Prison Escapes
A murderer recently escaped from a North Carolina prison. According to this News and Observer story, the escapee is James Ladd, who was convicted in 1981 of two counts of […]
Offense Date Ranges: Which Sentencing Law Applies?
North Carolina’s structured sentencing grid did not change from 1995 to 2009. Since then it has changed twice, once for offenses committed on or after December 1, 2009 (discussed here), […]
Jury Review of Evidence
In the recent Court of Appeals case, State v. Mason, the trial court erred by sending exhibits to the jury deliberation room over defense counsel’s objection. Although the State got […]
News Roundup
The story generating the most interest this week is, in the words of the News and Observer, that “[a] two-year investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice has found that […]
Anonymous Juries
At the Oklahoma City bombing trial of Timothy McVeigh jurors’ names were kept private. So, too, in the corruption trials of former governors Edwin Edwards of Louisiana and Rod Blagojevich […]
Applying Rule 403 in Child Pornography Cases
Rule 403 provides that “[a]lthough relevant, evidence may be excluded if its probative value is substantially outweighed by the danger of unfair prejudice . . . needless presentation of cumulative […]
Nunc pro tunc . . . Not so much
Last July, former Wake County district court judge Kristin Ruth pled guilty to willfully failing to discharge the duties of her office, a misdemeanor offense, for her role in signing […]
Probation Confinement Options Other than CRV
A frequently asked question of late is whether a judge may still impose special probation (a split sentence) in a probation case. Apparently the question arises out of a sense […]
News Roundup
There have been several sad and frightening stories in the news recently, from the apparent murder of UNC undergraduate Faith Hedgepeth, to the ice cream truck operator charged with being […]
The Latest UNC Scandal and the Possibility of Disparate Treatment
A couple of recent news stories led me to think about the possibility of a particular type of class disparity in the criminal justice system. Here are the two stories: […]