New Law on Juvenile Capacity to Proceed
The current law that governs a juvenile’s capacity to proceed in a delinquency matter matches part of the criminal law that governs a defendant’s capacity to proceed. The Juvenile Code […]
A Common Calendaring Concern: The Unilateral Reset
A question that arises with some frequency is whether the district attorney is free to unilaterally “reset” a matter in superior court by changing the trial date after a date […]
News Roundup
Regular readers know that I am interested in the criminal prosecution of Sam Bankman-Fried, who is currently serving 25 years in federal prison for fraudulent activity related to his operation […]
Case Summaries: N.C. Court of Appeals (Sept. 17, 2024)
This post summarizes the published criminal opinions from the North Carolina Court of Appeals released on September 17, 2024. These summaries will be added to Smith’s Criminal Case Compendium, a […]
State v. McLean Clarifies the Timeframe for Giving Oral Notice of Appeal to the Court of Appeals
Attorneys practicing in criminal superior court are likely familiar with the process of giving notice of appeal to the appellate division. Under Rule 4(a) of the North Carolina Rules of […]
Case Summaries: Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals (August 2024)
This post summarizes published criminal law and related cases released by the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals during August of 2024. Cases of potential interest to state practitioners are summarized […]
Police Liability for Damage to Property
Law enforcement officers sometimes damage property in the course of their work. For instance, they may break down a door while executing an arrest warrant, or may pull up floorboards […]
News Roundup
It’s Friday the 13th, and a corpse was found in a Raleigh Food Lion freezer earlier this week, according to a story from the N&O. Chillingly, the incident “is not […]
New Publication on Driver’s License Revocations, Restorations and Privileges
I am thrilled to announce the availability of a new publication, Driver’s License Revocations, Restorations, and Limited Driving Privileges in North Carolina. This is the first School of Government publication that […]
Outsourcing Reasonableness: Redefining Defensive Force in State v. Phillips.
Coke claimed the common law was the perfection of reason. Our Supreme Court began its recent opinion in State v. Phillips, No. 281A23 (N.C. Aug. 23, 2024), by citing Coke, […]