North Carolina Criminal Law Blog

The Washington Post reports that sixteen U.S. Postal Service employees have been sentenced for their participation in a drug trafficking scheme in the Atlanta area.  The Post story says that mail carriers and clerks accepted bribes to facilitate the transportation of cocaine, intercepting and hand delivering packages of contraband during the course of their normal mail delivery duties.  The story also notes that while the Atlanta situation involving employees knowingly participating in drug distribution is unusual, drug traffickers increasingly are distributing their products through the mail and prefer using the Postal Service to private commercial carriers.  Keep reading for more news.

Because of the short Thanksgiving week stateside, it has been a couple of weeks since my last blog post. I want to use this post to catch up on the goings-on here, both Thanksgiving and criminal justice related.

2019 won’t be the only new number you’ll need to adjust to come January 1. On that date, most of North Carolina’s prosecutorial districts also will have new numbers. Several of them will also have newly elected district attorneys.

With Thanksgiving upon us, North Carolinians are preparing for a long holiday weekend and this will be the last post of the week for the blog.  We hope our readers have a relaxing time with friends and family.  Of course, a prerequisite to relaxation is safe travel during this historically busy time on the state’s highways.  WLOS reports that beginning on Wednesday the State Highway Patrol will station troopers every 20 miles on I-40 to ensure that everyone is following the rules of the road.  The NC DOT says that law enforcement officers across the state are conducting a Thanksgiving “Click it or Ticket” campaign – last year’s effort involved 428 checkpoints and the discovery of more than 40,000 traffic and criminal violations (#pulledover).  Enjoy the holiday and keep reading for more news.

The first News Roundups published in each of the last two years have noted that increasing bipartisan support for federal criminal justice reform had caused many to believe that an overhaul of the system was imminent.  On Wednesday, President Donald Trump announced his support for a legislative package known as the First Step Act that would bring significant changes to the federal system.  News reports say that, among other things, the legislation would reduce the severity of the federal “three strikes” penalty, make the reduced sentencing disparity between crack and powder cocaine retroactive, and allow judges greater discretion to avoid imposing mandatory minimum sentences in some cases.  The bill also would create programs to improve prison conditions, including prohibiting the shackling of pregnant inmates.  Keep reading for more news.

North Carolina’s courts are closed today for Veterans Day, so although UNC is open, we won’t run a substantive post. Instead, I wanted to take a moment to thank all veterans, including those who work in and with the court system. Yesterday was the 100th anniversary of the armistice that ended WWI, making it an appropriate time to reflect on the sacrifices veterans have made throughout the nation’s history.

While reading about Veterans Day, I happened on this article, which addresses the role of veterans on the Supreme Court of the United States. The whole piece is worth reading, but for those interested in an executive summary, it makes two major points.

With the midterm elections and the resignation of the nation’s chief law enforcement officer, there was a lot of news this week.  At the time of writing, however, those stories were being reported below the fold as the nation grappled again with the uniquely American recurring tragedy of a mass shooting.  As the L.A. Times reports, Ian David Long killed 12 people and injured 18 others at the Borderline Bar and Grill in Thousand Oaks, California, on Wednesday night before killing himself.  Many of the victims were college students at the bar for line-dancing lessons and birthday celebrations.  Keep reading for more news.

On Saturday morning a man armed with an AR-15 style rifle and several handguns killed 11 people and wounded 6 others, including 4 police officers, in an attack at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh.  Reports indicate that the perpetrator, Robert D. Bowers, shouted anti-Semitic slurs during the incident and the Anti-Defamation League said in a statement that the shooting was believed to be the deadliest attack on the Jewish community in the history of the United States.  Bowers, who was taken into custody after exchanging fire with law enforcement officers, has been charged with numerous federal and state offenses including hate crimes and murder.  Keep reading for more news.

The North Carolina Supreme Court decided State v. Jones, ___ N.C. ___ (2018) on Friday, affirming the court of appeals’ determination that the citation that charged the defendant with transporting an open container of alcoholic beverage, but left out several elements, was legally sufficient to invoke the trial court’s subject matter jurisdiction.

This week several pipe bombs were mailed to political figures and political activists.  A series of similar manila envelopes containing suspected explosives and bearing the return address of former Democratic National Committee chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz were sent to Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Eric Holder, John Brennan, George Soros, and Robert De Niro.  Suspicious packages also were sent to Maxine Waters and Joe Biden.  None of the devices exploded or otherwise injured anyone; the story was developing quickly at the time of writing.  President Donald Trump called the attempted bombings “despicable acts” and said that “threats of political violence of any kind have no place in the United States of America.”  Trump later made statements suggesting that the news media was to blame for feelings of hostility in the nation.  Keep reading for more news.