North Carolina Criminal Law

Reversing the Court of Appeals, the NC Supreme Court recently held, in State v. Floyd, that attempted assault is a crime in North Carolina.

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Author’s Note: The North Carolina Supreme Court reversed the court of appeals decision in State v. Brice, which is discussed in the body of this post.  You can read about […]

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I recently had occasion to think about the relationship between shoplifting and larceny.

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Several years ago, the Sixth Circuit noted the “timeless question whether “spitting a ‘lugie’ towards someone, by itself, constitutes an ‘assault.’” United States v. Gagnon, 553 F.3d 1021 (6th Cir. […]

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It’s election season, and friends and family have asked me a few questions about crimes associated with voting. I’m not an expert on election laws – here at the School […]

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Today’s post is a return to the Sentencing Whiteboard, this time to explain active sentences for aggravated level one DWI. As Shea and I have discussed in earlier posts (here, here, […]

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So say two statutes enacted by the General Assembly in 2011 as part of its revision of North Carolina’s self-defense law. G.S. 14-51.2(e) and G.S. 14-51.3(b) both state that a […]

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When I think of unlawful racing, scenes from old movies come to mind. I see guys (more specifically, James Dean and John Travolta) in white t-shirts and leather jackets behind […]

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(Author’s note:  This post has been amended since its initial publication.) My kids spend lots of time during the summer at our local YMCA, where this day of the week […]

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The General Assembly amended G.S. 14-208.18, the law that makes it a Class H felony for certain registered sex offenders to go certain places. The changes are a response to […]

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