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DWLR and Out-of-State Revocations

Suppose a police officer patrolling a city street lawfully pulls over a car with out-of-state tags. When the officer asks the driver for his driver’s license, the driver tells the officer: I had a Maryland driver’s license, but it was revoked. May the law enforcement officer properly charge the defendant with driving while license revoked … Read more

Felons and Guns: Update on the Britt Line of Cases

Remember Britt v. State, 363 N.C. 546 (2009), in which the state supreme court ruled that a man with a single, non-violent felony conviction from 1979 had a state constitutional right to possess a firearm, making the felon-in-possession law, G.S. 14-415.1 unconstitutional as applied to him? I blogged about Britt here, but several years have … Read more

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Proving Drugged Driving

Drunk driving has long been a phrase in the national lexicon of terms related driving and public safety. Over the past decade, a companion term—drugged driving—has entered into common usage as policy makers have focused their attention on reducing the incidence of driving while impaired by substances other than alcohol. The problem, of course, is … Read more

Open Carry

Do law-abiding North Carolina residents have a right to carry a gun openly in public? Generally, yes. Federal constitutional right? The Supreme Court has recently ruled that the Second Amendment protects an individual right to bear arms, including handguns, District of Columbia v. Heller, 554 U.S. 570 (2008), and that it protects that right from … Read more

Lance Armstrong

Cyclist Lance Armstrong has recently confessed to using performance enhancing drugs during each of his seven Tour de France victories. Public discussion has focused on whether his apology, during an interview with Oprah Winfrey, was genuine or not. I want to consider whether his conduct was criminal. (By “conduct,” I mean the doping and related … Read more

Portion of Sex Offender Premises Restriction Held Unconstitutional

Happy New Year! I feel like I spent most of 2012 talking about Justice Reinvestment. Let’s start 2013 with a more agreeable subject—like sex offenders. In one of its final rulings of 2012, the court of appeals held in State v. Daniels that a portion of the law limiting where some registered sex offenders may … Read more

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A Horse Is a Horse, of Course. But Is It Also a Vehicle?

Horses are vehicles, according to our state court of appeals. In State v. Dellinger, 73 N.C. App. 685 (1985), the court upheld the defendant’s conviction for impaired driving based upon his riding of a horse on a street with an alcohol concentration of 0.18. The court reasoned:  G.S. 20-171 renders traffic laws applicable to persons … Read more

Supreme Court Upholds Internet Sweepstakes Ban

The writing may be on the wall for internet sweepstakes businesses. On Friday, the state supreme court unanimously upheld the constitutionality of G.S. 14-306.4, the statute enacted to target such operations. The principal decision is Hest Technologies, Inc. v. State, __ N.C. __ (2012), written by Justice Hudson. Background. The legislature has been concerned for … Read more