North Carolina Criminal Law Blog

This post summarizes opinions issued by the Supreme Court of North Carolina on August 14, 2020.

This post summarizes published criminal law and related decisions from the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals decided in July, 2020.

The School of Government and North Carolina Judicial College are excited to announce that Brittany Williams has joined our faculty to work in the field of criminal law.

Next week, from Wednesday to Friday, the School of Government is virtually hosting the Public Defender Attorney and Investigator Conference.  The event is co-sponsored by the Office of Indigent Defense Services, the North Carolina Association of Public Defenders, and the North Carolina Association of Public Defender Investigators.  Held through the Zoom webinar platform, the event is open to IDS employees, private assigned counsel, and contract attorneys handling indigent criminal and delinquency cases.  Registration is open until midnight on Sunday, August 16.  You can sign up and find more information here.  Keep reading for more news.

As the Winston-Salem Journal reports, the death of John Neville at the Forsyth County Detention Center continued to animate calls for justice and accountability in Winston-Salem this week after surveillance video footage of the circumstances surrounding his death was made public.  People gathered in Bailey Park in the city’s downtown for a vigil honoring Neville where they sang songs and listened to remarks from three speakers.  Keep reading for more on this story and other news.

This post summarizes opinions issued by the Court of Appeals of North Carolina on August 4, 2020.

Yesterday, Mary Pollard began work as just the third Executive Director of the North Carolina Office of Indigent Defense Services (IDS), which began its work two decades ago in 2000. IDS is the statewide agency responsible for overseeing and enhancing legal representation for indigent defendants and others entitled to counsel under North Carolina law. Over the weekend, before she became deluged with her new responsibilities, Mary graciously agreed to do a quick interview with me. Read on to get to know a little more about her.

A fatal officer involved shooting in Roxboro last Friday has been in the news this week, setting off several days of demonstrations in the city and generating divided opinions about whether the use of deadly force was appropriate in the situation.  As ABC 11 reports, Roxboro police officers responded to a 911 call reporting that a man, later identified as David Brooks Jr., was walking down the street carrying a gun.  Dash camera footage shows that the officers encountered Brooks, who was carrying a shotgun, and ordered him to drop the weapon.  Soon thereafter, an officer shot Brooks once in the chest, possibly after Brooks made a movement with the shotgun.  The SBI now is investigating the incident.  Keep reading for more on this story and other news.

Many people assumed that the implementation of raise the age on December 1, 2019 meant the end of confinement of anyone under 18 in a jail. That was not the case. Even under our new legal framework for juvenile jurisdiction, some youth under 18 still have cases that are handled in criminal court from the very beginning. There is currently no legal mechanism to house these youth in a juvenile detention facility instead of a jail. This changes on August 1, 2020, when Part II of Session law 2020-83 takes effect.

Clashes between federal law enforcement agents and protesters in Portland, Oregon, have been major national news this week after reports emerged that, in addition to extensive use of tear gas, stun grenades, and rubber bullets, there have been instances where unidentified federal agents in unmarked vans are arresting and interrogating people and later releasing them without filing criminal charges.  Details about the extent of the alleged practice are hard to come by at the time of this writing, but late last week Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum sued the Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the U.S. Marshals Service, and the Federal Protective Service arguing that the agencies’ actions are unconstitutional and asking for a temporary restraining order.  Keep reading for more on this story and other news.