Video Blog Post: Unstructured Sentencing
It’s been over two years since I recorded my first video blog post. With the help of School of Government multimedia developer Jamar Jones, I prepared another one for today. […]
Been there . . . decided that
Whether a suspect refused to submit to a breath test is a hotly contested issue in many impaired driving cases. That determination is critical to two proceedings: the administrative proceeding […]
Rule 404(b): Proper Purpose Other than Propensity
Rule 404(b) is a rule of inclusion subject to one exception: the evidence must be excluded if its only probative value is to show that the defendant had the propensity […]
Book Review: My Beloved World
I recently finished Justice Sonia Sotomayor’s autobiography, My Beloved World. It’s a terrific book and an interesting companion to another outstanding Supreme Court memoir, Justice Clarence Thomas’s My Grandfather’s Son. […]
News Roundup
This week, the General Assembly ratified SB 117, or Lily’s Law, which adds the following provision to the murder statute, G.S. 14-17: “For the purposes of this section, it shall […]
The Opinion Question: Myth or Magic?
Even the greenest of prosecutors knows to ask it. And all officers, from rookie to veteran, know how to answer. Rare is the impaired driving case without it. What’s the […]
Contempt and Cellphones
A couple of this blog’s recent Friday News Roundups have linked offbeat stories about contempt and cellphones. In the first a Michigan judge held himself in contempt and ordered a […]
Rule 404(b): Did He Really Do It?
In this second post on Rule 404(b) evidence [editor’s note: the first post in this occasional series is here], I’ll address a point that sometimes gets overlooked in the admissibility […]
Home Leaves from Prison
I read an article this morning from the Washington Post about how some inmates are using the online consumer review site Yelp to rate jails and prisons. It’s an interesting […]
News Roundup
Potentially capital federal charges have been filed against Dzhokhar Tsarnaev in connection with the Boston marathon bombings. The filing of charges led to an initial appearance – in the hospital […]