A UNC School of Government Blog
After a grand jury returns a true bill of indictment, should an order for arrest (OFA) issue as a matter of course? Looking at the OFA form, you might think so: it has eight check boxes, each of which provides a possible basis for the issuance of an OFA, such as a defendant’s failure to … Read more
The News and Observer reported last week that Alan Gell will receive $3.9 million from the SBI. Most readers probably know the basics about the Gell case: he was convicted of murder and spent nine years in prison, but was granted a new trial after defense counsel uncovered evidence — known to the SBI and/or … Read more
Regular readers know the court of appeals has decided a lot of cases recently dealing with satellite-based monitoring (SBM) of sex offenders. Though many issues remain undecided, my sense is that some of the districts that were postponing SBM hearings to allow the appellate courts to weigh in on a few things are now moving … Read more
The United States Supreme Court starts its Term each year on the first Monday in October. This year’s Term begins next Monday, October 5! The Court will start off with three straight days of oral argument. (The calendar of cases to be hear the first week is here.) More arguments will follow the next week, … Read more
How long can a defendant be on probation for a single conviction? A. Five years. B. Eight years. C. It depends. The best answer is C. A judge can sentence any defendant (community or intermediate, misdemeanant or felon) to probation for up to five years on a finding that a period longer than the statutory … Read more
Like many lawyers, I served on a law review when I was a law student. It was a good experience: I became intimately familiar with the rules of legal citation, was exposed to some areas of law that I otherwise would not have been, and of course, burnished my resume. But most of the articles … Read more
This blog post was inspired by my lunchtime jog across campus last week, and, more specifically, by the driver of the car who sped toward me as I darted across the crosswalk on Raleigh Road. You know who you are . . . Pedestrians have the right of way. It’s a mantra I used frequently … Read more
My colleague Michael Crowell recently published a paper on judicial recusal, available here as a free download. It includes a discussion of the Supreme Court’s recent decision in Caperton v. A.T. Massey Coal Company, about which I previously blogged here and here. But it goes far beyond that, of course, providing a terrific primer on … Read more
Stephen Larson, a federal district judge in California, resigned recently, citing his low salary. (District judges make $169,300 per year.) This has resulted in a robust discussion of whether federal judges are underpaid. Various opinions on the issue are available here, here, and here. Although I don’t have any special expertise in compensation issues, two … Read more
Back in July the court of appeals decided State v. Hubbard, a probation revocation case that I mentioned in passing but never really discussed in depth. In Hubbard the defendant’s probation officer filed a violation report alleging that Mr. Hubbard violated probation by being “so drunk that he could hardly walk” during a curfew check. … Read more