Revisiting State v. Jackson, the Pedestrian Evasion Case
Last summer, I wrote about State v. Jackson, __ N.C. App. __, 758 S.E.2d 39 (2014), in which the court of appeals ruled that an officer lacked reasonable suspicion to […]
Is the NC Court of Appeals Lightening Up on Indictment Issues?
Indictment issues are the bane of the prosecutor’s existence. The rules about how an offense must be alleged in the indictment are highly technical. And because the rules are neither […]
News Roundup
This week’s roundup is packed full of good stuff, including news about a new member of the court of appeals, information about North Carolina’s leading role in a major law […]
How to Say a Sentence
At a recent conference, a judge confessed to me that he and his fellow judges drive the clerks crazy because they all pronounce judgment differently. They use different words to […]
A Happy DMV Customer
Yesterday I had the most fantastic experience: I renewed my driver’s license in a matter of minutes. I didn’t have to take a sign test. I didn’t have to leave […]
What’s In a (Trade) Name?
Today, the court of appeals reversed a defendant’s drug convictions because the indictments identified the controlled substances in question using terms that are widely used to describe the drugs, but […]
U.S. Supreme Court Rules that Child’s Statements to Teachers Are Non-Testimonial
On June 18th the U.S. Supreme Court decided Ohio v. Clark, 576 U.S. __, 135 S. Ct. 2173 (2015), holding that a child abuse victim’s statements to his preschool teachers […]
News Roundup
The highly publicized escape of two murderers from a New York prison came to an end this week as Richard Matt was shot and killed and David Sweat was shot […]
Proper Procedure for Aggravating Factors
Not many sentences come from the aggravated range—four percent in Fiscal Year 2013/14, according to the North Carolina Sentencing and Policy Advisory Commission. But when you use the aggravated range, […]
It’s Time to Register Your Moped
Beginning tomorrow, mopeds must be registered with the Division of Motor Vehicles to be lawfully operated on the state’s roadways. This post addresses several questions that have arisen regarding this […]