Recent blog posts

The week began with the report of the capture of an armed fugitive wanted for murder in Mount Airy. Michael Puckett is accused of killing one Virginia sheriff’s deputy and […]

Where the trial court did not afford defense counsel an opportunity to rebut the prosecutor’s proffered race-neutral reasons for striking black jurors, thereby failing to conduct the third step of […]

This post is a follow-up from last month’s post Initial Appearances, Implied Consent Offenses, and Offenses Involving Impaired Driving Part 1. In Part 1, we discussed the differences and overlaps […]

Probation records are privileged. That protection stems from an old statute, G.S. 15-207, which was enacted in 1937—the same year the original North Carolina Probation Commission was established. See N.C. […]

Last week I participated in a CLE event sponsored by the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians Tribal Court. It was a great event and an opportunity for me to learn […]

Last Friday, violence erupted outside the Wake County Courthouse when Gwendolyn White reportedly shot at two lawyers, Mary Harris and Jeffrey Whitley. The attack happened after a tense hearing at […]

If asked if North Carolina has a speedy trial law, until relatively recently, I would have said no. A defendant does have constitutional rights to a speedy trial under the […]

This post summarizes the published criminal opinions from the Supreme Court of North Carolina released on May 22, 2026. There was no Harbison error where (1) the defendant agreed to […]

This post summarizes the published criminal opinions from the North Carolina Court of Appeals released on May 20, 2026. Trial counsel was not ineffective on multiple grounds asserted by defense; […]

One of the unique aspects of juvenile delinquency procedure is the intake and evaluation process. This mandatory process precedes commencement of a delinquency court action and determines if an initial […]