North Carolina Criminal Law NC Criminal Law

The Fayetteville Observer reported this week that an arrest has been made in connection with a road rage shooting last week near Lumberton that killed a Pennsylvania woman traveling with her husband to a beach vacation.  Dejywan R. Floyd has been charged with murder for allegedly shooting into the passenger side of an SUV occupied by Julie and Ryan Eberly after the SUV came close to Floyd’s car during a lane change maneuver on I-95.  Julie Eberly was struck by the gunfire and died.  Keep reading for more news. Continue reading →

For the entirety of its 90 years of existence, the School of Government’s mission has been focused on the people of North Carolina. Through our commitment to offering high-quality education, advising, and support to public officials across the state, we improve the lives of North Carolinians. We firmly believe this work is more critical than ever.

You can help us continue to fulfill our mission.

Today is GiveUNC, the University’s annual giving day. No matter where you direct your gift to the School of Government, your generosity makes a tremendous difference. We are grateful for your support of both the School and the state of North Carolina.

I hope you’ll join us and take part in GiveUNC. Thank you for your support as we celebrate 90 years of service to the state of North Carolina.

Mike Smith
Dean, School of Government

A second mass shooting in the span of a week, this one killing 10 people at a Colorado grocery store, shook the nation on Monday.  Those killed included the first responding police officer, Eric Tally, a father of seven.  The apparent shooter, 21-year-old Ahmad Al Aliwi Alissa, was taken into custody after being shot by police and has been charged wih murder.  News reports indicate that Alissa was wearing a tactical vest and was armed with an assault style rifle that he bought last week.  Keep reading for more news.

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A series of shootings in the Atlanta area that left eight people dead is the major criminal law news story of the week and has launched the issue of increasing violence committed against Asians to the forefront of national conversation.  Keep reading for more on this story and other news.

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This post summarizes published criminal decisions from the North Carolina Court of Appeals released on March 16, 2021. Gabrielle Supak and Christopher Tyner prepared these summaries. As always, they will be added to Smith’s Criminal Case Compendium, a free and searchable database of case summaries from 2008 to present.

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Chief Justice Paul Newby issued an order on Friday, effective today, extending emergency directives currently in place for an additional thirty days to in light of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Tomorrow marks a full year of altered court operations, as the first set of COVID-19 emergency directives became effective Monday, March 16, 2020.

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Trial began this week for Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis police officer who killed George Floyd by kneeling on his neck for several minutes while arresting him for allegedly using a counterfeit bill at a convenience store.  Chauvin is facing Minnesota state murder and manslaughter charges.  The trial is drawing significant media attention, with some outlets publishing live updates and planning to livestream the proceedings after jury selection is completed.  USA Today reported Thursday that six jurors have been seated and that the state has raised two Batson challenges to defense strikes of Hispanic potential jurors, neither of which have been sustained.  Keep reading for more news.

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