A UNC School of Government Blog
Jeff Welty 
A truly incredible story has culminated over the past few days. In 1998, Shon Hopwood was sentenced to 147 months in federal prison for bank robbery. He became a jailhouse lawyer, and in 2002, he filed his first petition for certiorari with the United States Supreme Court. Former Solicitor General Seth Waxman described it in … Read more
Maybe so, according to a recent Reuters report. Apparently, the Special Operations Division of the DEA receives information from the NSA and passes it to DEA field agents. The agents then begin criminal investigations based on the information. There are two possible problems with the program described by Reuters. End run around privacy protections. First, … Read more
Nationally, the focus this week was on the sentencing of Ariel Castro, the Cleveland man who imprisoned three women in his home for years and sexually assaulted them. Castro spoke on his own behalf, stating that he “is not a violent person” but is simply “sick,” and claiming that he and his captives lived in … Read more
I wrote here about how law enforcement officers may obtain historical information about the location of a suspect’s cellular phone. There have been several developments in the law since then, including earlier this week when the Fifth Circuit rendered its decision in In re Application of the United States of America for Historical Cell Site … Read more
S 182 is on the Governor’s desk. It is entitled in part “An Act to Eliminate Appeals for Infractions.” The bill also does some other things, but the focus of this post is on the potentially significant change in the way that infractions are processed. Current law. Under current G.S. 15A-1115, “[a] person who denies … Read more
The budget is done, the Senate has adjourned, and the House will adjourn this morning. I’ve already posted about one aspect of the budget, here, but it is hundreds of pages long and includes other significant provisions, including (1) closing four prisons (Duplin, Robeson, Bladen, and Wayne), and Western Youth Institution, (2) funding “19 new … Read more
The General Assembly has passed H 937, which awaits the Governor’s signature. It is an omnibus gun bill, following rather closely on the heels of the omnibus firearms bill enacted in 2011, which I covered in part here. Assuming that it becomes law – and I am not aware of any prospect of a veto … Read more
The legislature has agreed on a budget, and it contains some provisions that will impact misdemeanor sentencing and the appointment of counsel — potentially in tens of thousands of cases each year. Status of the budget. The current budget bill is S 402. It is available here. The accompanying “money report,” which provides narrative explanations … Read more
A North Carolina judge made the national news recently because of the sentence she imposed on a young woman who pled guilty to being drunk and disruptive and to resisting an officer. Halifax County Chief District Court Judge Brenda Branch gave 21-year-old Tonie Marie King a suspended sentence and ordered her to write a two-page … Read more
Law enforcement use of automated license plate readers has become very widespread. It raises several interesting legal and practical issues which I briefly explore below. What are they? License plate readers are electronic devices – basically, enhanced cameras – that scan each passing car, detect the license plate, read it, and record it. The devices … Read more