A UNC School of Government Blog
Here in Chapel Hill, the big news of the week is that the town’s ban on cell phone use while driving was struck down by a superior court judge. The judge ruled that the ordinance is preempted by state law, which comprehensively regulates the use of mobile devices while driving. The News and Observer has … Read more
Every so often, someone asks whether a person must have a driver’s license to drive a moped on a public street in this state. The answer is no—provided that the moped satisfies the definition of that term under state law. A moped is defined as “a vehicle that has two or three wheels, no external … Read more
I mentioned in this prior post that the 2012 Justice Reinvestment clarifications act, S.L. 2012-188, made changes related to drug trafficking. Specifically, the law amended G.S. 15A-1368.1 to make clear that the post-release supervision law applies to drug trafficking sentences and added time onto the maximum sentences for those offenses accordingly. In response to the changes … Read more
Can a defendant who chooses to represent himself subsequently argue that he received ineffective assistance of “counsel”? No, as illustrated by the recent case of State v. Brunson, __ N.C. App. __ (2012). The defendant in Brunson elected to represent himself. He was convicted of sexually abusing his stepdaughter. He appealed, arguing in part that … Read more
If you have an iPhone, an iPad, or an iPod touch, you can now download the School of Government’s first smartphone app, a guide to the law of search and seizure called ASSET. (That’s an acronym for Arrest, Search, and Seizure Electronic Tool, but obviously we also hope that the app will be an asset … Read more
I feel like we’re living in East Texas, where summer consists of a long, unbroken string of 100 degree days with high humidity. Lucky for us, there are lots of things we can do indoors to pass the time, like perusing the new electronic version of North Carolina Crimes. It’s a web-based, searchable product, available … Read more
[Editor’s Note: We are continuing to experience difficulty with our email subscription function. In attempting to remedy the problem, our hard-working technical folks accidentally sent two test email notifications to many subscribers yesterday afternoon. We apologize for the error and hope to have the system working smoothly soon.] I wrote here about a 2011 law … Read more
I recently wrote here about North Carolina’s notice and demand statutes and how they allow the State to obtain a constitutionally valid waiver of confrontation clause rights with respect to forensic reports and chain of custody evidence. The purpose of that post was to remind litigants of the existence of the statutes. But knowing about … Read more
It’s been over six months since the last update of my sex offender flow chart (the previous version was current as of January 12, 2012). A revised version is now available here. As in the prior version, everything to do with registration is on the front and everything to do with satellite-based monitoring (SBM) is … Read more
A recent decision by the court of appeals illustrates the procedural pitfalls of a common practice: closing the courtroom during the testimony of the victim of an alleged sex crime. This practice is motivated by the best of intentions. The purpose is to spare the victim the embarrassment of discussing the intimate details of a … Read more