Court of Appeals Holds Sight or Odor of Cannabis = Probable Cause
Author’s Note: The Court of Appeals withdrew the decision on which this post is based on August 30, 2024. The Court of Appeals recently settled an issue that has been […]
Case Summaries: Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals (July 2024)
This post summarizes published criminal law and related cases released by the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals during July 2024. Cases of potential interest to state practitioners are summarized monthly. […]
News Roundup
Local news became national news this week when a man serving life imprisonment for the murder of a one-year-old child on Christmas escaped from custody. According to the AP, 30-year-old […]
Smith v. Arizona and Retroactivity
My colleagues have covered the retroactivity rules many times before on the blog but the analysis for determining the retroactivity of new federal rules has changed in the last few […]
Character is Destiny: Improper Argument in State v. Anderson
Evidence of prior bad acts is admissible unless the only reason for introducing the evidence is to show the defendant’s propensity for committing the crime. In a trial involving a […]
Grants Pass: Local Government Authority and the Constitutionality of Laws Against Camping or Sleeping in Public
According to the Department of Housing and Urban Development, well over half a million people are unhoused on any given night in America. Given the magnitude of the crisis, local […]
News Roundup
Last week, the Department of Defense announced that 9/11 mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammad and two co-defendants had reached plea deals. Generally, the defendants would plead guilty to various charges before […]
Case Summaries: N.C. Court of Appeals (Aug. 6, 2024)
This post summarizes the published criminal opinions from the North Carolina Court of Appeals released on August 6, 2024. These summaries will be added to Smith’s Criminal Case Compendium, a […]
New Dashboard Metric Shows How North Carolina Criminal Charges Get Disposed
We recently added 2022 and 2023 Automated Criminal Infractions System (ACIS) court records data to our Measuring Justice Dashboard. We also just released a new Dashboard metric showing how North […]
Legislative Amendments to Larceny Laws
Sticky-fingered Sam goes to the local shoe store to purchase a new pair of shoes. The last pair of shoes in her size are priced at $150. Deciding that these […]