North Carolina Criminal Law

When can money owed as the result of criminal case be docketed as a civil judgment?

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Probation that includes incarceration is “special probation.” But it’s still probation.

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Much has been written—and much of it by the Supreme Court—on the proper way to find aggravating factors for sentencing. After Apprendi v. New Jersey, Blakely v. Washington, and countless cases at […]

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Can a probationer be revoked for a violation of the “commit no criminal offense” probation condition if the violation report alleges only that the person has been charged with a crime?

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These days, figuring out the permissible ways to respond to a probation violation is easy. All you need to know is the date of the offense for which the person […]

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Two new cases from the court of appeals, both involving defendants named Johnson, shed more light on the meaning of “absconding” from probation.

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Some felony probationers ordered to serve a period of confinement in response to violation (CRV) wind up spending more time behind bars than they would have if their probation been […]

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Aside from a few notable exceptions (impaired driving, drug trafficking, and first-degree murder), most North Carolina crimes are sentenced under Structured Sentencing. Some crimes have additional sentencing wrinkles—a kind of […]

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It’s like Fight Club: the first rule of talking about sentencing at trial is don’t talk about sentencing at trial.

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Let’s brainstorm all the possible sentences for a Prior Record Level I defendant convicted of two Class H felonies. I’ll go first, listing my thoughts roughly from most to least […]

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