A UNC School of Government Blog
The Fourth Circuit recently decided United States v. Sowards, an interesting case about a traffic stop. The case arose when an experienced traffic enforcement officer stopped the defendant on I-77 near Charlotte. The basis for the stop was the officer’s visual estimate that the defendant was driving 75 m.p.h. in a 70 m.p.h. zone. During … Read more
Senate Bill 105, which passed both chambers of the General Assembly overwhelmingly and appears certain to become law (either with the Governor’s signature or because of the passage of time without her veto), increases the penalty for most second-degree murders. Second-degree murder is currently a B2 felony, but for offenses committed on or after December … Read more
In State v. Huerta, the court of appeals recently reaffirmed its controlled substance “combination decisions.” Here’s what happened. Huerta was convicted of, among other things, trafficking by possession of more than 400 grams of cocaine. During a search of Huerta’s house, officers found three caches of what turned out to be cocaine: (1) one kilogram-sized … Read more
Jeff’s away and has left me in charge of the news roundup. So there’ll be no Gizmodo stories this week. (I’m still figuring out how to work my iPhone.) Fortunately, the week was full of criminal law news that doesn’t require the cracking of any source codes. 1. The General Assembly adjourned on Tuesday, July … Read more
Concluding that current State criminal statutes “do not sufficiently recognize the increased danger to the public and do not sanction appropriately acts of terrorism,” S.L. 2012-38, the General Assembly recently enacted a new terrorism offense. The new crime applies to offenses committed on after December 1, 2012. Id. Here’s what you need to know: Statute: … Read more
The School of Government recently launched the Collateral Consequences Assessment Tool (C-CAT). But, what is a collateral consequence assessment tool? For that matter, what is a collateral consequence? The Collateral Consequences Assessment Tool, or C-CAT, is a web-based tool that centralizes the collateral consequences imposed under North Carolina law for a criminal conviction. A collateral … Read more
I have written before (here) about some of the tricky issues related to extending probation. A recent case from the court of appeals illustrates the complexity of the rules. In State v. Gorman, __ N.C. App. __ (June 19, 2012), a defendant received four suspended sentences on June 3, 2005, for a series of felony … Read more
Apparently the Supreme Court issued some sort of decision this week about broccoli, or health insurance, or something. But it wasn’t all mandates and Medicare: there were several significant criminal law developments in the news this week as well: Governor Perdue vetoed the bill that would have amended, or perhaps effectively repealed, the Racial Justice … Read more
My previous post summarized Miller v. Alabama, the Supreme Court’s recent case holding that a sentencing regime in which life without parole (LWOP) is mandatory for a murder committed by a defendant under age 18 violates the Constitution’s prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment. This post picks up where the previous one left off, discussing … Read more
Most people were disappointed that the Supreme Court did not release the health care ruling on Monday. I, on the other hand, was excited to read Miller v. Alabama, a case with important sentencing ramifications for many states, including North Carolina. In Miller, the Court held 5–4 that the Eighth Amendment forbids a sentencing scheme … Read more