Recent blog posts

The biggest national story this week is the just-completed execution of Dennis McGuire by the state of Ohio. Because the state was not able to procure pentobarbital, a drug historically […]

A DWI conviction will cost you. Let’s take the case of a typical defendant who has never before been charged with or convicted of DWI. I’ll call him Forrest Firsttimer. […]

May community service fees be waived? I suspect some of you are thinking “I hope so, because they just were,” or something along those lines. It turns out to be […]

The Seventh Circuit just ruled that the $30 booking fee charged to each arrestee in an Illinois town is constitutional. Markadonatos v. Village of Woodridge, __ F.3d __, 2014 WL […]

Wondering what the key cases were in 2013? Here’s my list, for criminal lawyers practicing in state courts. Want more information? All of the cases are summarized in greater detail […]

The new year is off to an interesting start. Here are some of the week’s top developments: Wake County DA not seeking re-election. Wake County District Attorney Colon Willoughby has […]

Deep in the statutory woods of the law allowing the seizure of motor vehicles driven by certain impaired drivers is a provision setting trial priority for the underlying criminal charges. […]

North Carolina has a law allowing certain prison inmates to be released early for medical reasons. It was passed in 2008, largely in response to concerns that a small number […]

The court of appeals decided a case today concerning a fact pattern that arises frequently in drug cases. State v. McKinney began when an officer received a “citizen complaint” about […]

While you were ringing in the new year with a traditional helping of black-eyed peas, some inmates were “enjoying” another day of nutraloaf. As this recent NPR story explains, “[i]n […]