North Carolina Criminal Law Blog

I am excited to announce that I have published a bulletin on Iryna’s Law and Pretrial Release. The bill under which it was enacted, Session Law 2025-93 (HB 307), made […]

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The defendant in State v. Phillips, No. COA25-275 (N.C. Ct. App. Jan. 7, 2026), argued the trial court erred by denying his pretrial motion to dismiss based on a defective […]

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Individual jurors or juries through their chosen foreperson sometimes send notes to the trial court in criminal trials. The content of this kind of communication varies. Sometimes a note reveals […]

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In Part I and Part II of this three-part series revisiting the landmark calendaring case, Simeon v. Hardin, 339 N.C. 358 (1994), I explored the key issues of pretrial delay […]

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The 2025 legislative session was relatively quiet for expunction law but still potentially important for some people. I have incorporated the changes in the law into the latest version of […]

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Debbie Defendant is charged with misdemeanor stalking under G.S. 14-277.3A. She fails to appear in district court on January 23, 2026. The district court judge issues an order for Debbie’s […]

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In Part I of this three-part series revisiting Simeon v. Hardin, 339 N.C. 358 (1994), I explored the district attorney’s calendaring practices that were challenged in the landmark case, and […]

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A short-form murder indictment generally will not support a conviction for assault. That, at any rate, was the rule prior to State v. Singleton, 386 N.C. 183 (2024) (holding that […]

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The last few years have brought about several changes to the laws surrounding pretrial release. Before many of these changes, there was a general rule that a defendant charged with […]

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In an earlier blog post, I summarized North Carolina’s harm reduction immunity laws, including our safe syringe exchange law, G.S. 90-113.27, our Good Samaritan law, G.S. 90-96.2, and others.  North […]

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