North Carolina Criminal Law Blog

It is my pleasure to announce that Daniel “Danny” Spiegel has joined the Courts Group faculty here at the School of Government as an expert in criminal law. We are thrilled to have him as a part of the team. Danny’s work will primarily focus on defender issues, but he will also teach and advise judicial officials and other court system actors. I expect Danny will soon be a regular voice on the blog and presenter at SOG trainings. Please join me in giving Danny a warm welcome to the SOG!

Michael Lewis is a celebrated author whose work has repeatedly topped the best-seller lists. His most famous book is Moneyball, which chronicles the analytics revolution in baseball. But his most controversial – perhaps even his most hated – book is also his most recent: Going Infinite, which chronicles the rise and fall of the cryptocurrency exchange FTX and the exploits of its founder, Sam Bankman-Fried.

Criminal law news is seldom cheery. That said, I am particularly saddened to begin the first news roundup of 2024 with a story of a school shooting.

School was set to resume yesterday in Perry, Iowa, following the winter break. But before the opening bell rang at Perry High School on Thursday morning, authorities say 17-year-old Dylan Butler, a student at the school, opened fire, killing a sixth-grader and wounding five others. Law enforcement officials reported that Butler was armed with a pump-action shotgun and a small handgun and that he was found dead inside the school with a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

The Associated Press reports that the shooting “occurred in the backdrop of Iowa’s looming first-in-the-nation presidential caucuses.” GOP candidate Vivek Ramaswamy had a campaign event that was scheduled to occur yesterday morning less than two miles away from Perry High School. He canceled the event to hold a prayer and discussion with area residents.

Continue reading for more criminal law news.

This will be the last news roundup of the year. We’ll likely have a post or two early next week and then go dark for the holidays, returning in early January. We appreciate your readership this year, as well as your feedback, your topic suggestions, and all the other ways that you participate in the blog community. However you may celebrate the season, we wish you a happy and restful break. Read on for a selection of the week’s news.

The North Carolina Judicial College was founded in 2005 to expand the education and training the School of Government has provided for judicial branch officials since the 1930s. Through the Judicial College, the School now offers more courses of interest to mid-and later-career officials and provides that training in small group, interactive educational settings.

We highlight some of those courses, the judicial officials who have participated in them, and our award-winning faculty in our latest annual report. We thought you might like to check it out.

A longtime North Carolina resident and former professor at East Carolina University was reportedly responsible for a mass shooting on the campus of the University of Nevada at Las Vegas this week. According to the story, the man graduated from a Duke University graduate program in 1991 and taught at East Carolina University in Greenville, NC from 2001 to 2017. He was killed by campus police after allegedly taking the lives of three faculty members and wounding a fourth. He also apparently had a hit list that included ECU employees. Read on for more criminal law news.

Each year the School of Government summarizes legislation enacted by the North Carolina General Assembly affecting criminal law and procedure and motor vehicle laws. The summaries for this legislative session are now available and can be accessed here.

Looking to solve court appearance issues in your jurisdiction? Find tools that work for you with the Court Appearance Toolbox! This new, online resource from the UNC School of Government Criminal Justice Innovation Lab has off-the-shelf tools to promote court appearance and improve responses to missed appearances. You’ll find implementation guides, videos, templates, fact sheets, and much more.

The Toolbox includes examples from North Carolina and across the country. Its resources can be adapted for any jurisdiction.

To learn more about the Toolbox and how to use it, join the Lab’s FREE 30-minute webinar on Friday, December 8^th at 12:30pm. Register here.

A Wisconsin official who posted a photo of his marked ballot on Facebook during the April 2022 election had felony charges against him dropped Monday. Paul Buzzell, a member of a local school board, faced maximum penalties of 3.5 years behind bars and $10,000 in fines and would have been barred from holding elected office if convicted. Ozaukee County Judge Paul Malloy dismissed the charges against Buzzell, expressing that a state law prohibiting voters from showing their marked ballots to anyone else is in violation of the constitutional right to freedom of speech.

According to this AP article, there has been movement in other states in favor of allowing “ballot selfies.” In New Hampshire, a federal judge held that a state law barring an individual’s right to publish their ballot violated the First Amendment. Legislators in Michigan changed state law in 2019 to make ballot selfies legal. The Wisconsin Senate passed a bill in 2020 to legalize ballot selfies, but the proposal died in the state Assembly.

Keep reading for more criminal law news.

One of the central differences between delinquency matters and criminal matters is that juvenile records are not subject to public inspection. This includes juvenile court records (G.S. 7B-3000(b)); all law enforcement records and files concerning juveniles, unless jurisdiction has been transferred to superior court (G.S. 7B-3001(b)); and all records and files maintained by the Division of Juvenile Justice (G.S. 7B-3001(c)). Part II of Session Law 2023-114 adds a new G.S. 7B-3103 to the Juvenile Code to establish a limited exception to the confidentiality of juvenile records. It allows the release of juvenile information to the public under certain circumstances. This new law applies to offenses committed on or after December 1, 2023.