The top story this week is the arrest on Monday of Luigi Mangione, 26, accused of fatally shooting UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson outside a Manhattan hotel on December 4. Multiple news outlets, including ABC, BBC and CBS, have reported on the investigation, noting that Mangione’s fingerprints matched prints found near the crime scene, that the gun Mangione was carrying when arrested matched shell casings from the crime scene, and that handwritten pages he possessed appear to claim responsibility for the shooting. Read on for more criminal law news.
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S 382 Enacts Provisions that Impact the Courts
Yesterday, the General Assembly overrode Governor Cooper’s veto to enact S.L. 2024-57 (S 382). The legislation, which was focused in part on disaster recovery following Hurricane Helene, impacts the court system in several notable ways:
- It appropriates $8.2 million to the Office of Indigent Defense Services (IDS) to ensure timely payments to private assigned counsel representing indigent defendants (Section 2D.3);
- It creates two new special superior court judgeships to be filled by legislative appointment (Section 2D.4(a));
- It eliminates, as of January 1, 2029, two superior court districts, one in Wake County and one in Forsyth County (Section 2D.5);
- It modifies the process for filling vacancies on the appellate courts (Section 3C.1);
- It abolishes the Courts Commission (Section 3C.2);
- It provides for appointment of senior resident superior court judges by the Chief Justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court (Section 3C.3); and
- It authorizes the Director of the Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC) to employ or retain counsel to represent judicial branch officers and employees (Section 3D.2).
News Roundup
According to this story, the CEO of United Health Care, Brian Thompson, was walking through Manhattan on his way to conference when a masked gunman fired multiple shots from a 9 mm handgun, striking Mr. Thompson from behind and killing him. The suspect fled the scene and remains at large at the time of this writing. Authorities believe the shooter was specifically targeting Thompson, a belief reinforced by the discovery that shell casings at the scene were inscribed with the words “deny,” “defend,” and “depose.” Police were able to obtain surveillance footage showing an image of the suspect from a local hostel. Thompson’s wife reported that he had received threats recently, but did not offer specifics. In addition to his wife, Thompson leaves behind two sons. Read on more for more criminal law news.
There’s a New King in Town – Finding DWI Aggravating Factors
The U.S. Supreme Court held in Blakely v. Washington, 542 U.S. 296 (2004) that any contested fact that increases the defendant’s sentence beyond the statutory maximum must be submitted to the jury and found beyond a reasonable doubt. Shortly thereafter, the General Assembly amended G.S. 20-179 to require judges in superior court cases to submit contested aggravating factors during impaired driving sentencing to the jury. Practically, this means that after a person is found guilty of impaired driving, if they are contesting properly alleged aggravating factors, there must be a sentencing hearing before the jury to determine any aggravating factors beyond a reasonable doubt. The North Carolina Supreme Court considered in State v. King, ___ N.C. ___, 906 S.E.2d 808 (2024) what happens if a judge finds contested aggravating factors without submitting them to the jury.
President Joe Biden Pardons Hunter Biden
The Associated Press reports here that “President Joe Biden pardoned his son, Hunter, sparing the younger Biden a possible prison sentence for federal felony gun and tax convictions and reversing his past promises not to use the extraordinary powers of the presidency for the benefit of his family.” This post discusses President Biden’s decision.
Considerations When Processing Arrests of 16- and 17-year-olds Under Criminal Jurisdiction
When Session Law (S.L.) 2024-17 takes effect next Sunday, December 1, cases in which a Class A – E felony offense is alleged to have been committed at age 16 or 17 will originate under criminal jurisdiction. This means that the juveniles involved in these cases will be processed as defendants in criminal proceedings and not under the procedure for initiating a juvenile delinquency proceeding. At first blush, it may seem that this change will bring local procedure back to what it was before most offenses committed at ages 16 and 17 were brought under original juvenile jurisdiction (with the implementation of the Juvenile Justice Reinvestment Act in 2019). However, since 2019, both federal and state law changed in ways that shifted the landscape of arrest processing and confinement of minors. This blog explores these changes and their impact on implementation of S.L. 2024-17.
News Roundup
After serving 30 years in prison for killing her two sons, Susan Smith appeared Wednesday before a parole board in South Carolina to ask for her freedom. Smith made international news in 1994 when she claimed she was carjacked by a black man who drove away with her two sons in the car. For nine days, Smith and her husband appeared on national television asking for her children to be returned to her. It was later discovered that she was having an affair with the wealthy son of her employer, and that her paramour blamed her children as the reason they could not be together. Smith ultimately confessed to letting her car roll down a boat ramp and into a lake with her two sons secured inside. After hearing from Smith, her ex-husband, his family members, prosecutors, and law enforcement, the parole board denied her request. She is now eligible to appear before the parole board every two years. Read on for more criminal law news.
More on Officer Misconduct and Giglio
Years ago, I wrote this post about when evidence of an officer’s prior misconduct must be disclosed by the prosecution as material impeachment information under Giglio v. United States, 405 U.S. 150 (1972). The Fourth Circuit recently decided a case on point. This post discusses the Fourth Circuit case and other recent authority. In essence, it updates my previous post.
News Roundup
A 23-year-old NC State University student was charged with felony assault last Friday after a week-long flurry of rush-hour shootings along I-40 and near I-440. Andrew Graney’s arrest came after Raleigh police scrambled to find the shooter who fired into eight cars and four houses, all in southwest Raleigh along I-40 between last Monday and Thursday. Raleigh Police Chief announced Thursday two “persons of interest” were detained Thursday afternoon. The second person detained was released and not charged.
Police found Graney after surveillance camera captured footage of a gray Hyundai Sonata at the scene of one of the residences hit by gunfire. Search warrants showed police seized a laptop computer, a .45-caliber Llama handgun and case with live ammunition, spent shell casings, and a box of ammunition from Graney’s home and car. Graney faces charges of assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill inflicting serious injury and discharging a weapon into an occupied dwelling or vehicle. He is being held without bond in the Wake County jail.
Book Review: The Devil at His Elbow
I work in the field of criminal law and have penchant for Southern Gothic (and also I am human) so of course I followed Alex Murdaugh’s 2023 trial for the murder of his wife and son. The story was sensational, and the facts spooled out like an old-school television mini-series, weaving a tale in which a small-town southern family dynasty was strangled by the privilege that once helped it flourish. But if you watched the new-school Netflix series, Murdaugh Murders: A Southern Scandal, I’m not telling you anything you don’t already know.
What I am here to tell you about is The Devil at His Elbow, a non-fiction work by Valerie Bauerlien, which chronicles the Murdaugh family through five generations, the intertwined history of Hampton County, South Carolina, where they lived, and the investigation, prosecution, and conviction of Alex Murdaugh for murder and numerous financial crimes. Bauerlien, a reporter for the Wall Street Journal, attended and reported on both the murder trial and the court proceedings in the fraud cases, and her recounting of those matters, including the investigation and the attorneys’ trial tactics, is a riveting read. But the aspect of the work that I found most compelling–indeed haunting–was the institutionalized behavior that affronted my notions about justice and fair play, the role of the courts as the protector of individual rights, and the inviolate right to trial by jury. Bauerlien exposed the manner in which generations of Murdaugh men co-opted their public positions and exploited the justice system to serve their own ends. Until Alex’s downfall in 2023, this behavior had gone unchecked for nearly a century.
