May 22, 2024
A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about the prohibition against the State commenting on a defendant’s failure to testify, or, in other words, a defendant’s silence at trial. Such […]
May 14, 2024
Statutes prescribing simplified charging language were intended to alleviate the burdensome pleading requirements of the common law. See Wayne R. LaFave, et al., Criminal Procedure § 19.1(c). Indeed, where a […]
May 2, 2024
The UNC School of Government will be hosting a FREE one-hour webinar on self-defense law on May 15, 2024, at 10:30 a.m. Registration is available here. See below for a […]
April 30, 2024
While a prosecutor in a criminal trial may comment on a defendant’s failure to produce witnesses or evidence to contradict or refute the State’s case, a prosecutor may not make […]
April 22, 2024
Today I begin a series of blog posts discussing the law around confidential informants, motions to reveal identity, and discovery. Technological developments have made it more common for law enforcement […]
April 11, 2024
The North Carolina Court of Appeals first recognized the concept of waiver by conduct in State v. Blakeney, 245 N.C. App. 452 (2016). There, the Court set forth three ways […]
April 2, 2024
By now, court officials are familiar with the pretrial release laws as amended by the Pretrial Integrity Act. The application of G.S. 15A-533(b) regarding defendants charged with certain high-level felonies […]
March 14, 2024
Author’s Note: The North Carolina Supreme Court in State v. Chambers, 56PA24, __ N.C. __ (May 23, 2025), reversed the opinion below, holding that provisions of G.S. 15A-1215(a) permitting the […]
March 12, 2024
Two recent opinions from the Court of Appeals illustrate the remarkable controversy currently underway over the specificity required of indictments. In State v. Coffey, No. COA22-883, 2024 WL 675881 (N.C. […]
March 6, 2024
I have written before about the cache associated with a handful of unpublished opinions from the North Carolina Court of Appeals. Sure, they aren’t binding, but they can be persuasive. […]