North Carolina Criminal Law Blog

A five-year investigation by the New York Times has uncovered extensive evidence that famous civil-rights leader Cesar Chavez engaged in a pattern of sexually abusing young girls and women. Several […]

Judicial branch officials may be removed from office through a variety of proceedings. Judges of the trial courts and appellate court judges and justices may be removed from office by […]

This post summarizes published criminal law and related cases released by the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals during February 2026. Cases of potential interest to state practitioners are summarized monthly. […]

I am excited to announce that I have published a bulletin on Iryna’s Law and Pretrial Release. The bill under which it was enacted, Session Law 2025-93 (HB 307), made […]

The AP reports that yesterday, “[a] former Army National Guard member who had spent eight years in prison for attempting to aid the Islamic State opened fire on a classroom […]

It’s been a while since I last posted an updated flow chart for sex offender registration and satellite-based monitoring (SBM). In the past I tried to cram the entire thing […]

In an earlier post, I discussed one category of unprotected speech that may be criminally punished consistent with the First Amendment, speech integral to criminal conduct. My former colleague Jonathan […]

The defendant in State v. Phillips, No. COA25-275 (N.C. Ct. App. Jan. 7, 2026), argued the trial court erred by denying his pretrial motion to dismiss based on a defective […]

This post summarizes the published criminal opinions from the North Carolina Court of Appeals released on March 4, 2026. Evidence was sufficient on trafficking in opioids by possession; no error […]

Justin “Drinks on Me” Timberlake is bringing it back this week after suing Sag Harbor Village to prevent the release of bodycam footage from his 2024 arrest for drunk driving, […]