News Roundup
On Wednesday this week, Austin Thompson entered guilty pleas to five counts of murder and other charges stemming from a 2022 mass shooting in a Raleigh neighborhood. The defendant, who […]
Revisiting Simeon v. Hardin: Part II, Lack of “Order” in the Trial Order
In Part I of this three-part series revisiting Simeon v. Hardin, 339 N.C. 358 (1994), I explored the district attorney’s calendaring practices that were challenged in the landmark case, and […]
New Report Evaluating Orange County’s Crisis Assistance, Response, & Engagement (CARE) Team
In May 2024, Orange County and the Chapel Hill Police Department launched the Crisis Assistance, Response, and Engagement (CARE) Team. The CARE Team is an all-civilian mobile crisis response team […]
Case Summaries: Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals (Dec. 2025)
This post summarizes published criminal law and related cases released by the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals during December 2025. Cases of potential interest to state practitioners are summarized monthly. […]
News Roundup
Tensions in Minneapolis escalated again Wednesday night as a federal agent shot and wounded a man during an arrest, an incident the Department of Homeland Security said followed a “violent […]
NC Supreme Court Clarifies Test for Determining When Acts Support Multiple Counts of Indecent Liberties
I wrote here about the North Carolina Court of Appeals decision in State v. Calderon, 290 N.C. App. 344 (2023), which set forth a new test for determining whether multiple […]
Winter 2026 Cannabis Update
Not much has changed for cannabis law at the state level since my last post on the topic. I noted there that several defendants were seeking review before the North […]
Good for the Goose: Court of Appeals Sustains Pre-Singleton Rule in State v. Ramsey
A short-form murder indictment generally will not support a conviction for assault. That, at any rate, was the rule prior to State v. Singleton, 386 N.C. 183 (2024) (holding that […]
Case summaries: N.C. Court of Appeals (Jan. 7, 2026)
This post summarizes the published criminal opinions from the North Carolina Court of Appeals released on January 7, 2026. Videos of the defendant sexually assaulting his unconscious wife were authenticated […]
News Roundup
Last Friday, Indonesia enacted its new penal code, replacing colonial-era laws that had governed the country for over a century. The legal reform implements a new national criminal code (KUHP) and a criminal procedures […]