A UNC School of Government Blog
Jeff Welty 
Under G.S. 15A-534.1, when a defendant is charged with assault, stalking, communicating threats, or certain other crimes against “a spouse or former spouse or a person with whom the defendant lives or has lived as if married,” a judge, rather than a magistrate, must set the defendant’s bond. The same rule applies when a defendant … Read more
I’ve been asked several times recently whether a particular set of facts should be charged as embezzlement, in violation of G.S. 14-90, or as larceny by employee, in violation of G.S. 14-74. Struggling to answer those questions led me to realize that I didn’t have a good understanding of the relationship between the two offenses. … Read more
Several high profile murder trials are headed for a conclusion in the near future. The News and Observer covers the Robert Stewart trial here (the defendant admits killing eight people at a nursing home, but contends that due to his mental illness and use of prescription drugs, he is not legally culpable), and the Joshua … Read more
I’ve written about traffic stops at some length, in this paper. One of the areas in which the law is unsettled is the extent to which officers may engage in investigative activity during the stop that is not related to the purpose of the stop, especially if such investigative conduct prolongs the stop. Here’s what … Read more
Earthquakes, hurricanes, and other natural disasters have been top-of-mind for most North Carolina residents this week. Not for me, though. I have remained focused like a laser beam on tracking criminal law news. 1. I blogged last week about the Durham murder case that was dismissed due to the state’s release of the decedent’s bones … Read more
As I mentioned in a recent post, I really enjoy working with magistrates, in part because of the excellent questions they ask. Here’s one that came up recently: if a person goes into a clothing store, cuts the tags off a jacket, and starts wearing the jacket around the store, can the person be charged … Read more
[Editor’s note: I’m on vacation Friday, so I’m posting this roundup Thursday night.] We welcomed a group of new magistrates at the School of Government this week. I like working with magistrates for lots of reasons, one of which is that they ask a lot of good questions. At least one upcoming blog post will … Read more
The court of appeals recently held that a defendant who was initially unarmed, then stole a weapon from a victim, was properly convicted of armed robbery because the defendant was armed with the weapon that he stole. Sound circular? Read on. First off, the recent case is State v. McMillan. In brief, the evidence suggested … Read more
What a strange week. London’s burning, and almost 15,000 young Britons have been taken into custody; the stock market’s gone unhinged; and weirdest of all, one of the top professional soccer teams in the world, Real Madrid, won the race to sign . . . a seven year old. There have been some interesting developments … Read more
For a variety of reasons, I’ve spent some time recently looking at expert discovery in criminal cases. I thought I’d put together a short summary of the law. The discovery statutes impose identical obligations on the parties regarding their experts. Each side must give notice to the other of any expert witnesses that it “reasonably … Read more