Recent blog posts

Overcrowding at North Carolina jails continues to be a problem, with Wake County jails holding more than 1,800 people in August despite a capacity of 1,574. As noted in prior […]

Part I of this two-part blog addressed what happens at arraignment, compared the way arraignment works in North Carolina to the way it works in other states, and set forth  […]

This post summarizes published criminal opinions from the Supreme Court of North Carolina released on August 14, 2026. The court released twelve such opinions on that day, some quite lengthy. […]

Probable cause (PC) hearings play a unique role in delinquency cases. They are required only in the subset of cases that are potentially eligible for transfer to superior court, and […]

This post summarizes the published criminal opinions from the North Carolina Court of Appeals released on August 19, 2026. Trial court erred by dismissing the charges against the defendant pursuant […]

Welcome back to the Friday News Roundup. It’s been an interesting week for criminal law news. Without further ado, here are a few of the top stories: Raleigh considers curfew […]

The 2026 Appropriations Act created a new district court district, effective January 1, 2027, by splitting current District 5, a four-county district consisting of Duplin, Jones, Onslow, and Sampson Counties, into Districts […]

This post summarizes published criminal opinions from the Supreme Court of North Carolina released on August 14, 2026. The court released twelve such opinions on that day, some quite lengthy. […]

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

I was on vacation last week. I spent part of my time reading Carlos Barragan’s book The Yahoo Boys. Barragan is a Spanish journalist. His mother, a successful dentist, fell […]