North Carolina Criminal Law Blog

With the exception of the buzz over the arrival of year Y2k, I have never in my lifetime seen people attach so much significance to the changing of the calendar year or express so much hope for what improvements that date change might usher in. The year 2021 has indeed arrived amidst the (socially distanced and masked) fanfare. And while none of us can know all of the ways in which our lives and work may change in the coming months, we do know that we will have new court system leaders helping us navigate these troubled waters.

As jury trials resume across the state, many criminal courts will soon confront the issue of whether to permit State’s witnesses to wear masks while testifying. CDC guidance suggests that there can be substantial health risks to allowing unmasked testimony in the confines of a courtroom, but as I explore below, the allowance of masked testimony presents its own significant constitutional risks.

This post summarizes published criminal decisions from the North Carolina Supreme Court released on December 18, 2020. The summaries were prepared by Shea Denning, Chris Tyner, and Jonathan Holbrook. As always, these summaries will be added to Smith’s Criminal Case Compendium, a free and searchable database of case summaries from 2008 to present.

This is the final post for 2020. The blog will return after January 4, 2021.

This post summarizes published criminal decisions from the North Carolina Court of Appeals released on December 15, 2020. Special thanks to Gabby Supak and Jamie Markham for assisting with this batch.

A joint investigation by the Orange County Sheriff’s Office and the U.S. DEA focusing on drug trafficking at fraternities at UNC made national news late this week when prosecutors announced charges against 21 people.  An Associated Press report says that people connected to the Phi Gamma Delta, Kappa Sigma, and Betta Theta Pi fraternities at UNC are alleged to have distributed more than a half-ton of marijuana, hundreds of kilograms of cocaine, and significant quantities of other drugs between 2017 and the spring of 2020.  Some of the drugs apparently were distributed at Duke and Appalachian State as well.  In a press release, U.S. Attorney Matthew G.T. Martin said that the “investigation reveals that the fraternity culture at these universities is dangerous” and called on University administrators and national fraternity chapters to intervene.  Keep reading for more news.

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

Today Chief Justice Cheri Beasley entered an order halting most types of court proceedings due to the rising levels of COVID-19. The order was expected. The Chief Justice and McKinley Wooten, director of the Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC), had issued a memorandum to judicial branch employees on Friday notifying them that the order was coming. The memorandum stated that more than 80 North Carolina counties are experiencing substantial or critical community spread of the virus and that the recent surge of cases and hospitalizations had strained court operations. It further noted that 53 counties had reported court closures during the pandemic, some more than once, and that 11 counties had reported closures in the past week. Today’s order reinstitutes Emergency Directive 1, which previously had expired on May 30, 2020, and extends and modifies other emergency directives. The provisions of today’s order, discussed in more detail below, expire on January 13, 2021.

Last week the News Roundup noted that staff at prisons and jails are expected to be among the first Americans to receive COVID vaccinations when they become available and that there is an ongoing national debate about how to prioritize vaccination of incarcerated people.  The Charlotte Observer reported this week that the Mecklenburg County jail has been placed on lockdown for at least two days because of a massive surge in the number of cases at the facility.  In a statement released Thursday, the sheriff’s office said that 107 inmates and 20 staff members recently tested positive for the virus.  Keep reading for more news.

Nearly half of the 7.7 billion people in the world are on social media, and each of those users has an average of 8 different accounts. The rate is even higher in the U.S., with around 70% of the population active on social media for an average of 2 hours every day. You can find more jaw-dropping statistics here.

Given these trends, it’s no surprise that social media evidence is showing up more frequently in criminal cases. A quick search for criminal cases mentioning the most common social media platforms brought up well over 100 North Carolina cases decided in the last decade, but only a few of those cases have directly analyzed the authentication requirements for this type of evidence. The Court of Appeals recent decision in State v. Clemons, __ N.C. App. __ (Dec. 1, 2020) provides some additional guidance in this important area.

There have been a number of encouraging recent announcements about coronavirus vaccines, with several pharmaceutical companies saying that they have developed vaccines with a high degree of effectiveness and minor side effects.  This week, discussions about how to prioritize distribution of the vaccines raised interesting questions related to the criminal justice system.  Keep reading for more on this story and other news.