G.S. 90-96 Limbo
The Justice Reinvestment Act made conditional discharge under G.S. 90-96(a) mandatory for eligible, consenting defendants. The law was amended last year to make it discretionary again for offenses committed on […]
A Multiple Conviction Issue in Kidnapping Cases
In a recent case, State v. Holloman, the North Carolina Court of Appeals held that the trial court erred by convicting the defendant of both first-degree kidnapping and sexual assault […]
News Roundup
There was a mountain of interesting news this week. In Charlotte, CMPD officer Randall Kerrick was indicted for voluntary manslaughter for shooting Jonathan Ferrell. As the Charlotte Observer reports here, […]
Updated Paper on Traffic Stops
I’ve just completed a revision of my paper on the law of traffic stops. It covers both when an officer may make a stop and what an officer may do […]
A Conversation with Justice Scalia
Last week I took eighteen N.C. Superior Court Judges to Washington, D.C. Among other things, we attended oral argument at the U.S. Supreme Court and were fortunate enough to have […]
The Long Arm of the Law is a Bit Longer for DWIs
Local law enforcement officers have a little bit of extra territorial jurisdiction when it comes to investigating impaired driving. That grant of extra territorial jurisdiction (as opposed to extraterritorial jurisdiction, […]
North Carolina on Probation
This morning’s New York Times included an opinion piece by Bill Keller entitled America on Probation. It talks about the recent movement away from incarceration as the cornerstone of the […]
News Roundup
Pop star Justin Bieber was arrested yesterday morning in Miami Beach after allegedly drag racing a rented Lamborghini through a residential neighborhood while intoxicated. His smiling mug shot has been […]
New Structured Sentencing Handbook
From 1995 to 2009, North Carolina had two sentencing grids—one for felonies, one for misdemeanors. That was it. Then the grid was amended in 2009. And 2011 (with special rules […]
Google Glass, Recordings, and the Law
CNET is reporting that an Ohio man went to a movie theater wearing Google Glass. Halfway through Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit, an FBI agent approached him, flashed a badge, took […]