Jeff Welty

News Roundup

It’s been almost two weeks, so there’s been more news than I can reasonably cram into a news roundup. But I’ll try! 1. The General Assembly’s in session. They’re working on the budget. The News and Observer reports here that “[t]he state budget proposed by House Republicans Tuesday would slash budgets for courts, public safety … Read more

Lay Opinion about Drug Activity

I came across an interesting out-of-state case today. In State v. McLean, __ A.3d __ (N.J. Mar. 31, 2011), the Supreme Court of New Jersey held that an officer who “observed defendant engage in behavior that the officer believed was a [hand-to-hand] narcotics transaction” could testify only about the basic facts that he observed, and … Read more

Armed Robbery and Representations about Weapons

Twice each year, the School of Government welcomes newly-appointed magistrates for two weeks of training. Part of the curriculum involves learning the elements of common crimes. When I teach the elements of armed robbery, an exchange like this always ensues: Me: Imagine that a bad guy comes into a convenience store and tells the clerk … Read more

New Drug Crimes

The legislature has passed, and the Governor has signed, new S.L. 2011-12, which creates three new Schedule I drugs, defines certain synthetic cannabinoids as Schedule VI drugs, and makes several other changes to the drug statutes. (The federal government had already taken action on synthetic cannabinoids, as discussed here.) The law is effective July June … Read more

Index of SOG Criminal Law Materials

We at the School of Government like to think that we produce lots of useful scholarship. We write books, articles, informal papers, blog posts, and so on. Those of us working in the area of criminal law try to make our work useful to lawyers and judges involved in criminal cases. But of course, our … Read more

News Roundup

The usual Friday news roundup was displaced last week by an extremely important post. But the news itself just kept coming, including the following: 1. The General Assembly passed the Forensic Sciences Act, a bill that will reform the workings of the SBI crime lab. A News and Observer story about the bill is here, … Read more

Defendants Who Represent Themselves

Earlier this month, the Supreme Court of North Carolina decided State v. Lane, a capital case involving the abduction, rape, and murder of a five-year-old girl. The defendant in Lane initially sought to represent himself, exercising the right of self-representation established in Faretta v. California, 422 U.S. 806 (1975) (holding that part of the right … Read more

Prosecutors’ Civil Liability for Brady Violations

The United States Supreme Court decided Connick v. Thompson yesterday. In a nutshell, the plaintiff, John Thompson, spent 18 years in prison as a result of a Brady violation. After he was exonerated, he sued the district attorney’s office, claiming that the office failed to train prosecutors adequately about their Brady obligations. A jury agreed … Read more