All the Conditional Discharges
A conditional discharge allows a defendant who pleads guilty or is found guilty to be placed on probation without entry of judgment. If the defendant succeeds on probation, the court […]
Expanded Forgiveness of a Criminal Conviction
Earlier this year, I had the opportunity to participate in a national roundtable, sponsored by the American Law Institute and National Conference of State Legislatures, on current and possible approaches […]
Examining Applicants under Oath before Issuing Search Warrants
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 […]
News Roundup
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 […]
Factors to Consider When Thinking about a Defendant’s Ability to Pay
In my last post, I wrote about when the court should and must consider a defendant’s ability to pay a monetary obligation. Today’s post talks about some of the specific […]
When a Defendant Agrees to Two Trials Instead of One, Can He Claim that Double Jeopardy Bars the Second?
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 […]
Does McCoy v. Louisiana Matter in North Carolina?
In McCoy v. Louisiana, 584 U.S. ___, 138 S. Ct. 1500 (2018), the US Supreme Court held that a defendant’s Sixth Amendment counsel right was violated when trial counsel admitted […]
Supreme Court Rules that Obtaining Cell Site Location Information Is a Search
On Friday, the Supreme Court issued a long-awaited opinion in Carpenter v. United States. The Court held that when law enforcement obtains long-term cell site location information from a suspect’s […]
News Roundup
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 […]
Evaluating Ability to Pay
Today’s post considers when a court should—and sometimes must—evaluate a defendant’s ability to pay a monetary obligation in a criminal case.