March 8, 2012
In a post here, Jeff updated you on the dueling superior court decisions on whether G.S.14-306.4—the internet sweepstakes ban—is constitutional or not. The Court of Appeals recently resolved the conflict, […]
February 29, 2012
There’s a popular video game — or really, series of video games — called Grand Theft Auto. And many states have a crime called grand theft auto, or have some […]
February 6, 2012
I’ll willing to bet that most of you sang these lyrics as a child: “You put your right hand in, You put your right hand out, You put your right […]
January 26, 2012
Misdemeanor death by vehicle is defined in G.S. 20-141.4(a2) as (1) unintentionally causing the death of another person (2) while violating a State law or local ordinance applying to the […]
January 24, 2012
Now that Christmas is over, Santa’s cases are coming on for trial. He’s accused of multiple counts of burglary. We already know the facts: He entered dwellings at night, using […]
January 17, 2012
In a post here, I listed my top five indictment errors. The number one error was misstating the victim’s name in an indictment charging larceny or a related crime interfering […]
December 21, 2011
It’s the end of the year. The criminal justice system is slowing down a little bit for the holidays, but other activity is ramping up. For many parents, making a […]
December 13, 2011
A caller recently asked me whether it is a crime to use gang signs. First, some background. According to one gang expert, “each gang has their own gang hand signs […]
November 22, 2011
I wrote recently about how the Justice Reinvestment Act changes North Carolina’s existing habitual felon law (you can read that post here). This post examines a new recidivist offender statute […]
November 10, 2011
As part of the Justice Reinvestment project, analysts from the Council of State Governments (CSG) looked at how the habitual felon law is used in North Carolina. In general, the […]