News Roundup
I’m back in the office after a day playing in the snow with my family working from home. I am sure that Chief Justice Mark Martin has been at least equally […]
2015 Sentencing Commission Statistical Report Available
It’s a snow day across much of North Carolina. If your power is on (and your internet connection is working), today’s post will give you something to read by the […]
I’ve Been Arrested . . . But Committed No Crime
[Author’s Note: This post has been substantively edited to make corrections in response to helpful comments from readers.] A person generally may not lawfully be arrested unless there is probable […]
Sentencing Whiteboard: How Consecutive Felonies Are Served
Today’s post explains the “single sentence rule” of G.S. 15A-1354(b), the law that tells the prison system how to administer consecutive felony sentences. Knowing the rule is essential to figuring out […]
Knives and the Right to Bear Arms
There’s been a great deal of litigation recently about firearms and the Second Amendment. But guns aren’t the only “arms” sometimes carried for self-defense, and there have been several recent […]
News Roundup
Catharine Arrowood, the president of the North Carolina Bar Association, recently wrote this piece about court funding in North Carolina. It’s received considerable attention. The thrust of the argument is […]
Recent Case on Authentication of Surveillance Video
More and more criminal cases involve video evidence, whether from patrol car dash cameras, store surveillance cameras, witness cell phone cameras, or, in the near future, wearable cameras. It’s important […]
Sentencing Whiteboard: How Class B1-E Felonies Are Served
I recorded another whiteboard-style presentation on sentencing law. Today, the focus is on how active sentences for Class B1–E felonies play out in practice.
North Carolina Supreme Court Upholds Warrantless Seizure of Drugs on a Home’s Curtilage
The Fourth Amendment protects the home as well as its curtilage, which is defined as the area immediately surrounding the home and associated with it. Recently, the North Carolina Supreme […]
News Roundup
Shea wrote yesterday about the top news around here: the killing of three Muslim university students by a man who lived in the same Chapel Hill apartment complex as the […]