Legal Question in Criminal Law in North Carolina

I live in North Carolina. I am moving from my home soon, and it took a month longer than it should have - my landlord was fine with it. In addition, I rent a large garage in my back yard on a separate addendum to my lease. My landlord handles this property for his aunt - who is also listed on my lease. Unbeknown to me, my neighbor (whom I have had several confrontations with - and have asked repeatedly to stay off of my property) rented my garage from the aunt. This person has, on several occasions, waited until I have left my home and came over to confront my wife.

When I failed to move out on the first of the month, this neighbor came over while I was not home and demanded the key to my garage. When my wife informed him that we still have a valid lease for the garage until we actually move out (its month to month - and we are current on our rent), he tried to open my door and told my wife that he "wasn't leaving without the key," and he "had been to prison," and "wasn't afraid to go back." Which was a direct threat to my wife and my 7-year old daughter who watched the whole thing. He left when my wife called the police.

I learned of the incident as I was approaching my home and I immediately called my landlord, who told me he was staying "neutral" - even though my landlord repeatedly (in the past) has employed this neighbor to do work on my home and to cut my lawn. So I stopped at this neighbors house (I never went past the perimeter of his lawn) and yelled at this neighbor to stay away from wife and to stay off of my property. I told him I would physically remove him from my property if necessary, and I would press charges for this incident. He made very condescending remarks about my practiced faith as he has on several occasions in the past (I am Christian - Apostolic, to be exact). He referred to me as an "Amish pussy." We were chest to chest when the police officer showed up. The officer allowed me to drive over to my home and tell our side of the story. He advised us not to press charges, due to possible retaliation from the neighbor, but we insisted that he get the neighbors information so we could press charges. He did so, but when he returned, he advised us again to NOT press charges.

That was Friday, March 31st. On Monday, April 3rd, my wife went to press charges on the neighbor for trespassing and threatening her. We attempted to obtain a police report of the incident, the officer had not bothered to write one. We had to return the next day so that the officer could type up an incident report for an event three days prior. The report says the officer overheard me threaten my neighbor that I would "kick his ass," which is inaccurate.

My wife also took out a temporary restraining order which would last one week until she could appear before the judge and ask for a permanent restraining order (which lasts a year). In the meantime, the sheriffs office was to serve my neighbor with a notice to appear for the restraining order - and a warrant for his arrest to appear for a separate court date on the threatening charge. The following Monday, April 10th, she appears in court to ask for a permanent restraining order. My neighbor does not show up because the sheriffs office has not served either document to him - nearly a week later.

So, sometime between April 10th and April 17th, my neighbor was served with those papers. According to the magistrate, he was never arrested.

The night before Easter Sunday, April 22, at approximately 11:45p.m., two uniformed sheriffs deputies showed up at my doorstep. They said they had a warrant for my arrest because my neighbor had pressed charges earlier that evening. They asked if I was "ready to go". This is now three full weeks after the incident.. I was flustered, looking around for my shoes, and I was understandably upset - but I never raised my voice or cursed. They handcuffed me, and took me outside. They had parked in front of my neighbors house, so he got to watch me be arrested - no doubt hoping I would be in jail for Easter. Once in the car, the officer read the charges to me from his computer screen, he did not read me the Miranda warning at any time ( I understand they don't always have to). I responded "no comment" to the charges.

I was taken to jail, where we parked outside while the magistrate opened up her office. I observed her unlock her the door, go inside, and turn on the lights. I was then taken inside a holding area that had a window separating it from the magistrates office. Still in handcuffs, I watched her type up and print out the warrant for my arrest - which I later signed for. Then, I was released on $1000 unsecured bond and the officer drove me back home.

On Monday, April 24th, my wife appeared again to ask for a permanent restraining order. This time my neighbor did appear and, in the course of his testimony, he admitted that he had been warned previously (before March 31st) to stay off my property.

Here are my questions:

Can you be arrested, in a situation like this, in the State of North Carolina, without being presented a written arrest warrant - signed by a judge?

Are there any State or Federal laws that prevent retaliatory charges being brought against you, simply because you pressed charges on them?

Were my civil rights violated in this case?

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