Latest posts in category Uncategorized on North Carolina Criminal Law Blog

This post summarizes published opinions issued by the North Carolina Court of Appeals on December 1, 2020.

When I wrote about down-ballot election results a few weeks ago, I said that the election for Chief Justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court was too close to call. That remains the case. Current Associate Justice Paul Newby has a 409 vote lead over current Chief Justice Cheri Beasley and a recount is underway.

Most people know that the Chief Justice is one of seven jurists on the North Carolina Supreme Court and that, like his or her fellow Associate Justices, the Chief Justice is elected to serve an eight-year term. Given the pandemic, many may also be familiar with the Chief Justice’s authority in response to catastrophic conditions to extend deadlines and periods of limitation and to issue emergency directives necessary to ensure the continuing operations of the courts. G.S. 7A-39. Readers may, however, be less familiar with other aspects of the Chief Justice’s authority and responsibilities that are essential to the administration of justice. The remainder of this post will highlight some of these lesser known roles and responsibilities, particularly as they relate to criminal proceedings.

How does the appointment of counsel to represent juveniles with cases that are transferred to superior court for trial as adults work? This can be a confusing question to answer given that the legal authority for the appointment of counsel changes at the time of transfer, there are important immediate legal issues following transfer, and there are so many different ways in which indigent defense services are provided across North Carolina. This blog will (1) identify the law that governs appointment of counsel when cases are in juvenile court and following transfer, (2) share recently released guidance from the N.C. Office of Indigent Defense Services (IDS) regarding appointment of counsel in matters that are transferred, and (3) suggest a procedure that could be followed to ensure that the rights of juveniles regarding appeals of transfer orders and conditions of pretrial release are ensured.

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. Judicial College […]

Following the killing of George Floyd, several of North Carolina’s judicial officials joined others across the state and nation in sharing their personal experiences and perspectives on racism, bias, and […]

Houston news outlet FOX 26 recently highlighted a new report from the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at UT Austin that examines COVID deaths in Texas prisons and jails, where the positive test rate is 490% higher than the rate in Texas as a whole.  There are a number of notable findings in the report, including that 80% of people who died from the virus in jails were pretrial detainees and that nine people died after being approved for parole but before they were released. Slightly more than 10% of the people who have died in association with Texas correctional facilities were staff members.  The full report is available here.  Keep reading for more news.

This post summarizes published opinions issued by the Court of Appeals of North Carolina on November 17, 2020.

The Greensboro News & Record reports that jury trials resumed this week in Guilford County after a nearly eight-month suspension due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.  The News & Record story discusses the difficult balance Guilford and other jurisdictions across the state are trying to strike as they grapple with a backlogged trial calendars amid increasing virus infection rates.  Keep reading for more news. 

This post summarizes published decisions from the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals decided in October, 2020, that may be of interest to state practitioners.

A march from Wayman’s Chapel AME Church in Graham to the Alamance County Court Square on the last day of North Carolina early voting received national attention this week when law enforcement officers used pepper spray to disperse the crowd and made several arrests.  Keep reading for more on this story and other news.