I recently taught a session at the magistrates’ conference about arrestable conditions of pretrial release. The session sparked a lot of discussion about the law surrounding pretrial conditions for in-custody […]
There is no way to avoid hearing and seeing the devastating news about Western North Carolina. People have died; lost their loved ones; lost their homes; and have no power, […]
The State of Missouri put Marcellus Williams to death Tuesday, despite opposition from St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Wesley Bell and the victim’s family, the Associated Press reports. Williams was […]
I am excited to share the latest annual report from the North Carolina Judicial College. Spoiler alert: In fiscal year 2023-2024, we offered more courses (51!) to more participants (more […]
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 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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]