Latest posts in category Uncategorized on North Carolina Criminal Law Blog

Six police officers were shot on Sunday in Baton Rouge in yet another targeted attack on law enforcement officers.  Three of the officers died and the gunman later was killed in a shootout.  Early reports suggest that the shooter, like the perpetrator of the attack in Dallas earlier this month, may have been motivated by recent officer-involved shootings of black men.  President Obama wrote an open letter to law enforcement expressing his support, thanking officers for their service, and urging the nation to come together in a trying time.  Keep reading for more news.

I wrote a post last January about proposed changes to the state’s traffic laws to address bicyclist safety and shared use of the roads by motorists and bicyclists.  I am still smarting from the on-line comments and emails I received as a result. (Before you click on the link and join the chorus, I should clarify that I foolishly used a bit of literary license in that earlier post. I’m not actually hostile to cyclists who pass motor vehicles at a stop light.) Now that the legislature has amended the traffic laws to address these issues, I am reticently returning to the topic to describe those changes. But I’ve learned my lesson. The rest of this post will be strictly the facts.

The United States Supreme Court recently decided a case about what counts as a “misdemeanor crime of domestic violence” for purposes of the federal statute prohibiting individuals who have been convicted of such crimes from possessing firearms. I’ve had several questions about whether the ruling affects last year’s Fourth Circuit decision holding that North Carolina assaults generally don’t qualify as “misdemeanor crime[s] of domestic violence.” For the reasons set out below, I don’t think the Supreme Court case clearly overrules the Fourth Circuit’s decision.

Late last week five Dallas police officers were shot and killed in an ambush attack while working at a protest against the officer-involved shootings in Louisiana and Minnesota that the News Roundup reported last week.  In addition to the officers who were killed, nine other officers and two civilians were injured.  The Dallas Morning News has comprehensive coverage of the attack here.  It has been reported that the gunman, Micah Xavier Johnson, “was upset about the recent police shootings” and said that “he wanted to kill white people.”  Johnson had served in the military and carried out the ambush from an elevated position using an assault rifle; he was killed by police using a bomb robot after a standoff.  The incident reportedly is the deadliest attack on U.S. law enforcement since September 11 and is a reminder of the danger officers across the country face while they work to keep communities safe.  Keep reading for more news.

On behalf of the North Carolina Judicial College and the School of Government, I’m pleased to announce the launch of a new podcast about the court system. It’s called Beyond the Bench, and it is intended to be of interest to judges, lawyers, clerks, officers, and others who work in and around the court system. This post provides more detail about the project, but if you are ready to listen, you can get the podcast on the web here, or through the iTunes podcast store or on Stitcher.

Two officer-involved fatal shootings are making national headlines this week, in part because video of each shooting has been published on the internet.  On Tuesday, Alton Sterling was shot and killed by a Baton Rouge police officer during an encounter at a convenience store where Sterling made a living selling CDs in the parking lot; Sterling reportedly had brandished a gun which prompted a 911 call and the police response.  The front page of The Advocate, a Louisiana newspaper, has comprehensive coverage of the story.  Wednesday, Philando Castile was fatally shot by a police officer during a traffic stop in a suburb of Saint Paul, Minnesota.  Details of the story were developing at the time of writing.  The New York Times has an early report here which suggests that a passenger in the car livestreamed the aftermath of the shooting to Facebook.

With experts predicting that this Fourth of July weekend will be one of the busiest travel weekends in history, the News Roundup has tips for staying safe and obeying the laws on North Carolina roads. The NCDOT wants North Carolinians to be aware that new provisions in the State’s motor vehicle laws will go into effect beginning today, July 1st. Notably, registered mopeds now are required to carry liability insurance, and a new late fee has gone into effect for vehicle owners who fail to pay their registration renewal by the expiration date. Motorists can avoid road rage by taking note of construction work that may affect travel lanes along the interstates and lead to frustrating delays. Finally, the DOT warns that celebrations can quickly go from festive to fatal if you choose to drive after drinking – law enforcement agencies across the state are participating in Operation Firecracker, a campaign to get drunk drivers off the road. Stay safe, stay free, and keep reading for more news.

Last week the North Carolina Department of Public Safety announced the creation of a new Youthful Offender Program and the elimination of the use of solitary confinement for offenders under the age of 18 who are confined in adult facilities.  An article from the News and Observer indicates that W. David Guice, Commissioner of Adult Correction and Juvenile Justice, has said that solitary confinement doesn’t result in positive behavioral change and that prison officials have been reducing its use even with adult inmates.  The mission of the Youthful Offender Program, which will be operated at Foothills Correctional Institution, is to “identify criminogenic risks and needs, and address those areas in order to promote public safety and enhance youth outcomes through education, behavioral, health treatment, life skills, and family/community reunification services.”  Keep reading for more news.

Sadly, the mass shooting at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando early Sunday morning is the major criminal law news story this week.  Forty-nine victims were killed, fifty-three others were wounded, and the gunman died in a shootout with police.  The shooting is being characterized as a terror attack and a hate crime.  The shooter reportedly pledged allegiance to ISIS and the group has taken credit for the attack.  The attack is one of the deadliest criminal homicides in American history, but is not a unique example of hate-fueled violence in our country.  Keep reading for more news.

The case of a former Stanford University student, Brock Turner, who was convicted of sexually assaulting a woman at a party on the university’s campus is receiving national attention this week because Turner was sentenced to six months in county jail and three years of probation.  The case is viewed by some as an example of a privileged white person receiving an unjustifiably lenient sentence for a serious crime.  The Wall Street Journal has an overview article here. The Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge who sentenced Turner, Aaron Persky, has come under fire; an online petition calling for his recall has received nearly a million signatures.  The victim’s statement to the court, largely directed at Turner, has become popular online and is available here.  An editorial from the San Jose Mercury News arguing that Turner’s sentence was too light is available here.  An opinion piece from the same paper, written prior to sentencing, arguing that a jail rather than a prison sentence would be appropriate is available here, and a similar piece from the National Association of Public Defenders is available here.  Keep reading for more news.