§ 15A-131. Venue generally. - North Carolina Statutes

Article 3.

Venue.

§ 15A‑131.  Venuegenerally.

(a)        Venue for pretrialand trial proceedings in district court of cases within the originaljurisdiction of the district court lies in the county where the charged offenseoccurred.

(b)        Except for theprobable cause hearing, venue for pretrial proceedings in cases within theoriginal jurisdiction of the superior court lies in the superior court districtor set of districts as defined in G.S. 7A‑41.1 embracing the county wherethe venue for trial proceedings lies.

(c)        Except as otherwiseprovided in this subsection, venue for probable cause hearings and trialproceedings in cases within the original jurisdiction of the superior courtlies in the county where the charged offense occurred. Except as otherwiseprovided in this subsection, if the alleged offense is committed within thecorporate limits of a municipality which is the seat of superior court and islocated in more than one county, venue lies in the superior court which sitswithin that municipality, but upon timely objection of the defendant or thedistrict attorney in the county in which the alleged offense occurred the casemust be transferred to the county in which the alleged offense occurred.However, for charges brought by municipal law enforcement officers only, if thealleged offense is committed within the corporate limits of a municipality thatextends into four or more counties, each of which is in a separate superiorcourt district, offenses committed within the corporate limits of the municipalitybut in a superior court district other than the one for which the municipalityis the seat of superior court shall be disposed of in the municipality with noallowance for objections by the defendant or the district attorney.

(d)        Venue formisdemeanors appealed for trial de novo in superior court lies in the countywhere the misdemeanor was first tried.

(e)        An offense occursin a county if any act or omission constituting part of the offense occurswithin the territorial limits of the county.

(f)         For the purposesof this Article, pretrial proceedings are proceedings occurring after theinitial appearance before the magistrate and prior to arraignment.  (1973, c. 1286, s. 1; 1975,2nd Sess., c. 983, s. 134; 1983, c. 727; 1987 (Reg. Sess., 1988), c. 1037, s.53; 2009‑398, s. 3.)