Articles in the Crimes and Elements category - Page 45 of 49

The Office of Indigent Defense Services (IDS) is studying data related to the disposition of seventeen types of misdemeanor charges during the 2009 fiscal year to determine whether decriminalization of […]

Jeff Welty blogged here about inconsistent verdicts.  As he explained, a defendant generally isn’t entitled to relief from inconsistent verdicts, which may result from jury irrationality, a jury’s desire to […]

First off, sorry I didn’t post yesterday. I was laid up with food poisoning — I blame holiday leftovers! I’m much better today, so on to today’s topic, which is […]

Our murder statute, G.S. 14-17, defines first-degree murder, then proceeds as follows: “All other kinds of murder, including that which shall be proximately caused by the unlawful distribution of opium […]

A divided court of appeals decided another significant gun case this week. But before I talk about the opinion in State v. Whitaker, I’ll briefly summarize the legal backdrop for […]

I have noted in numerous prior posts (most recently, here) that the statutes governing satellite-based monitoring (SBM) determination hearings (G.S. 14-208.40A and -208.40B) are unclear as to whether the court […]

More than a decade ago, the General Assembly enacted G.S. 20-141.5, making it a Class 1 misdemeanor to operate a motor vehicle on street, highway, or public vehicular area while […]

We’ve seen several significant cases concerning gun laws in the past few years. The two biggest, of course, are District of Columbia v. Heller, 554 U.S. ___ (2008), in which […]

Among the most recent batch of opinions issued by the Court of Appeals was State v. Tellez, in which the court upheld the defendant’s conviction of two counts of second-degree […]

Can a municipality adopt an ordinance that criminalizes loitering for the purpose of drug activity? I’ve been asked that question several times, and in fact, a number of North Carolina […]