This post summarizes opinions issued by the North Carolina Supreme Court on September 25, 2020.
Christopher Tyner
News Roundup
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg died last Friday at her home in Washington at age 87. Ginsburg served on the Court for 27 years after being nominated by President Bill Clinton in 1993. She previously held a seat on the D.C. Circuit. Ginsburg spent much of her career litigating gender equality cases, cofounding the Women’s Rights Project at the ACLU in the early 1970s. More recently she had become a cultural icon, widely known for her strenuous workouts and “Notorious R.B.G.” nickname. Ginsburg famously was close friends with the late Justice Antonin Scalia. At a ceremony this week, Chief Justice John Roberts described her as “tough, brave, a fighter, a winner” and added that she was “thoughtful, careful, compassionate, and honest.” Ginsburg will lie in state in the United States Capitol today, the first woman to receive that honor. Keep reading for more news.
News Roundup
On Tuesday, the city of Louisville announced a settlement agreement in a wrongful death lawsuit brought by the family of Breonna Taylor, a Black woman who was killed by police as they served a search warrant at her home in March. The city agreed to pay Taylor’s family $12 million and to make changes to Louisville Metro Police policy and practice. The police reforms include mandatory commanding officer review of all search warrants, mandatory EMS/paramedic presence for the execution of all search warrants, and measures to increase officer engagement with the community. Keep reading or more on this story and other news.
News Roundup
WLOS reports that Henderson County Sheriff’s Deputy Ryan Hendrix died yesterday after being shot while responding to the scene of a car break-in where gunfire had been exchanged by the owner of the car and the person breaking into it. Early Thursday morning, deputies responded to the Mountain Home community in Hendersonville where a resident reported that someone was breaking into his car, where he kept a gun. They found Robert Ray Doss, Jr., in a nearby truck and made contact with him. After first appearing to cooperate with the deputies, Doss fired a shot that hit Hendrix. Other deputies at the scene then shot and killed Doss. Hendrix is a Marine veteran who has been with the department since 2012. Keep reading for more news.
News Roundup
Protests in Portland, Oregon, turned deadly over the weekend when a man was shot on the street following a clash between supporters of President Donald Trump and people demonstrating against racial disparities in policing. On Saturday, a group of Trump supporters drove vehicles in a caravan around Portland while flying flags and otherwise expressing their support for the president in the upcoming election. Though the caravan route was meant to bypass downtown Portland, where protests have been ongoing since the killing of George Floyd in late May, some participants departed from the route and drove downtown where conflict broke out. Late in the evening, a member of the caravan, Aaron “Jay” Danielson was fatally shot in the chest by a gunman who has not yet been identified. Keep reading for more on this story and other news.
Case Summaries – N.C. Court of Appeals (September 1, 2020)
This post summarizes opinions issued by the North Carolina Court of Appeals on September 1, 2020.
News Roundup
Threads of the modern American experience that for months have been pulled with increasing tension came together as the fuse for an explosion of violence this week on the streets of Kenosha, Wisconsin, where a teenager from Illinois armed with an assault rifle killed two people and wounded a third while acting as a vigilante property guard during protests arising from another officer-involved shooting of a black man. As it was with the officer-involved shooting, the protest shootings instantly were broadcast into the public sphere from the cellphone cameras of onlookers, and as it has been with so much of this turbulent summer, assessments of fault are sharply divided. Keep reading for more on this story and other news.
News Roundup
The criminal cases against Greg Lindberg and Robin Hayes arising from their attempt to bribe State Insurance Commissioner Mike Causey to give favorable treatment to Lindberg’s insurance business have been regular topics in the News Roundup over the past year. Lindberg was convicted by a jury earlier this year and Hayes pleaded guilty last year. As the Charlotte Observer reports, both men were in federal court this week for sentencing. Keep reading for more on this story and other news.
Case Summaries – N.C. Court of Appeals (August 18, 2020)
This post summarizes opinions issued by the North Carolina Court of Appeals on August 18, 2020.
News Roundup
Next week, from Wednesday to Friday, the School of Government is virtually hosting the Public Defender Attorney and Investigator Conference. The event is co-sponsored by the Office of Indigent Defense Services, the North Carolina Association of Public Defenders, and the North Carolina Association of Public Defender Investigators. Held through the Zoom webinar platform, the event is open to IDS employees, private assigned counsel, and contract attorneys handling indigent criminal and delinquency cases. Registration is open until midnight on Sunday, August 16. You can sign up and find more information here. Keep reading for more news.