04/28/2026
The law is the law; it is the same law from county to county and from courtroom to courtroom.
FALSE!
It is true that all counties are governed by the same federal and state law but rules change from county to county and even from courtroom to courtroom. Wake County is supposed to follow the same law as every other county in North Carolina. However, each city and county can also have its own rules, ordinances and municipal codes. They can also have their own codified local rules that govern how the courts function in their judicial district. For example, in Wake County the Senior Resident Superior Court Judge sets amounts for presumptive bonds in criminal cases. As a result, a bond may be set according to completely different standards in Raleigh than it is in Durham.
Beyond differences in the written letter of the law from city to city and county to county, the way that different judges apply the law can also be hugely different from courtroom to courtroom. Some judges interpret the law differently than others and some laws lend themselves to different interpretations. Some judges might not be willing to accept plea bargains in certain types of cases and others might be just fine with them.