Allegations of ballot fraud in North Carolina’s 9th Congressional District are major national news this week. As the Associated Press reports, the state elections board has refused to certify the results of the race between Mark Harris and Dan McCready because of “claims of numerous irregularities and concerted fraudulent activities” involving a woman who allegedly went to people’s homes to collect their absentee ballots, some of which were not signed or sealed. The AP story says that Wake County DA Lorrin Freeman has been investigating voting irregularities in Bladen County, a portion of which is in the 9th District, since last January. Keep reading for more news.
Part 1: Policing, DNA, Mental Health, and Rehabilitation
What do the topics in the title of this blog post have in common? They were the focus of the students’ criminal justice presentations this week. Nine teams of students, two on each team, have been researching and preparing their presentations throughout the semester. Here are some of my takeaways from the first set of presentations.
Stipulating to Prior Convictions for Second-Degree Murder
In a previous post I wrote about State v. McNeil, a case that resolved the question of how to count prior convictions for possession of drug paraphernalia, in light of that crime’s 2014 division into Class 1 (non-marijuana) and Class 3 (marijuana) offenses. Today’s post is about prior convictions for second-degree murder—split into Class B1 and Class B2 varieties in 2012—in light of State v. Arrington, a case recently decided by the supreme court.
Getting Beyond the Checkboxes: Delinquency Dispositional Orders
Editor’s Note: This is the first post by new SOG faculty member Jacqui Greene. Jacqui is our resource in juvenile justice/juvenile delinquency and we’re excited to have her at the SOG and on the blog. This post is, and her future posts will be, cross-posted on the SOG civil blog, On The Civil Side. Welcome, Jacqui!
Dispositional decision making in delinquency cases can be complex. A list of 24 dispositional alternatives are available pursuant to G.S. 7B-2506. The choice among them must be driven by the disposition level allowed by G.S. 7B-2508 and the five factors outlined in G.S. 7B-2501(c). How much information must a court consider in making this decision and what findings need to be in an order of disposition? That question was not clearly answered until May of 2018.
2018 Cumulative Supplement to ASI
Bob Farb’s Arrest, Search, and Investigation in North Carolina for years has been an indispensable resource for people who work in the North Carolina criminal justice system. The book is a comprehensive treatment of the law governing the investigation of criminal offenses in our state and is widely relied upon by law enforcement officers, district attorneys, criminal defense attorneys, and judges.
News Roundup
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.
A Feast of Criminal Law
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.
Total Split Sentence Exposure
A judge can order special probation (a split sentence) at sentencing or in response to a violation of probation. If a judge does both, what is the maximum amount of time the defendant may be incarcerated?
New Districts and District Attorneys in 2019
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.
Myers McNeill and What Happens When Reasonable Suspicion Dissipates
Last week, the court of appeals ruled that during a traffic stop, an officer may require a driver to produce his or her license and may run computer checks on it — even when the reasonable suspicion that initially supported the traffic stop has been dispelled before the officer asks for the license. This issue comes up regularly and has divided courts in other jurisdictions, so I thought it worth discussing here.