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Former state Rep. Cary Allred has pleaded guilty to a speeding charge that contributed to the end of his career in the legislature.

Allred, an Alamance County Republican, pleaded guilty through his attorney Wednesday to driving 102 in a 60 mile-an-hour zone one evening in April.

When he was pulled over, Allred was on his way to the legislature. That night witnesses on the House floor say they smelled alcohol on his breath and saw him plant a hug and a kiss on a teenage paige.

The incident led to an ethics investigation and Allred eventually resigned.

Allred was initially let go by a Highway Patrolman after he displayed his legislative ID during the traffic stop. The Patrol cited him for speeding days later.

On Wednesday, Allred's attorney entered a guilty plea, said Judge Joe Buckner, the chief District Court judge for Orange and Chatham counties. In an agreement with prosecutors, Allred was fined $500 and will have to pay $130 in court costs.

The Department of Motor Vehicles suspends driving priviledges for convictions involving speeds of more than 55 miles per hour that are 15 miles over the limit. Allred may qualify for limited driving privileges, such as driving to work.

Can a legislator get out of a speeding ticket while on their way to the legislature? — Dome comment thread

Not any more. And it's not clear whether they ever could.

A state law dating back to 1787 said that police could not detain legislators who were en route to session:

The members ... shall be protected, excepting cases of crime, from all arrest and imprisonment, or attachment of property, during the time of their going to, coming from, or attending the General Assembly.

Many legislators took the statute to mean that they could not be stopped for speeding if they were on their way to a vote.

But longtime bill drafting director Gerry Cohen says the legal meaning of those words was never clear. He argued that speeding or other driving infractions could be considered "cases of crime" that were not covered.

The law dated to pre-revolutionary days, when the king or the colonial governor would sometimes detain a legislator in order to influence a vote.

At the time, police also had much greater powers to arrest citizens for outstanding debts or to enforce a lien, for example.

After then-Sen. Joe Johnson cited the statute while trying to get out of a driving infraction in Raleigh, the legislature got rid of the provision in 1992.

Got a question? Post it in the comments or e-mail dome@newsobserver.com.

Sen. Walter Dalton missed 62 votes this session.

The Rutherfordton Democrat, who is running for the Democratic nomination for lieutenant governor, missed about 5 percent of the votes, according to a survey by the Greensboro News & Record.

A few of the votes he missed: Bills to give in-state tuition to Department of Defense employees, fund a spay and neuter program and close loopholes in speeding laws.

Most were local bills from other districts, including ones allowing a hotel tax in the town of Dallas, confirming the makeup of the Warren County school board and authorizing Durham to tear down uninhabitable buildings. 

A complete list of his voting record is here.  

A few bills were ripped from the headlines this session.

Legislation inspired by news stories and events will:

Require mandatory 24-hour security of hazardous waste warehouses and an off-site inventory of hazardous materials in case of disaster.

Fine school bus drivers $100 for violating rules against cell phone use that many school systems already have in place.

Abolish a state commission that was supposed to identify surplus state property that could be sold.

Restrict the number of breaks speeders can get on tickets.

The House changed its mind on a speeding bill.

After defeating a bill aimed at tightening loopholes that let chronic speeders off the hook Wednesday, the House voted to reconsider this evening, and the bill passed.

Rep. Phil Haire, a Sylva Democrat, said the problem was that some judges and prosecutors were failing to enforce the laws that had already been passed. He said reporters should go after individual court officials, not the legislature.

"This is a case of The News & Observer vs. the General Assembly," he said.

Rep. John Blust, a Greensboro Republican, said that if anything the bill should be tougher. He said news stories showed that a lot of people with serious speeding violations are not being punished.

"Right now in this state, we have a whole lot of people who are speeding, not just a little, but they're speeding a lot," he said. "They're walking out with nothing happening to them."

The bill passed 63-48 and heads back to the Senate for concurrence.

Update: The Senate failed to concur, and the differences will be worked out in a conference committee.

Like sands through the hourglass, these are the days of our legislature.

A quick look at what passed Wednesday:

APOLOGIES: The Senate expressed "profound regret" for the violence of the 1898 Wilmington race riots, acknowledging the findings of a commission it established to investigate. The bill now goes to the House.

NO SPEED: The House defeated a bill aimed to tightening loopholes that allow chronic speeders to escape punishment, legislation that was inspired by a recent N&O series. They may reconsider the bill today. 

LANDFILL RULES: Despite intense lobbying, both chambers approved tougher new regulation of landfills, adding a statewide disposal tax, increasing setbacks on streams and requiring better financial proof from landfill operators. 

A few readers of Ed Cone's blog thinks the legislature acted too quickly on speed.

After an N&O investigation revealed problems with the court system's handling of some traffic cases, the state Senate quickly passed a bill last week. Blogger Bubba Near reacts here:

Wow, talk about "knee-jerk" reactions in an atmosphere of hysteria created by a series of articles by Pat Stith published in the N&O last week about the disposition of speeding cases in North Carolina. Good grief! The last installment was just published a few days ago.

Other commenters argued that running red lights causes more accidents than speeding, the bill is "political grandstanding" and changes will slow down the court system.

A Senate committee moved quickly Tuesday to tighten speeding laws.

Under the proposal, drivers caught speeding would only be able to plead guilty to 'improper equipment' or having a broken speedometer, twice within five years. Under current law, there is no limit, Lynn Bonner reports.

The violation would be recorded on the driver's record. Drivers caught going more than 30 miles an hour over the speed limit would not be eligible to plead to the lesser charge. Judges would be prohibited from granting prayers for judgment continued in cases where drivers were going more 30 miles an hour over the speed limit. A prayer for judgment continued lets speeders keep their licenses and avoid higher insurance premiums.

Sen. Tony Rand, a Fayetteville Democrat, proposed the measure in response to a series of articles in the News & Observer on speeders escaping punishment.

Gov. Mike Easley said that magistrates should also handle speeders.

At a press conference this morning, Easley said that would ease the burden of handling routine traffic cases on District Court and Superior Court judges, Jim Nesbitt reports.

A former district attorney, Easley said that prosecutors are often forced to choose between going after speeding infractions and pursuing more serious cases.

"That's why all this wheeling and dealing is going on, and some of it's just irresponsible," he said.

Click here for the N&O's recent four-part series on speeding.

North Carolina's speeders may not have a prayer soon.

Leaders of the state House and Senate agreed to limit the number of prayers for judgement continued — or PJC's — that judges can give to drivers who went too fast.

Essentially an indefinite hold on a speeding case, a PJC allows drivers to keep their license and keeps their insurance rates down.

House Speaker Joe Hackney and Senate leaders Marc Basnight and Tony Rand agreed to limit judges from giving out PJCs in high-speed cases and take other measures to strengthen enforcement:

"Who would have ever thought that judges were acting in this way?" said Basnight, a Democrat from Manteo who is president pro tem of the Senate. (N&O)

Click here for the N&O's recent four-part series on speeding.