A UNC School of Government Blog
Whether the plain view doctrine makes sense in the context of computer searches, and if it doesn’t, what courts should do about it, are controversial issues. We don’t have any North Carolina case law on point but decisions are piling up around the country. This post summarizes the controversy. Computer searches may be very thorough. … Read more
Suppose my home is broken into and many things are stolen. My insurance company compensates me for the damage to the house and the items that were taken. Two related questions arise if the person who broke in is charged and convicted. Can the defendant be ordered to pay restitution to my insurance company? And … Read more
More and more criminal investigations involve searches of computers and other digital devices. It is sometimes difficult to apply long-established search and seizure law to the practical realities of digital investigations. One example of this phenomenon concerns the preparation of the return and the inventory after the execution of a search warrant, a topic of … Read more
Rule 803 sets out twenty-three hearsay exceptions that apply regardless of the declarant’s availability. Two that arise with some frequency in criminal cases are present sense impressions and excited utterances. Here’s what you need to know about those exceptions. Present Sense Impression. Rule 803(1) provides an exception for “[a] statement describing or explaining an event … Read more
The North Carolina Bar Association’s Criminal Justice Section had its annual awards dinner last night. As always, it was an inspiration. Senior Deputy Attorney General Jim Coman received the Peter Gilchrist award as an outstanding career prosecutor, and Guilford County Public Defender Fred Lind received the Wade Smith Award as an outstanding career defense attorney. … Read more
Case study: the Neenah stop. Recently in Neenah, WI, a woman called the police to report a man with a gun strapped to his back walking down the street. The call was placed to the non-emergency police number and the caller didn’t report that the man was doing anything threatening, but she did suggest that … Read more
In general, a court only has jurisdiction to act on a probation case until the period of probation expires. There is a limited exception to that rule in G.S. 15A-1344(f). Under that law, the court may act on the case after it expires if the State filed a violation report with the clerk before expiration. … Read more
Evidence Rule 801(d) sets out a hearsay exception for “Admissions by a Party-Opponent.” If you’re not clear on that rule, read on. The rule says that a statement is admissible under this exception if it is “offered against a party” and is (A) his or her own statement, in an individual or representative capacity; (B) … Read more
The biggest news of the week may be that Frank Perry, the Secretary of the Department of Public Safety, has authorized a one-drug protocol for lethal injection, replacing the three-drug “cocktail” system previously in effect. WRAL has the AP story here. The story states that the new protocol will “slightly loosen the legal knot that’s … Read more
The first two posts in this series (here and here) discussed opinions from state supreme courts in Arizona and Minnesota considering, post-McNeely v. Missouri, 133 S.Ct. 1552 (2013), whether a suspect’s submission to implied consent testing was voluntary consent within the meaning of the Fourth Amendment. This post discusses why that sort of analysis is … Read more