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April 7, 2014
Most folks who are involved in appellate litigation and post-conviction motions know about G.S. 15A-1335. For those who don’t, it is a N.C. statute providing that when a conviction or […]
READ POST "A 2013 Rollback of State Procedural Protections for Defendants"April 1, 2014
Two elected district attorneys resigned mid-term yesterday: Colon Willoughby in Wake County (to move into private practice), and Jerry Wilson in Watauga and four other mountain counties (citing medical reasons). […]
READ POST "The Authority of Assistant DAs When the Elected DA Resigns"March 27, 2014
We’re holding a seminar on professionalism and ethics for judges at the School of Government next week so I’ve got judicial canons on my mind. Below are five ethical rules […]
READ POST "Judges Can’t Sell Girl Scout Cookies . . . and Other Little-Known Ethical Rules"March 19, 2014
Last session, the General Assembly added a new subsection to the principal pretrial release statute, G.S. 15A-534. The new provision took effect on December 1, 2013, and has proven to […]
READ POST "Double Bond"February 25, 2014
Last year, I wrote a paper about North Carolina’s habitual felon, violent habitual felon, and habitual breaking and entering laws. Around the time the paper came out, the General Assembly […]
READ POST "Armed Habitual Felon"February 11, 2014
[Editor’s note: We’re excited to welcome our new colleague LaToya Powell to the blog. LaToya’s work at the School of Government focuses on juvenile justice, especially the law of juvenile […]
READ POST "Victim Rights in Juvenile Court"February 6, 2014
I’ve had several questions lately concerning search warrants for meth labs. The basic issue is whether officers who find hazardous chemicals and other dangerous items may destroy them right away, […]
READ POST "Search Warrants for Meth Labs"February 4, 2014
The Justice Reinvestment Act made conditional discharge under G.S. 90-96(a) mandatory for eligible, consenting defendants. The law was amended last year to make it discretionary again for offenses committed on […]
READ POST "G.S. 90-96 Limbo"February 3, 2014
In a recent case, State v. Holloman, the North Carolina Court of Appeals held that the trial court erred by convicting the defendant of both first-degree kidnapping and sexual assault […]
READ POST "A Multiple Conviction Issue in Kidnapping Cases"January 28, 2014
Local law enforcement officers have a little bit of extra territorial jurisdiction when it comes to investigating impaired driving. That grant of extra territorial jurisdiction (as opposed to extraterritorial jurisdiction, […]
READ POST "The Long Arm of the Law is a Bit Longer for DWIs"