Recent blog posts

This is not a sports story – despite what the title may suggest. Besides, I am so over March Madness.  There was a little too much madness and not enough […]

Two elected district attorneys resigned mid-term yesterday: Colon Willoughby in Wake County (to move into private practice), and Jerry Wilson in Watauga and four other mountain counties (citing medical reasons). […]

Almost two years after the United States Supreme Court decided Miller v. Alabama, the question of whether the case applies retroactively to convictions that became final before it was decided […]

The top story of the week concerns Patrick Cannon, who was the mayor of Charlotte until he was arrested Wednesday on federal corruption charges. He resigned his post, as the […]

We’re holding a seminar on professionalism and ethics for judges at the School of Government next week so I’ve got judicial canons on my mind.  Below are five ethical rules […]

Or is it addendums? Take your pick. Regardless, today’s post covers some of the issues that arise when a probation officer files an addendum to a probation violation report. I’ll […]

I’ve been married to a man for sixteen years.  That makes me an expert in men’s dress.  If the occasion is formal—an important meeting at work, a cocktail party, a […]

In this, my last post in a long series on hearsay exceptions, I’ll address the Rule 804 exception for statements against penal interest. Rule 804(b)(3) creates a hearsay exception for […]

I’m traveling today so I’ll round up the news a bit more briefly than usual: Court of appeals remands lethal injection case. The News and Observer reports here that the […]

The decades-old state supreme court decision in State v. Knoll, 322 N.C. 535 (1988), dismissing charges against three impaired driving defendants, is confusing.  For starters, the Knoll court’s decision hinged […]