In 2013, I wrote two posts on strip searches by law enforcement officers, which are available here and here. This post discusses the first published North Carolina appellate court strip search case since these posts: State v. Collins, 2016 WL 385690 (N.C. App., Feb. 2, 2016).
Three Ways to Lose the Right to Counsel?
In an opinion last week, the court of appeals helpfully summarized the law about how a defendant may lose the right to counsel, and may have recognized a new way that a defendant may lose that right. The case is State v. Blakeney, and this post explores it briefly.
News Roundup
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia died during the weekend at a hunting ranch in Texas. As the Washington Post reports, his unexpected death has enormous political and legal consequences. Some conservative politicians have argued that President Obama should not nominate a successor for Scalia’s seat on the court because the vacancy comes in the last year of Obama’s presidency. Obama has indicated that he will nominate a candidate because he has a constitutional responsibility to do so. More after the break:
Advising a Defendant Who Does Not Speak English of His Implied Consent Rights
I almost missed this one. While I regularly monitor the published opinions of our state’s appellate courts, I generally skip the unpublished decisions. So I initially overlooked the court of appeals’ opinion in State v. Martinez, ___ S.E.2d ___ (N.C. App. Jan. 5, 2016) (first released as unpublished, but later published), which addresses a recurring question in DWI cases: Must a defendant who does not speak English be advised of statutory implied consent rights in a language that he or she understands?
Is Entering a Store After Having Been “Trespassed” Chargeable as Felony Breaking or Entering?
In a session that I taught for magistrates, I learned that there is a practice in some districts of charging suspects with felony breaking or entering of a building when they enter a store after having been told not to return—commonly referred to as being “trespassed.” This may or may not be the appropriate charge, absent additional supporting facts.
Legal Ethics and Social Media
The number of lawyers using Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and other social media networks grows daily. So too does the number of lawyers doing foolish and unethical things on those networks.
In this post I highlight some of the more egregious social media missteps made by lawyers in recent years, in the hope that other lawyers won’t repeat them. Then I describe how the Rules of Professional Conduct apply to social media both generally and in specific contexts such as investigations, litigation, and client testimonials.
Special Sentencing Rules
Aside from a few notable exceptions (impaired driving, drug trafficking, and first-degree murder), most North Carolina crimes are sentenced under Structured Sentencing. Some crimes have additional sentencing wrinkles—a kind of Structured Sentencing plus—that kick in by statute. Today’s post is a noncomprehensive list of some of the most common offense-specific sentencing provisions.
News Roundup
The New Hampshire presidential primary happened Tuesday. Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders won the contest for their respective parties. Politico reports that the New Hampshire results forecast an intense battle in the coming months for the presidential nomination in each political party. There was not any sports news whatsoever this week, so let’s take a look at the legal news:
Talking about Sentencing at Trial
It’s like Fight Club: the first rule of talking about sentencing at trial is don’t talk about sentencing at trial.
Selfies, Distracted Driving, and the Virginia Plan
Everyone knows that it is unlawful to text while driving in North Carolina. But what’s the legal status of all of the other distracting things people do with their phones? Is it unlawful to take a selfie while driving? To post the selfie to Instagram? To look at a friend’s driving selfie on Instagram? To read another friend’s Facebook status update? To search the web for the latest weather forecast?