Booking Fees (January 14, 2014)
Jeff Welty
The Seventh Circuit just ruled that the $30 booking fee charged to each arrestee in an Illinois town is constitutional. Markadonatos v. Village of Woodridge, __ F.3d __, 2014 WL […]
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January 14, 2014
The Seventh Circuit just ruled that the $30 booking fee charged to each arrestee in an Illinois town is constitutional. Markadonatos v. Village of Woodridge, __ F.3d __, 2014 WL […]
READ POST "Booking Fees (January 14, 2014)"January 9, 2014
Deep in the statutory woods of the law allowing the seizure of motor vehicles driven by certain impaired drivers is a provision setting trial priority for the underlying criminal charges. […]
READ POST "Trial Priority for DWI Cases and Motions to Dismiss (January 9, 2014)"January 8, 2014
North Carolina has a law allowing certain prison inmates to be released early for medical reasons. It was passed in 2008, largely in response to concerns that a small number […]
READ POST "Early Medical Release (January 8, 2014)"December 19, 2013
When a defendant move to dismiss DWI charges based on a violation of his pre-trial release rights, the State’s first response is predictable: Subpoena the magistrate who presided over the […]
READ POST "May Magistrates Be Compelled to Testify about Their Decision-Making Processes? (December 19, 2013)"December 5, 2013
It is a Thanksgiving tradition for the president to pardon a turkey. This year, CNN reports, it was a Minnesota bird named Popcorn. But is executive clemency limited to avians? […]
READ POST "Do Only Turkeys Get Pardons? (December 5, 2013)"December 2, 2013
I thought I’d take a few minutes and jot down some questions and answers about the new fine-only punishment scheme for Class 3 misdemeanors for many defendants (enacted as part […]
READ POST "A Fine Sentence for Class 3 Misdemeanors (December 2, 2013)"November 26, 2013
The News and Observer reported Sunday on the Hamlet Police Department’s seizure of vehicles from drivers charged with low-level traffic offenses and the subsequent selling of those vehicles as scrap […]
READ POST "May the police seize and impound cars driven by people charged with minor traffic violations? (November 26, 2013)"November 19, 2013
More and more criminal investigations involve searches of computers and other digital devices. It is sometimes difficult to apply long-established search and seizure law to the practical realities of digital […]
READ POST "Returns and Inventories for Computer Search Warrants (November 19, 2013)"November 13, 2013
In general, a court only has jurisdiction to act on a probation case until the period of probation expires. There is a limited exception to that rule in G.S. 15A-1344(f). […]
READ POST "Probation Violation Hearings after Expiration: The Importance of a File Stamp (November 13, 2013)"October 17, 2013
The district court judges are conferring this week at the Great Wolf Lodge in Concord. I don’t know if robes are allowed on waterslides, but I expect that the judges […]
READ POST "New Report on Juvenile Justice and the Juvenile Age (October 17, 2013)"