New Volume of Defender Manual Now Available

A new edition of Volume Two of the North Carolina Defender Manual has just been released. Volume Two addresses trial issues, from jury selection through verdict and beyond. It also covers guilty pleas, motions to dismiss, and other important topics. (Volume One covers pretrial proceedings — a new edition of that volume is apparently in … Read more

News Roundup

The lead story from last week’s news roundup is back again: Chapel Hill’s ban on using cell phones while driving. It appears from this News and Observer story that Superior Court Judge Orlando Hudson has now granted a preliminary injunction against the ordinance, extending the temporary restraining order he issued previously. A hearing on the … Read more

Must Officers’ Prior Misconduct Be Disclosed in Discovery?

I’ve had a whole bunch of phone calls lately raising the same basic issue: suppose that a prosecutor is aware that an officer has been dishonest or has engaged in other misconduct in the past. Must the prosecutor disclose the officer’s dishonesty or misconduct to the defendant in a pending case in which the officer … Read more

News Roundup

It is still safe – legally speaking – to drive around Chapel Hill while talking on a cell phone. Recall that the town has banned cell phone usage while driving, subject to certain exceptions. The ban was scheduled to go into effect June 1, but the owner of a towing company sued the town alleging … Read more

Supreme Court Update

Today, I wanted to note two timely and interesting items concerning the United States Supreme Court. First, the Court just granted certiorari in Chaidez v. United States, a case that presents the issue of whether Padilla v. Kentucky applies retroactively. Padilla, of course, is the case that requires criminal defense attorneys, in some circumstances, to … Read more

News Roundup

This has been a busy but inspiring week for me, as we have had over 40 new prosecutors here at the School of Government for training. It is always a treat for me to work with aspiring public servants, and this group has impressed me as particularly serious and committed. But the world has not … Read more

First Ruling Under the Racial Justice Act

Last Friday, Cumberland County Senior Resident Superior Court Judge Greg Weeks issued the first merits ruling on a claim under the Racial Justice Act (“RJA”), G.S. 15A-2010 et seq. Judge Weeks’ order, which vacates the death sentence previously imposed on Marcus Robinson, is here. It’s 168 pages long, so I suspect most people haven’t read … Read more

News Roundup

The trial of former Senator John Edwards has begun in federal court in Greensboro. In the federal cases I tried, jury selection took about as long as it takes me to read the newspaper in the morning, but in the Edwards trial, it’s scheduled to take a week or more. Meanwhile, a number of articles … Read more

Sufficient or Insufficient?

Under G.S. 14-208.18, it is a crime for certain sex offenders “to knowingly be at” certain locations, including “[o]n the premises of any place intended primarily for the use, care, or supervision of minors.” The court of appeals recently decided State v. Harris, a case concerning an indictment for that offense. The court’s opinion makes some interesting points, so I’ll set out the indictment, and then administer a quiz.

The indictment alleged that the defendant

did unlawfully, willfully and feloniously on the premises of Winget Park Elementary School, located at . . . Charlotte, North Carolina. A place intended primarily for the use, care, or supervision of minors and defendant is a registered sex offender.

On appeal, the defendant identified several alleged defects in the indictment. So here’s the quiz: which of the following problems, if any, did the court of appeals view as requiring relief for the defendant?

a. The omission of “go” or “be” from the phrase “did unlawfully, willfully and feloniously on the premises

b. The failure to allege “knowingly,” which is the mens rea term used in G.S. 14-208.18

c. The lack of any antecedent for the phrase “[a] place intended primarily for the use, care, or supervision of minors”

d. The failure to specify that the defendant’s reportable conviction was for an offense in Article 7A of Chapter 14

e. None of the above, the court determined that the indictment was sufficient

The answer is after the break.

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Does Brady Apply After a Conviction?

Everyone knows that under Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83 (1963), a prosecutor must disclose material exculpatory or mitigating evidence to the defense. But does Brady apply only prior to trial, or does the obligation continue after a defendant has been convicted? That’s one of the questions raised by this Washington Post article, which reports … Read more