Recent blog posts

The jury in the John Edwards case is still deliberating. Although I haven’t followed the case closely, I found very interesting one evidentiary ruling that took place during the trial. […]

Last July, Jamie Markham provided this refresher on aggravating factors in structured sentencing cases in which he discussed, among other provisions, the requirement that the State provide a defendant with […]

In a prior post on this topic, I began outlining some impermissible types of jury argument. In this post, I’ll continue that discussion with the following additional listing of improper […]

Well, this is embarrassing. “Orange-Chatham District Attorney Jim Woodall has asked the State Bureau of Investigation to . . . probe . . . UNC-Chapel Hill’s African and Afro-American Studies […]

In my previous post I wrote about In re Hamilton, a recent appellate case involving petitions to terminate sex offender registration. In Hamilton, the court of appeals held that a […]

A recent case from the court of appeals sheds some light on a frequently asked question about petitions for removal from the sex offender registry. The case, In re Hamilton, […]

A new edition of Volume Two of the North Carolina Defender Manual has just been released. Volume Two addresses trial issues, from jury selection through verdict and beyond. It also […]

In a prior post on this topic, I addressed permissible jury argument. In this post and one that follows [editor’s note: coming next week], I address impermissible argument. The courts […]

The lead story from last week’s news roundup is back again: Chapel Hill’s ban on using cell phones while driving. It appears from this News and Observer story that Superior […]

In prior posts (here and here) I have discussed Structured Sentencing’s limit on consecutive sentences for misdemeanors. The basic rule, set out in G.S. 15A-1340.22, is that the cumulative length […]