Impeachment with Evidence of Bias
I previously posted (here) about impeaching a witness with a prior inconsistent statement. In this blog post I’ll address impeaching with evidence of bias. As our blog readers know, a […]
News Roundup
Over the past three weeks, two convicted murderers in Florida have escaped from prison by forging bogus “motions to reduce their respective sentences and . . . court orders granting […]
New Report on Juvenile Justice and the Juvenile Age
The district court judges are conferring this week at the Great Wolf Lodge in Concord. I don’t know if robes are allowed on waterslides, but I expect that the judges […]
Indicting for a Misdemeanor in Superior Court After a Grand Jury Presentment
District court has original jurisdiction to try misdemeanors, so a misdemeanor usually arrives in superior court after a defendant is convicted of a misdemeanor in district court and appeals for […]
The New Firearm/Deadly Weapon Enhancement
Structured Sentencing has always included a provision allowing for an enhanced sentence for felonies committed by using, displaying, or threatening to use or display a firearm or deadly weapon. G.S. […]
NC Tightens Its Laws on Disorderly Conduct at Funerals
No doubt in response to funeral protests by groups like Westboro Baptist Church, in 2006 NC amended its disorderly conduct statute, G.S. 14-288.4, adding a provision prohibiting disorderly conduct at […]
News Roundup
Down with the law reviews, up with the blogs. Or, so says Justice Kennedy in this Wall Street Journal story. “Professors are back in the act with blogs,” he proclaims, […]
Walters Affirmed: No Sex Offender Registration for a PJC
With three words—PER CURIAM. AFFIRMED.—the Supreme Court of North Carolina last week added a new wrinkle to two already perplexing areas of the law: sex offender registration and PJCs. In […]
NC Supreme Court Reverses State v. McKenzie: CDL Disqualification Does Not Bar DWI Prosecution
The court of appeals’ decision last January in State v. McKenzie was big news in the DWI world. The state’s intermediate appellate court held the one-year disqualification of a defendant’s […]
Remember Those Timelines for Non-Capital Motions for Appropriate Relief?
They are gone. In a blog post here I wrote about 2012 North Carolina legislation imposing tight new timelines for judges handling post-conviction motions for appropriate relief. When I had […]