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State v. Chambers and the Substitution and Discharging of Alternate Jurors Pursuant to G.S. 15A-1215(a)

Criminal law practitioners may recall that in 2021 the General Assembly amended G.S. 15A-1215(a) to permit the substitution of an alternate juror after deliberations have begun in a criminal trial. S.L. 2021-94. When those changes became effective for jurors selected on or after October 1, 2021, North Carolina joined the federal courts and several other states that permit this practice.

The practice was, however, challenged within a few years of enactment. And the North Carolina Court of Appeals in State v. Chambers, 292 N.C. App. 459 (2024), held that notwithstanding G.S. 15A-1215(a), the state constitutional requirement for unanimous verdict of twelve jurors in a criminal case prohibited the substitution of an alternate juror after deliberations begin. Two weeks ago, the North Carolina Supreme Court reversed the Court of Appeals, upholding the statute as constitutional. This post will review the Supreme Court’s decision in State v. Chambers, No. 56PA24, ___ N.C. ___ (2025), and consider how trial courts must handle alternate jurors in future trials.

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A Guide to Vehicle Seizures: Drugs and Alcohol

Later this summer, we will be publishing a new Administration of Justice Bulletin, The Law of Vehicle Seizure and Forfeiture in North Carolina. It will cover the different circumstances in which law enforcement may seize vehicles and judges may order them forfeited. This post is a preview of two circumstances that will be included in the bulletin. One circumstance is when the vehicle is used as part of an offense related to a controlled substance. Another circumstance is when a vehicle is used to unlawfully transport nontaxpaid alcoholic beverages. Read on for the preview.

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Surrender, Return, and Disposal of Firearms in Civil Domestic Violence Cases

North Carolina General Statute 50B-3.1 provides that, under certain circumstances, a person who is subject to a DVPO must be ordered to surrender to the sheriff “all firearms, machine guns, ammunition, permits to purchase firearms, and permits to carry concealed firearms that are in the care, custody, possession, ownership, or control of the defendant.”

That statute also permits the person to seek return of the surrendered items following the expiration of the protective order and final disposition of any related criminal charges. If the person is ineligible for the return of the items or fails to request return, then a court may order disposal of the items in one of several ways set out in the statute. This post details the procedure for surrender, return, and disposal of firearms and related items in DVPO cases.

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News Roundup

The top story this week is that Olympic gold medalist Mary Lou Retton has been charged with DUI, per this story from the UPI and AP. Retton, 57, became the first American woman to win the all-around gymnastics title at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, where she also won two silver and two bronze medals. Retton was stopped on May 17, 2025, in her hometown of Fairmont, West Virginia, allegedly with a container of wine in the passenger seat of her Porsche, and charged with driving under the influence, before being released on a personal recognizance bond. Read on for more criminal law news.

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New Research on Juvenile Interventions and Reoffending

I recently had the opportunity to watch a webinar on the latest research about how protective factors and strength-based services impact reoffending among justice-involved youth. The webinar focused on the second brief (Impacts on Long-Term Youth Reoffending) from the Youth Protective Factors Study (hereinafter the Study). The Study offers interesting findings related to the way risk and protective factors work (or, spoiler alert, don’t work) to reduce reoffending. This research can help practitioners focus limited resources on system responses and interventions most likely to promote public safety.

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News Roundup

On Wednesday, the Justice Department announced it is planning to drop investigations into nearly two dozen police departments accused of civil rights violations. These include departments in Memphis, TN, Pheonix, AZ, Oklahoma City, OK, Trenton, NJ, Mount Vernon, NY, and the Louisiana State Police. The Department also announced it will drop consent decrees setting requirements for police training and establishing outside monitoring reached after incidents of police violence in Minneapolis, MN and Louisville, KY. The head of the Department’s civil rights division, Harmeet K. Dhillon, said the Department is reviewing consent decrees and federal oversight arrangements in place with nearly a dozen other cities to determine if they should be abandoned as well. This is following an executive order signed last month directing Attorney General Pam Bondi to review all federal consent decrees and to “modify, rescind, or move to conclude” them within 60 days. Read on for more criminal law news.

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The Prior Record Level Worksheet with Missing Convictions: A Persistent Ethical Dilemma

Suppose you are a defender representing a client charged with Possession of Firearm by Felon. You receive a plea offer in the case, along with the AOC-CR-600B, the “Worksheet” regularly used for calculating the Prior Record Level (PRL) before sentencing. You review the worksheet and notice that it makes no reference to a prior felony conviction for which your client served prison time. You know of this missing conviction because you regularly verify the information the State provides to you, and you saw the conviction in the relevant database. You also discussed the conviction with your client when interviewing him about his past experiences and record in prison. Without the prior conviction, your client would be sentenced as a PRL III for felony sentencing purposes, but with the conviction, your client would be sentenced as a PRL IV. The general practice in your judicial district is for both parties to sign the PRL Worksheet, stipulating to the information set forth on the form and agreeing with the defendant’s PRL classification as indicated.

How should you proceed?

In teaching felony defenders here at SOG, I’ve seen this ethical dilemma threaten to swallow up the allotted ethics hour on multiple occasions. It is a challenging issue that, like many other dilemmas, involves a clash between ethical obligations.

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