Articles Tagged with North Carolina DUI Laws

December 14, 2025

The “Per Se” DWI Narrative in North Carolina | Impaired Driving Law

Search the phrase “per se DWI North Carolina,” and the results look deceptively confident. AI summaries and legal directories will tell you that if your blood test hits a certain number, a conviction is inevitable.

It is not the language of the statute. It is not the language used to instruct juries. It is a mantra of sorts that has been repeated so often it now masquerades as doctrine.

North Carolina’s DWI statute does not use the phrase per se impairment for alcohol or marijuana, and North Carolina’s jury instructions do not tell juries that a specific number automatically requires a finding of guilt. That phrase does not appear anywhere in N.C.G.S. 20-138.1.

October 22, 2025

Breath, Blood, and Bull: How the Breathalyzer Works

by Carolina Attorneys

This post continues the Breath, Blood, and Bull series, which explores how science, technology, and human judgment shape DWI enforcement in North Carolina.

The first article examined the limits of field sobriety testing. This installment turns to the machines that translate breath into evidence, using “breathalyzers.”

By unpacking how they measure alcohol, where they can fail, and how lawyers challenge their results, you’ll see why science is not necessarily as simple as a number on a printout.