Last Means Last
A case involving charges of impaired driving is calendared on today’s district court docket. The defendant was charged more than two years ago; the case has been continued several times […]
How Many Expunctions Can a Person Get?
I sometimes get this question from judges, lawyers, and individuals seeking relief. The answer is: As many as the law allows. North Carolina’s statutes establish precise requirements for obtaining an […]
Is Spitting on a Person an Assault?
Several years ago, the Sixth Circuit noted the “timeless question whether “spitting a ‘lugie’ towards someone, by itself, constitutes an ‘assault.’” United States v. Gagnon, 553 F.3d 1021 (6th Cir. […]
News Roundup
The Washington Post reports that voters in Nebraska, California, and Oklahoma showed their support for the death penalty by “rejecting measures that would abolish it and, in one case, giving […]
When a Criminal Sentence Begins
Sometimes there is a delay between when the court pronounces a sentence and when the judgment is actually signed. When that happens, questions can arise about when the sentence begins. […]
The 2016 Election
Wow. That was a surprise. Donald Trump has been elected to serve as the nation’s 45th president, defying the outcome nearly all the experts predicted, in what The Washington Post […]
Establishing Probable Cause in a Search Warrant to Link the Residence to Be Searched With the Evidence to Be Seized
Last week, Jeff Welty wrote a post concerning the failure to allege in a search application that the premises to be searched is the suspect’s home, and it included a […]
Podcast Season 2 Is Here!
Beyond the Bench, the podcast of the Judicial College here at the School of Government, is back with a new season. Professor Sara DePasquale takes the reins as the host […]
News Roundup
Two Iowa police officers were shot and killed early Wednesday morning in ambush attacks that made national news. As the Des Moines Register reports, Urbandale Police Officer Justin Martin and […]
What Our Courts Were Up to the Last Time the Cubs Won the World Series
I’m a big baseball fan. (A Pittsburgh Pirates fan, if you’re wondering.) And so of course I stayed up late last night to watch what turned out to be a […]