A UNC School of Government Blog
Can a police officer order a suspect to empty his or her pockets during a Terry stop? The New York Times reports on claims that New York officers do so regularly: Critics say that as part of the Police Department’s stop-and-frisk policy, officers routinely tell suspects to empty their pockets and then, if marijuana is … Read more
In Stone Free, Jimi Hendix sang: “You can’t hold me down.” Perhaps it’s no surprise but criminal procedure doesn’t conform to Hendrix’s lyrics. As illustrated by the recent case State v. Stanley, a trial judge can restrain a criminal defendant during trial. Since I get a fair number of questions about a judge’s authority to … Read more
G.S. 20-138.1(a)(2) prohibits a person from driving a vehicle upon a highway, street or public vehicular area after having consumed sufficient alcohol that the person has, at any relevant time after the driving, an alcohol concentration of 0.08 or more. S.L. 2006-253 amended this subsection to provide, effective for offenses committed on or after December 1, … Read more
I’ve had a huge number of calls about one particular aspect of S.L. 2011-268, the omnibus gun rights bill enacted during the recently completed legislative session. The provision in question is Section 21.(b) of the bill, which limits municipalities’ authority to regulate guns in parks. Specifically, Section 21.(b) amends G.S. 14‑415.23 as follows: 14‑415.23. Statewide … Read more
The national media has been buzzing all week about the execution of Troy Davis in Georgia. Davis was convicted of killing off-duty police officer Mark MacPhail. I haven’t followed the case closely, but for those interested in reading more about it, here is a piece that argues that Davis was innocent, and here is one … Read more
The Justice Reinvestment Act (S.L. 2011-192) creates a new program called Advanced Supervised Release (ASR). Through it, certain inmates will be eligible for release from prison before serving their minimum sentence. According to literature prepared by the Council of State Governments (CSG) Justice Center, a non-profit group that helped develop the legislation, the purpose of … Read more
Eating the evidence might yield a stomach ache but it won’t ensure an acquittal. That is the lesson learned from State v. James, a case recently decided by the N.C. Court of Appeals. In James, an officer was patrolling in an unmarked vehicle when the defendant waived her over. As the officer opened her car … Read more
These days, it seems as though there’s a trial of the century every week or two. Media coverage of court proceedings has never been more intense, even with Nancy Grace focused on Dancing with the Stars. The proliferation of smartphones, tablets, and other internet-connected devices has given jurors almost unlimited access to media reports, which … Read more
In 1985, the General Assembly reclassified certain minor traffic violations as a new type of non-criminal violation, termed an infraction. S.L. 1985-764. Though the legislation provided that infractions were to be processed in much the same manner as misdemeanor criminal charges (they were to be calendared and prosecuted by the district attorney, proved beyond a … Read more
According to a recent AP poll, discussed here, only 8% of Americans said that they felt very confident about the “people who are running” blogs, while 47% lacked confidence in bloggers. Ouch! At least we are held in greater esteem than Congress. Click the link to see Americans’ views of the Supreme Court, the military, … Read more