A UNC School of Government Blog
The court of appeals issued a batch of opinions this week, at least two of which are absolutely fascinating and will be featured on this blog next week. But those opinions were hardly the only big news this week: 1. Adam Liptak, in the New York Times, has an article arguing that the Supreme Court … Read more
Criminal negligence (sometimes called culpable negligence) means recklessness or carelessness that shows a thoughtless disregard of consequences or a heedless indifference to the safety and rights of others. State v. Jones, 353 N.C. 159 (2000); State v. Early, 232 N.C. 717, 720 (1950). The showing required to establish criminal negligence is less than the level … Read more
Suppose a defendant acts intending to do one thing but ends up doing something else. For example, suppose the defendant shoots at A, intending to kill A, but misses and kills B, an innocent bystander. Is the defendant criminally liable for the unintended harm to B? Under the doctrine of transferred intent, the answer is … Read more
Stan Speedy is charged with impaired driving. He has filed a motion to suppress evidence of blood test results based on a violation of his Fourth Amendment and his statutory rights under Chapter 20. At the suppression hearing, a sheriff’s deputy testifies to the following facts: At 10 p.m. on the evening of May … Read more
Jamie Markham’s famous sex offender flow chart is the best one page reference that money can buy. And it’s free! The latest revision is available here. Jamie has also put together a longer and more comprehensive treatment of the sex offender laws. It covers both sex offender registration and satellite-based monitoring, and as always with … Read more
As always, the past week has seen a tremendous amount of interesting criminal law news. Nationally, the story that has drawn the most attention is the conclusion of the Stephen Hayes murder trial in Connecticut. Apparently, two men invaded the home of a doctor and his family; beat the doctor severely; sexually assaulted his wife … Read more
Perhaps in response to news reports of teen suicides blamed on embarrassing and/or insensitive web postings, I have been fielding a fair number of calls about North Carolina’s cyberbullying statute. The statute, G.S. 14-458.1, was enacted in 2009 and applies to offenses committed on or after that date. S.L. 2009-551, sec. 3. Subsection (a) sets … Read more
To be valid, consent to search must be voluntary. Is consent voluntary when given after an officer thrreatens to obtain a search warrant if consent is withheld? Generally, yes. See State v. Kuegel, 195 N.C. App. 310 (2009) (consent to search was given voluntarily even though officer said that if consent was denied he “would … Read more
Under G.S. 15A-1346(a), a “period of probation commences on the day it is imposed and runs concurrently with any other period of probation, parole, or imprisonment to which the defendant is subject during that period.” Under that rule, periods of probation may not be stacked. In State v. Canady, 153 N.C. App. 455 (2002), for … Read more
In at least five prior posts on this blog (here, here, here, here, and here) I have written about the use of substitute analysts after Crawford and Melendez-Diaz. The basic issue is whether the confrontation clause is violated when an expert testifies to an opinion based on tests or analysis done by a non-testifying analyst. … Read more