A UNC School of Government Blog
Jeff Welty 
I’ve had several questions about BB guns, pellet guns, and airsoft guns, and whether certain criminal offenses can be predicated on the use or possession of such weapons. I’ll try to answer them in this far-too-long post. First, some terminology. Generally, a BB gun is an air-powered gun designed to shoot round, metal .177 caliber … Read more
Former Penn State defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky has been charged with sexually assaulting eight young boys between 1994 and 2009. The principal New York Times story is here. ESPN’s coverage is here. The grand jury report on the matter is here. Sandusky allegedly met each of the boys through Second Mile, a charity that he … Read more
The legal tabloids spent much of the week focused on Texas judge William Adams, after a video was posted on YouTube of him brutally beating his teenage daughter. I watched a few seconds of it, which was a few seconds too many. The story is here if you’re interested; police have recently announced that no … Read more
On Halloween, I was dressed up as a sheep, trick or treating with my daughter, Little Bo Peep. Fortunately, serious legal business was being conducted elsewhere: the Supreme Court heard oral argument in Lafler v. Cooper, a fascinating ineffective assistance of counsel case. Here’s a summary of the case, courtesy of SCOTUSblog: Cooper shot a … Read more
I’m traveling today with only an iPad and inconsistent Wifi for Internet access, so pardon the short post and untidy formatting in what has been a VERY interesting news week. 1. The court of appeals heard the electronic sweepstakes case this week, as the News and Observer notes here: http://www.newsobserver.com/2011/10/26/1595110/court-weighs-video-gaming.html 2. John Edwards lost his motions … Read more
Jill Moore, one of my colleagues who works in the area of public health law, recently posted on the School of Government’s local government law blog about health care providers’ obligation to report certain injuries to law enforcement. It’s an issue that comes up from time to time, and I thought that our readers would … Read more
I’ve recently been asked by several people whether it is lawful to require officers to issue a certain number of citations, or to make a certain number of arrests, per day or per month. Generally, I think it is lawful, subject to some important caveats. Let me start by noting that the use of quotas … Read more
Regular readers may have noticed that I fell down on the job and didn’t get a post up on Wednesday. Sorry about that! It’s been a busy week with the various court officials’ conferences. But it’s also been busy in the wider world: 1. The North Carolina Bar Association’s Criminal Justice Section is preparing for … Read more
Perhaps the biggest criminal law story here in North Carolina this week was the appointment of former court of appeals judge Joe John as the director of the State Crime Lab. The News and Observer reports here that Judge “John’s appointment was on the unanimous recommendation of an advisory committee that included defense attorneys.” Judge … Read more
Suppose that Bob Boyfriend moves in with Gina Girlfriend. Bob lives in Gina’s apartment for several months. He isn’t on the lease and doesn’t pay rent, but he does buy most of the couple’s groceries and does a fair share of the cleaning and other household chores. The relationship sours, and Gina asks Bob to … Read more