New Felony Sentencing Grid
It’s October 1 and a lot of new laws come into effect today. Among them is the portion of S.L. 2013-101 that amended the felony sentencing grid. The revised grid, […]
New Extradition Manual Now Available
A new edition of the State of North Carolina Extradition Manual is now available. Although international extradition gets all the media attention — and is the subject of this blog post […]
News Roundup
This week, the State Auditor released an audit of the Administrative Office of the Courts. It’s available here. One finding was that the AOC “does not make detailed . . […]
County Resource Guide
“I wish I knew more about what’s out there.” That was the comment from a thoughtful superior court judge attending a sentencing law class at the School of Government. We […]
When an Arrestee “Brings” Drugs to the Jail
When a person is arrested while in possession of drugs and is taken to the jail in handcuffs, may the person properly be convicted of possessing drugs in a confinement […]
Forced Self-Penetration Supports a Sex Offense Conviction
Over the years I’ve been asked a bunch of times whether forced self-penetration constitutes a “sexual act” supporting a conviction for forcible sexual offense. Until recently, we had no clear […]
Cell Phone Searches Headed to the Supreme Court?
In a post last week, I mentioned that it looks increasingly likely that Supreme Court will grant certiorari in a case considering cell phone searches. In this post, I’ll support […]
News Roundup
There was a ton of interesting news this week, starting in Union County, where the “district attorney has dismissed cases against 39 people because Monroe police officers failed to provide […]
Sentencing Commission Annual Statistical Report
A defense lawyer from another state recently asked me if it was possible to get probation for involuntary manslaughter in North Carolina. It is apparently possible but uncommon in his […]
Imposing Fees for Forensic Expert Testimony — Is It Constitutional?
Tucked into the 2013 North Carolina budget bill is a provision imposing new court costs for expert witnesses who testify about chemical or forensic analyses at trial. Specifically, the new […]