A UNC School of Government Blog
Wondering what the key cases were in 2013? Here’s my list, for criminal lawyers practicing in state courts. Want more information? All of the cases are summarized in greater detail in my free, online Criminal Case Compendium. Evidence Kansas v. Cheever, 571 U.S. __ (Dec. 11, 2013). The Fifth Amendment does not prohibit the government … Read more
The new year is off to an interesting start. Here are some of the week’s top developments: Wake County DA not seeking re-election. Wake County District Attorney Colon Willoughby has announced that he will not seek re-election in November. The News and Observer reports that District Court Judge Ned Mangum is “contemplating a possible run … Read more
Deep in the statutory woods of the law allowing the seizure of motor vehicles driven by certain impaired drivers is a provision setting trial priority for the underlying criminal charges. G.S. 20-28.3(m) requires that district court trials of impaired driving offenses involving forfeiture of motor vehicles be scheduled on the arresting officer’s next court date … Read more
North Carolina has a law allowing certain prison inmates to be released early for medical reasons. It was passed in 2008, largely in response to concerns that a small number of aging inmates accounted for a sizeable percentage of the system’s medical budget. The law is similar in concept to compassionate release in the federal … Read more
The court of appeals decided a case today concerning a fact pattern that arises frequently in drug cases. State v. McKinney began when an officer received a “citizen complaint” about “heavy traffic in and out of” a particular apartment, with the visitors staying only a short time. The citizen stated that he or she had … Read more
While you were ringing in the new year with a traditional helping of black-eyed peas, some inmates were “enjoying” another day of nutraloaf. As this recent NPR story explains, “[i]n many prisons and jails . . . punishment can come in the form of a bland, brownish lump. Known as nutraloaf, or simply ‘the loaf,’ … Read more
This will be the last blog post of 2013, and in fact, the last one until January 6, 2014, as we will be on our annual holiday hiatus until then. It may be an interesting holiday season, considering that a district attorney in Pennsylvania has announced the arrest of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer for FUI … Read more
When a defendant move to dismiss DWI charges based on a violation of his pre-trial release rights, the State’s first response is predictable: Subpoena the magistrate who presided over the defendant’s initial appearance. And in case after case, our appellate courts have considered testimony from magistrates in determining whether a defendant’s rights to pretrial release … Read more
A recent Court of Appeals (here) dealt with the issue of whether the evidence was sufficient to establish premeditation and deliberation in a first-degree murder case (it was). Since that issue arises with some frequency, I’ll address it here. “Premeditation” means thinking about something beforehand, for some length of time, however short; “deliberation” refers to … Read more
Last week I wrote a post about “using up” jail credit that generated some helpful comments. Thanks! I’m hoping for a repeat performance with today’s post, which is about another jail credit issue. A defendant must receive credit for all the time he or she is confined “as a result of the charge that culminated … Read more