Hundreds turn out for successful 'Amnesty Day' in Buncombe
BUNCOMBE COUNTY, N.C. (WLOS) — Based on the success of last month's Amnesty Day, Buncombe County District Attorney Todd Williams says the office has their eyes on future dates, to help even more people get charges dismissed and court dates rescheduled.
Amnesty Day is meant to help people move on with their lives. Anyone with old warrants or an order for arrest related to an outstanding misdemeanor and/or traffic citation, issued in Buncombe County, is eligible to see if the case can be reset for hearing--and possibly dismissed.
The Buncombe County District Attorney's Office says that attendance for the fifth Amnesty Day was more than all previous events combined.
According to an official statement from the office, upward of 600 people showed up, and more than 550 had their cases modified via dismissal, court date reset, and other alternatives.
District Attorney Todd Williams says the mission of Amnesty Day gets right to the heart of his office’s mission.
“Our focus is to do justice, and that means not always prosecuting to obtain a conviction, because justice requires understanding each case and each person’s particular circumstances," Williams said in a press release.
Assistant DA Katie Kurdys recounts a story from the event, of a single mother whose drivers' license was revoked due to a seat belt infraction. This snowballed into an arrest warrant, suspended license and canceled insurance.
Kurdys says she was able to get the judge to dismiss all the woman's charges.
“There were a lot of people who said they’d hug me if they could," Kurdys said about Amnesty Day participants. "I got a ton of high fives."
“Thinking about social justice and racial equity, we might look toward Martin Luther King Jr. Day next year,” Williams said.
