WRAL reports that there were two attacks in as many days on staff members at Central Prison this week. The report says that the attacks have been attributed to the same group of inmates. In one incident, several inmates refused orders from staff and then punched officers who responded to the situation. In the other, two inmates assaulted a Brent Soucier, a Unit Manager with 19 years of experience at the prison, with a homemade weapon. Soucier was taken to the hospital for treatment of a serious injury and is said to be in stable condition. Keep reading for more news.
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Evaluating Ability to Pay
Today’s post considers when a court should—and sometimes must—evaluate a defendant’s ability to pay a monetary obligation in a criminal case.
Structural Errors
Often, when the defendant complains on appeal of a constitutional violation at trial, there must be some showing of prejudice in order for the defendant to obtain relief. Even if a defendant shows that a violation occurred, the State usually has an opportunity to demonstrate that the error is harmless beyond a reasonable doubt. If the error is unlikely to have affected the result within the greater context of the trial, the defendant is not entitled to relief under harmless error review. Chapman v. California, 386 U.S. 18 (1967). Some errors, however, are deemed so serious and capable of affecting the fundamental integrity of the trial that harmless error review does not apply. These types of “structural” errors typically entitle the defendant to a new trial without any showing of prejudice and without regard to how the error may have affected the verdict.
Questioning Oneself: Direct Examination of a Self-Represented Defendant
I was reading a WRAL article about the District Attorney wife-hiring trial taking place in Raleigh when the following passage caught my attention: “Superior Court Judge Paul Ridgeway said that, if [former District Attorney] Wallace Bradsher testifies, he cannot simply deliver a monologue from the witness stand and must pose questions to himself to give prosecutors a chance to object to potential testimony.” I hadn’t previously considered how testimony from a self-represented defendant would work. I looked into it, and this post summarizes what I learned.
News Roundup
Yesterday was the one-year anniversary of the shooting at a Republican congressional baseball practice that wounded five people, including House Majority Whip Steve Scalise who remained in critical condition for months before returning to Congress. This year’s game was held last night at National’s Park, with Scalise starting at second base. As noted in this report from Washington news outlet NBC 4, there have been many high-profile mass shootings in the year that has passed since the attack and national opinion on gun legislation remains divided. Keep reading for more news.
New NC Case on Testimonial Nature of Victim’s Statements to Officers
Under the Crawford Confrontation Clause rule, testimonial statements by witnesses who aren’t subject to cross-examination at trial can’t be admitted unless the witness is unavailable and there has been a prior opportunity for cross-examination. Smith, A Guide to Crawford and the Confrontation Clause, in NC Superior Court Judges Benchbook (UNC School of Government Aug. 2015). In the Davis case, the US Supreme Court set out a two-part rule for determining whether or not statements are testimonial for purposes of the Confrontation Clause:
What Everyone Needs to Know about Knock and Talks
Knock and talks are a common, useful, and sometimes controversial law enforcement tool. I thought that I would put together a post that summarizes the principal legal issues that they present.
News Roundup
As the News Roundup previously has noted, former Buncombe County Manager Wanda Greene is facing federal fraud and embezzlement charges related to allegations that she misused county funds for personal purposes. The Asheville Citizen-Times reported that Greene’s criminal exposure increased significantly this week with the filing of a new 23-count indictment charging her with various additional frauds and money laundering. Keep reading for more information about the case and other news.
“Revoking” Deferral Probation
Do the Justice Reinvestment Act’s limitations on a judge’s authority to revoke probation apply in deferred prosecution and conditional discharge cases? Defendants can be placed on probation as part of a deferred prosecution or conditional discharge. The statutes governing that probation don’t spell out every detail of what it looks like. Instead, they typically incorporate … Read more
Some Clarity on Self-Defense and Unintended Injuries
Earlier this year, in State v. Gomola, ___ N.C. App. ___, 810 S.E.2d 797 (Feb. 6, 2018), the Court of Appeals addressed a self-defense issue that has sometimes puzzled the North Carolina courts. The question in Gomola was whether a person can rely on self-defense to a charge of involuntary manslaughter. The Court answered with a decisive yes . . . if the basis for the involuntary manslaughter charge is an unlawful act such as an assault or affray.