A UNC School of Government Blog
Jeff Welty 
A couple of weeks ago, the court of appeals decided State v. Davis, __ N.C. App. __ (2012). For prosecutors, defense lawyers, and judges handling sex crime cases, it’s a significant opinion concerning Rule 404(b). The defendant in Davis was charged with indecent liberties and first-degree sexual offenses based primarily on his young son’s reports … Read more
Results from the July bar examination are now available. Apparently, there were some, um, irregularities in the administration of the test. Above The Law reports that “[o]ne test site — which appears to have been a giant livestock pen at the state fairgrounds — lost power, causing all kinds of drama as the students tried … Read more
I don’t think I’ve ever reviewed a book on the blog before — maybe this prior post would qualify — but I recently finished Don’t Shoot, by Paul David Kennedy, a criminologist at John Jay College in New York. It’s available on Amazon here, and I thought that others might find it interesting. Kennedy has worked … Read more
Can you name all nine Justices of the United States Supreme Court? Take a moment and test yourself before you read on. How did you do? If you were able to name even one Justice, you are better informed about the Court than most Americans. According to a recent survey, two-thirds of us came up … Read more
A good rule of thumb is that most interesting impaired driving appeals come from Pitt County. Whether that is related to ECU’s ranking as a top five “party school,” I don’t know. In any event, today’s batch of opinions from the court of appeals includes another intriguing Pitt County DWI, State v. Osterhoudt. The facts … Read more
I’ve been traveling a fair bit lately, which made me especially receptive to this story about things the TSA has found on air passengers or in their luggage this year. To sum up: “Things like guns and bombs aren’t enough anymore, the TSA finds grenade launchers, venomous snakes, gassed up chainsaws and more.” Also a … Read more
Can an officer’s visual estimate of a vehicle’s speed, uncorroborated by radar, pacing, or other techniques, support a speeding stop? The Fourth Circuit has been whipsawing back and forth on that question recently. First, in United States v. Sowards, __ F.3d __, 2012 WL 2386605 (4th Cir. June 26, 2012), a case I discussed here, … Read more
The most famous footnote in all the world is generally acknowledged to be footnote 4 in United States v. Carolene Products Company, 304 U.S. 144 (1938). That footnote introduced to constitutional law the concept of tiered levels of scrutiny, an idea that deeply influenced the subsequent evolution of equal protection jurisprudence. Although not likely destined … Read more
Here in Chapel Hill, the big news of the week is that the town’s ban on cell phone use while driving was struck down by a superior court judge. The judge ruled that the ordinance is preempted by state law, which comprehensively regulates the use of mobile devices while driving. The News and Observer has … Read more
Can a defendant who chooses to represent himself subsequently argue that he received ineffective assistance of “counsel”? No, as illustrated by the recent case of State v. Brunson, __ N.C. App. __ (2012). The defendant in Brunson elected to represent himself. He was convicted of sexually abusing his stepdaughter. He appealed, arguing in part that … Read more