The New Hanover County District Attorney’s office confirmed this week it will not prosecute a DUI case against Mary Vigue, the deputy city manager of Wilmington.
Vigue was arrested two years ago after she was stopped by a daytime license checkpoint near her home in the Greenfield Lake area. Officers from the Wilmington Police Department and deputies from the New Hanover County Sheriff’s Office were both present. According to an NHCSO spokesperson, several officers witnessed Vigue being visibly intoxicated after she got out of her vehicle.
The city placed Vigue on unpaid administrative leave for several weeks, but her criminal case was dropped because the arresting deputy left the sheriff’s office.
The charges were later expunged, removed from the public record. Last year, NHCSO said this was most likely part of updated expungement laws — passed as part of the 2020 Second Chance Act, which included automated expungement for certain dismissed charges.
Related: Wilmington deputy city manager had DUI dismissed, expunged. DA looking to refile charges
The DA’s office attempted to continue the case, but a judge denied their motion. Last year, then-District Attorney Ben David said they would refile charges if they could find another officer to testify. At the time, an NHCSO spokesperson said there were several WPD officers and at least one other sheriff’s deputy who could testify, several of whom had body cams operating.
However, the DA’s office now says it would be “unfair” to recharge Vigue, since no other cases dismissed because of the deputy’s departure have been reopened. According to a spokesperson, recharging Vigue would “amount to selective prosecution.”
Because the original arrest was expunged, the District Attorney's office was unable to offer specifics about when the decision not to recharge occurred.
The full statement from the District Attorney’s office is below:
The Vigue case was dismissed due to the charging officer not being available on the day the case was in court. That charging officer has since left the New Hanover County Sheriff’s Office. The State has not recharged any cases of his due to this officer’s unavailability. The District Attorney’s Office examined the case and determined that it would be unfair to this defendant if her case was recharged, which would have to be done by a different law enforcement officer. Since the State was unable to proceed on the day the case was in court, and doing so at this juncture would have amounted to selective prosecution, the State will not be reopening this case.
