurance is left alone. Over a few years that is usually worth considerably more than the fine.
An assault or alcohol charge downtown
Late-night incidents outside a crowded bar produce unreliable accounts. Witnesses are often strangers to one another, most have been drinking, and officers arrive after the fact. We look hard at who actually saw what, and when.
A prayer for judgment. Many charges can potentially be resolved with a prayer for judgment continued — a PJC — which can help protect a criminal record or a driving record. It does not apply to every charge or every situation, but on traffic charges in particular, where the lasting cost is the record rather than the fine, it is one of the first things we consider.
In every case, you speak with me. Deanna, our paralegal and an NC State Bar Certified Paralegal, handles a great deal and can help with most things — but other than speeding tickets, every client talks to me before we take the case.
The Court Is Here. So Are We.
Every criminal case in Carteret County is heard at the courthouse in Beaufort. Our office is at 313 Turner Street. Walk out our front door and you are walking straight at the front door of the courthouse. If you are coming into Beaufort and heading downtown, you drive right past us.
The first thing most people want to know is when they have to come back. Your court date is not the day you were charged. In most cases it will be a month or more out. The exception is a first appearance on a felony, which comes much sooner.
What happens after that depends on what you are charged with.
Misdemeanors and traffic charges
These are handled in District Court here in Beaufort.
Felony Fridays
The first three Fridays of each month are felony days in District Court, where felony cases sit while they wait on indictment. A felony case can be resolved on a felony Friday if it is reduced to a misdemeanor, or if it is a low-level felony that can be pleaded in District Court.
Traffic administrative days
Any additional Friday in the month is a traffic administrative day. The District Attorney meets with people who have traffic violations, but there is no judge on the bench.
If a felony is indicted
It moves to an administrative day in Superior Court. There is one administrative week for Superior Court each month. If the case is going to trial, it moves to a Superior Court trial week — and there is one of those each month as well.
This calendar is not written down anywhere useful. Knowing which of those your case is heading for, and when, is most of what people want to understand in the first conversation — and it is the practical reason to hire someone who is in that courthouse regularly rather than someone who visits it.
Your Defense Starts With One Call
When your freedom, reputation, and future are on the line, facing the legal system alone is not an option. At Tetterton Law Firm PLLC, we are your partner in Beaufort. Contact us today to schedule a confidential consultation.