Labor Day Q & A: Motor Vehicle Law Edition
Our family gathers at the coast for Labor Day weekend. You’d be amazed how many motor vehicle law questions my relatives can generate over the course of a few hours […]
News Roundup
Durham County Superior Court Judge Elaine Bushfan, hearing cases in Alamance County, reversed her own judgments in five cases this week, saying that the Alamance County District Attorney’s office was […]
School Bus Safety
School started back this week across the state, which means that many school buses are traveling the roadways. Buses in my neighborhood hit the pavement early—one drove by this morning […]
Revised Sex Offender Flow Chart (August 2013 Edition)
With another legislative session in the books, it’s time once again for a revised sex offender flow chart. The revised chart is available here. The changes are summarized below. New […]
Rap Lyrics as Confessions
When may rap lyrics written by a defendant be admitted as evidence of guilt? That question has been in the news quite a bit lately as a result of a […]
New Publication on Habitual Felon, Violent Habitual Felon, and Habitual Breaking and Entering
I recently finished an Administration of Justice Bulletin about the habitual felon, violent habitual felon, and habitual breaking and entering laws. It’s a substantial expansion and revision of a paper […]
News Roundup
The DWI blood test backlog at the state crime lab has started to receive media attention. TheWinston-Salem Journal recently ran this editorial, arguing that the situation is “unacceptable” and reflects […]
Seizure by Blocking One’s Path
The line between a consensual encounter and a seizure can be blurry. Generally, there is no seizure when an officer simply approaches a person and asks the person a question. […]
State v. Marino Finds No Error in Denying Defendant Source Code
The North Carolina Court of Appeals decided its first breath-testing source code case yesterday. The court in State v. Marino affirmed the trial court’s determination that the defendant had no […]
Social Networking Prohibition for Sex Offenders Facially Unconstitutional
North Carolina’s ban on accessing commercial social networking sites by sex offenders is unconstitutional on its face, the court of appeals held this morning in State v. Packingham. Under G.S. […]