North Carolina Criminal Law Blog

On Tuesday, President Donald Trump nominated Judge Brett Kavanaugh to fill Justice Anthony Kennedy’s seat on the United States Supreme Court.  Kavanaugh has served on the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit since 2006 and once was a clerk for Justice Kennedy.  As the New York Times reports, before serving on the D.C. Circuit Kavanaugh worked for independent counsel Kenneth Starr and later worked for President George W. Bush.  Going back further, Kavanaugh and Justice Gorsuch, also a former Kennedy clerk, went to high school together.  Keep reading for more news.

Late last week a man involved in a long running dispute with Annapolis newspaper the Capital Gazette stormed the paper’s newsroom with a shotgun, killing five people and wounding several others.  The Gazette itself has extensive coverage of the incident.  Reports suggest that the suspect, Jarrod W. Ramos, had been upset with the Gazette for some time because of an article the paper ran in 2011 regarding his guilty plea to a criminal harassment offense.  Ramos tried unsuccessfully to sue the paper for defamation and otherwise harassed Gazette staff over several years.  He has been charged with five counts of first-degree murder.  Yesterday, newsrooms across the country held a moment of silence for the victims at 2:33 pm, marking the precise time of the attack a week earlier.  Keep reading for more news.

Suppose that Officer Oxford is investigating a murder. Oxford believes that Steve Smith is the killer, and that the murder weapon is in Smith’s house. Oxford approaches Magistrate Martin with a search warrant application. The heart of the application is Oxford’s sworn affidavit, which lays out the evidence establishing probable cause. G.S. 15A-245(a) provides that “[b]efore acting on the application, the issuing official may examine on oath the applicant.” Should Magistrate Martin swear Oxford and ask Oxford to explain the case? Or should Martin ask Oxford to sit quietly while Martin reviews the written application?

On Wednesday, Justice Anthony Kennedy announced that he would retire from the United States Supreme Court at the end of July.  Kennedy’s retirement has been long-rumored and was made official with a short letter of resignation which he hand-delivered to President Donald Trump on the afternoon of the final day of the Court’s 2017-18 term.  Kennedy has been widely characterized as the Court’s swing justice because of his liberal view on some issues and conservative view on others.  The New York Times compiled a list of some of the Court’s major decisions where Kennedy’s vote was seen as decisive.  Keep reading for more news.

A Virginia grand jury indicted Michael Currier for burglary, grand larceny, and unlawful possession of a firearm by a convicted felon for his alleged involvement in stealing a safe containing guns and cash from another man’s home in March 2012. Currier’s prior convictions for burglary and larceny gave rise to the felon-in-possession charge. To avoid having evidence about those prior convictions introduced in connection with the new burglary and larceny charges, Currier (and the government) agreed to severance of the felon-in-possession charge so that it could be tried separately. The burglary and larceny charges were tried first, and Currier was acquitted. Currier then moved to dismiss the felon-in-possession charge, arguing that the second trial was barred by double jeopardy, or, alternatively, that the government should be precluded from introducing at that trial any evidence about the burglary and larceny for which he had just been acquitted. The trial court rejected Currier’s arguments, and he was tried and convicted of being a felon in possession of a firearm. Virginia’s appellate courts affirmed the conviction. The United States Supreme Court granted review and, last Friday, issued its opinion in the case.

WRAL reports that there were two attacks in as many days on staff members at Central Prison this week.  The report says that the attacks have been attributed to the same group of inmates.  In one incident, several inmates refused orders from staff and then punched officers who responded to the situation.  In the other, two inmates assaulted a Brent Soucier, a Unit Manager with 19 years of experience at the prison, with a homemade weapon.  Soucier was taken to the hospital for treatment of a serious injury and is said to be in stable condition.  Keep reading for more news.

Yesterday was the one-year anniversary of the shooting at a Republican congressional baseball practice that wounded five people, including House Majority Whip Steve Scalise who remained in critical condition for months before returning to Congress.  This year’s game was held last night at National’s Park, with Scalise starting at second base.  As noted in this report from Washington news outlet NBC 4, there have been many high-profile mass shootings in the year that has passed since the attack and national opinion on gun legislation remains divided.  Keep reading for more news. 

As the News Roundup previously has noted, former Buncombe County Manager Wanda Greene is facing federal fraud and embezzlement charges related to allegations that she misused county funds for personal purposes.  The Asheville Citizen-Times reported that Greene’s criminal exposure increased significantly this week with the filing of a new 23-count indictment charging her with various additional frauds and money laundering.  Keep reading for more information about the case and other news.

Film producer Harvey Weinstein was indicted this week in Manhattan on charges of rape and a criminal sexual act.  The indictments relate to incidents that occurred in 2004 and 2013 involving two women who have not been identified.  Weinstein currently is free on $1 million cash bail, and has surrendered his passport and is wearing an electronic monitoring device.  Weinstein’s attorney said that he plans to enter a plea of not guilty and expects an acquittal if the case goes to trial.  Dozens of women have accused Weinstein of sexual misconduct, and the allegations against him were the genesis of the broad and ongoing #MeToo movement against sexual assault and harassment.  Keep reading for more news.

An officer sees a motorcycle that he has probable cause to believe is stolen parked in the suspect’s driveway. The motorcycle is partially covered by a tarpaulin. May the officer lawfully walk into the driveway without the permission of the suspect or any other resident and lift the tarp to read the license plate and VIN number on the motorcycle?