Was Rosa Parks Convicted?
Sixty years ago today, Rosa Parks was arrested for failing to give up her seat on a Montgomery, Alabama city bus to a white passenger. Thinking about her courage, the […]
New Sentencing Handbook Available
The 2015-2016 edition of the North Carolina Sentencing Handbook with Felony, Misdemeanor, and DWI Sentencing Grids is available from the School of Government. Like previous editions, it contains instructions on felony sentencing, misdemeanor sentencing, and […]
Are Daily Fantasy Sports Gambling?
Tomorrow is Thanksgiving, and Thanksgiving means football, and football nowadays means an endless parade of advertisements for DraftKings, FanDuel, and other daily fantasy sports businesses. This post asks the obvious […]
The 300-Foot Rule Goes to Church
Last week the court of appeals decided another case involving the sex offender premises restriction in G.S. 14-208.18. The defendant was convicted of being within 300 feet of a church […]
Field Sobriety Testing and the Fifth Amendment
Most drivers stopped on suspicion of impaired driving are asked to submit to field sobriety tests before they are arrested. Those tests often include the three standardized tests, which researchers […]
News Roundup
This week, the mighty fell. Locally, Dana Cope, the former director of the State Employees Association of North Carolina, pled guilty to spending $570,000 of the Association’s money on personal […]
Recent Changes to the Pretrial Release Statutes
In the 2015 legislative session, the General Assembly made two significant changes to the pretrial release statutes: (1) it effectively repealed a “bond doubling” provision for defendants rearrested while on […]
More About Those Weird DWI Motions Procedures
You represent a defendant charged with DWI. You move to suppress evidence in district court. The district court enters a preliminary determination in your favor. The State appeals. The superior […]
Is North Carolina the Only State in Which the Prosecutor Controls the Calendar?
I was on a panel about criminal case calendaring yesterday at the Courts Commission. While talking to people in preparation for the event, I kept hearing one thing: that North […]
Habitualized Sex Crimes
Suppose a defendant is convicted of a Class F–I felony that requires registration as a sex offender. He is also convicted as a habitual felon. When sentencing the defendant as […]