The Supreme Court held Monday that the rule from Miller v. Alabama, 567 U.S. __ (2012), applies retroactively. In Miller, the Court held that a sentencing regime that makes life without parole mandatory for a murder committed by a defendant under the age of 18 is cruel and unusual punishment. In Montgomery v. Louisiana, 577 U.S. __ (2016), the Court said that rule likewise applies to defendants whose cases were final before Miller was decided on June 25, 2012.
News Roundup
Monday was Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Americans across the nation observed the national holiday and celebrated Dr. King’s contribution to the Civil Rights Movement. ABC 11 reports here that N.C. State professor Jason Miller launched a website that contains a restored recording of a November 1962 speech that King delivered in Rocky Mount. The website explains that King first delivered the famous “I have a dream” refrain during the Rocky Mount speech. The tape recording of the speech was stored for nearly 50 years before being discovered in a library in 2013. The analog tape was digitally restored and the nearly hour-long speech is now available for listening on the website.
An Attempted Offense Is Not an Aggravated Offense
A case from the court of appeals this week answered a longstanding question about which offenses are “aggravated” for sex offender registration and satellite-based monitoring (SBM) purposes.
Most Wanted: Automatic Emergency Brakes
There are several reasons why I like Volkswagen’s new “Dad, Stop!” commercial showcasing the emergency braking system in the 2016 Passat. First, I drive a teenager to school. He jumps out of the car as quickly as possible when we arrive. Apparently there is nothing to be gained socially by being seen with your mother. So I can identify. Second, I was rear-ended a few weeks ago. The back of my car was damaged, and the car that hit mine had to be towed from the scene. All of its airbags deployed on impact. I’m just glad no one was hurt. Automatic emergency braking (if it works the way it appears to in the commercial) would have prevented that accident.Third, my mother looked over at me in a similar way to the dad in the commercial as we were leaving my wedding rehearsal many years ago. When she looked back ahead, she saw brake lights. She swerved off the road to avoid hitting the car in front of us and ran over a fire hydrant. What a mess. Automatic emergency braking might have gotten us all to the rehearsal dinner on time.
The National Transportation Safety Board also thinks automatic emergency braking, which it calls “collision avoidance technology” is a laudable concept. In fact, promoting the availability of this technology made the NTSB’s 2016 Most Wanted List. NTSB has issued such a list for more than 25 years. The chairman described the list in a recent press conference as a “roadmap from lessons learned to lives saved.”
Implicit Bias: Why Race is Hard Even when People are Good*
Scholar john powell succinctly defines implicit bias as “a habit of the mind.” He explains that our brains have a natural tendency to form associations (for example, we might see a tall person and think “basketball player”) in order to make sense of the 5,000 or so images with which we are bombarded each day. This process happens rapidly at an unconscious level and helps us to navigate the world. However, concerns arise when our brains form associations between race and negative traits. For example, in one recent study, researchers concluded that participants held implicit associations between “Black” and “guilty,” and that such associations predicted how they would evaluate ambiguous evidence. A growing body of scholarship, discussed in the School of Government manual Raising Issues of Race in North Carolina Criminal Cases (see Section 1.3D in particular), suggests that such unconscious associations affect the perceptions and decisions of court actors, and may contribute to disparate treatment and outcomes in the criminal justice system.
News Roundup
The Charlotte Observer reports that North Carolina did not have a Powerball jackpot winner but that two tickets worth $2 million each were sold in the state, one in Raleigh and the other in Spring Lake. According to the Chicago Tribune, lottery winners should hire lawyers before coming forward to claim their prizes. According to the ABA Journal, if you participate with others in a ticket-buying group, it may be a good idea to consult with a lawyer before even buying tickets in order to avoid a potentially costly dispute regarding the terms of the joint purchase agreement. The first thing we do, let’s hire some lawyers, as it were.
The “Evidence Necessary to Prove an Element” Limitation on Aggravating Factors
Under G.S. 15A-1340.16(d), “[e]vidence necessary to prove an element of the offense shall not be used to prove any factor in aggravation.” The general idea behind that rule is to prevent the defendant from getting extra punishment via an aggravating factor for something that is inherent in the crime of conviction. A similar prohibition existed under Fair Sentencing, so we have a relatively large body of case law that helps us understand the rule.
What’s the Story behind the Gory TV Ads?
If you’ve watched an ACC basketball game lately, you’ve seen these ads. The first features a mother placing a pair of diamond earrings on her daughter’s ears, telling her that her grandmother always wanted her to have them. Several seconds go by before the viewer sees that the mother is dressing her daughter’s body, which lies in a casket. The second commercial begins with a dad talking to his son (who is off camera) about the chilly weather and how he will need to bundle him up when they go for a walk. The father continues to talk while he mashes bananas for his son’s breakfast. When the camera pans to the son, the viewer learns that he is not a baby, but instead is a young man confined to a wheelchair. The son is immobile, unable to speak, and has prominent scar on his skull. Both advertisements conclude with the same general message: Talk to your children about the dangers of alcohol and stop underage drinking. The ads are professional, poignant, and pervasive. Where did they come from?
N.C. Court of Appeals Rules That Affidavit For Search Warrant to Search Residence Failed to Link Residence to Drug Activity That Had Occurred Elsewhere
Last week a three-judge panel of the North Carolina Court of Appeals in State v. Allman (5 Jan. 2016), ruled (2-1) that a search warrant to search a residence for drugs was not supported by probable cause because the affidavit failed to link the residence to drug activity that had occurred elsewhere. This post discusses some of the interesting issues in this case, including possible state supreme court review.