A UNC School of Government Blog
Under existing law, the basic rules for where a sentence should be served are as follows: Misdemeanors, 90 days or less. If a sentence imposed for a misdemeanor is 90 days or less, it generally must be served in the jail. G.S. 15A-1352(a). There are exceptions for when the jail is overcrowded or the inmate … Read more
In a post here [editor’s note: the post shows up with my picture for technical reasons, but it was written by Sejal Zota], a former colleague discussed Padilla v. Kentucky, 130 S. Ct. 1473 (Mar. 31, 2010), a U.S. Supreme Court decision dealing with ineffective assistance of counsel in connection with advice regarding the immigration … Read more
Under 28 U.S.C. § 2, The Supreme Court shall hold at the seat of government a term of court commencing on the first Monday in October of each year and may hold such adjourned or special terms as may be necessary. Today is the first Monday in October, and so is the first day of … Read more
No single story dominated the criminal law world this week, but that doesn’t mean that it was a dull week by any stretch of the imagination. 1. The News and Observer reports here on Ty Hobson-Powell, a 16-year-old 1L at NCCU law. He’s got an impressive resume, having graduated from college in two years at … Read more
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