Court Costs and Traffic Citations
Court costs support many different programs and purposes. The principal statute concerning court costs in criminal cases is G.S. 7A-304. (Under G.S. 15A-1118, these costs also apply to infraction cases.) […]
Adulterated Halloween Candy
For as long as I can remember, parents have worried about adulterated Halloween candy, razorblades in apples, and the like. This concern is exaggerated, but not totally unfounded. Snopes states […]
Tight New Timelines for Motions for Appropriate Relief
In 2012, the N.C. General Assembly enacted new case processing rules for motions for appropriate relief. See S.L. 2012-168. The new rules put the judges on a pretty tight leash […]
News Roundup
In Italy, six scientists have been convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to six years in prison for failing to predict an earthquake. Seriously. In other news: The National Association of […]
Limited Driving Privileges Following Revocations for Willful Refusals
Several earlier posts (here, here and here) address the availability of a limited driving privilege for a person whose driver’s license is revoked upon conviction of impaired driving. Such a […]
FAQs on JRA
Questions related to the Justice Reinvestment Act keep flooding in. Lots of them have been addressed elsewhere on this blog (see our Justice Reinvestment Resource Page for a collection of […]
Discharging a Firearm Into Occupied Property: If People Are on the Porch, It’s Occupied
G.S. 14-34.1 makes it a Class E felony to discharge a barreled weapon or firearm into occupied property. The offense is elevated to a Class D felony if the property […]
Going to the Back Door
The court of appeals just decided a case that’s important for officers, as well as lawyers and judges, to know about. The case is State v. Pasour, and it began […]
News Roundup
In Durham, a man who shot at police during a traffic stop, and who was also served with warrants for first-degree sexual offense and other crimes, was given a total […]
Expert Testimony: “The Child Was Sexually Abused”
Child sexual abuse cases raise a bevy of evidence issues. One recurring issue is this: Is it permissible for the State’s expert to testify that sexual abuse in fact occurred? […]