Package Deal Plea Bargains (January 22, 2010)
Jeff Welty
The court of appeals decided State v. Salvetti this week. The case involves several interesting issues, but I want to focus on the court’s approval of “package deal” plea bargaining. […]
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January 22, 2010
The court of appeals decided State v. Salvetti this week. The case involves several interesting issues, but I want to focus on the court’s approval of “package deal” plea bargaining. […]
READ POST "Package Deal Plea Bargains (January 22, 2010)"January 20, 2010
I’ve blogged before about G.S. 20-139.1(d1). When a DWI arrestee refuses to submit to a test for alcohol, that section allows “any law enforcement officer with probable cause” to “compel […]
READ POST "State v. Fletcher and Warrantless Blood Draws (January 20, 2010)"January 19, 2010
From time to time, an officer or a magistrate asks how to respond when a defendant who is properly subject to fingerprinting under G.S. 15A-502 refuses to be fingerprinted. There […]
READ POST "Fingerprinting Uncooperative Defendants (January 19, 2010)"January 15, 2010
There have been several interesting criminal law new stories this week. I want to focus mainly on one with a local connection, but I’ll note briefly this New York Times […]
READ POST "News Roundup (Sort of) (January 15, 2010)"January 12, 2010
Consider the following excerpts from a penalty phase closing argument in a capital case: “[D]on’t look to [the defendant] for sympathy, because he demands none. And, ladies and gentlemen, when […]
READ POST "Spisak (January 12, 2010)"January 11, 2010
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 […]
READ POST "State v. Mumford: A New Exception Affording Relief from Inconsistent Verdicts (January 11, 2010)"January 6, 2010
In Melendez-Diaz v. Massachussetts, the United States Supreme Court held that forensic laboratory reports—such as those identifying a substance as a controlled substance—are testimonial and subject to the new Crawford […]
READ POST "North Carolina’s Notice and Demand Statute for Chemical Analyses in Drug Cases Is Constitutional (January 6, 2010)"January 5, 2010
Sometimes, a defendant is charged under the wrong name. This usually happens when the defendant gives a false name upon arrest. When this is discovered, what should be done? There […]
READ POST "What to Do When a Defendant Is Charged under the Wrong Name (January 5, 2010)"December 17, 2009
The principal probation reform bill (S.L. 2009-372 [S 920], summarized here) went into effect on December 1. Since then, I’ve received a number of questions about it, many of them […]
READ POST "Drug Testing of Probationers as a Warrantless Search (December 17, 2009)"December 16, 2009
I’ve had several questions recently about how to handle cases in which the defendant was charged with DWI, failed to appear, remained absent for several years, then reappeared. Often, the […]
READ POST "Dealing with Disappearing DWI Defendants (December 16, 2009)"