A UNC School of Government Blog
Jeff Welty 
I’ve had a couple of questions lately about whether attempted assault is a crime. Nationally, there appears to be a split of authority on this issue. 6 Am. Jur. 2d Assault and Battery § 11 (noting that “[t]he authorities are in conflict whether an attempt to commit an assault is a criminal offense”); Marjorie A. … Read more
It is hornbook law that “[a] confidential communication between husband and wife is privileged and neither spouse may be compelled to disclose it when testifying as a witness.” 1 Kenneth S. Broun, Brandis & Broun on North Carolina Evidence 419 (6th ed. 2004). See also G.S. 8-57(c). Just today, the court of appeals decided a case … Read more
For some time, I’ve been meaning to do a post about attorney-client confidentiality in extreme circumstances. For example, in this Chicago case, defendant X, who was charged with one murder, admitted to his lawyers that he had also committed another murder, one with which defendant Y had been charged. There was other evidence in the … Read more
Locally, the top story of the week is once again the situation at the SBI lab, which has outsourced some of its DNA analysis to a private lab, and which is without an interim director after retired Judge Gerald Arnold decided not to undertake that task despite previous indications that he would do so. But … Read more
I’ve had several questions lately about the authority of law enforcement to track a suspect by obtaining information about contacts between the suspect’s cellular telephone and cellular towers. I’m also going to be teaching about some related issues in the near future. So I’ve prepared a short summary of the law in this area, which … Read more
As most readers of this blog are aware, S.L. 2010-94 creates a new statute, G.S. 15A-266.3A, which provides for the collection of a DNA sample from anyone arrested for a laundry list of offenses, most but not all of which are felonies, and most but not all of which are violent crimes. Under some circumstances, … Read more
James Heselden, the owner of the company that makes the Segway personal transporter, died recently after driving his Segway off a cliff. It appears to have been a tragic accident, and the accounts I’ve read suggest that Heselden was an interesting person and a remarkable philanthropist. Thinking about Segways, though, reminded me that I’ve been … Read more
To paraphrase Jerry Seinfeld, it’s amazing that the amount of news that happens in the criminal law world every week just happens to fit into a single blog post. This week saw the following: 1. Demario Atwater received a life sentence in federal court yesterday in connection with the killing of UNC student body president … Read more
A former School of Government law fellow blogged here about the involuntary medication of death-sentenced prisoners. A recent Fourth Circuit case has moved me to think about the somewhat more common issue of the involuntary medication of incompetent defendants. Sell v. United States, 539 U.S. 166 (2003), held that the state is permitted “involuntarily to … Read more
Last month, a Salisbury woman was convicted in district court of resisting, delaying, or obstructing an officer. In a nutshell, the woman was on her front porch, videotaping a vehicle stop on the street, when an officer involved in the stop instructed her to go inside her house, apparently based on concerns about the safety … Read more