A UNC School of Government Blog
Earlier this month, the court of appeals decided State v. Joe, __ N.C. App. __ (2011) (Stephens, J.). A Winston-Salem officer was patrolling a drug-infested apartment complex at 2:00 in the afternoon. The defendant was standing by the corner of a building in the complex, and when he saw the officer approach in his vehicle, … Read more
Under existing law, only Class B1 through E felonies get post-release supervision (PRS). They are released from prison “on the date equivalent to [their] maximum imposed prison term less nine months, less any earned time,” G.S. 15A-1368.2(a), and their period of supervision in the community is generally 9 months. For sex offenders, period of supervision … Read more
New legislation this year creates a handful of new homicide and assault crimes protecting unborn children. S.L. 2011-60. The term “unborn child” “means a member of the species homo sapiens, at any stage of development, who is carried in the womb.” G.S. 14‑23.1. The new crimes, which apply to offenses committed on or after December … Read more
TV news broadcasts often start with sensational celebrity news that may not be tremendously substantive. I’ll follow suit and highlight this AP profile of Casey Anthony defense lawyer Jose Baez. He has a GED, ran two failed bikini companies before going to law school, and after graduation took eight years (!) to be admitted to … Read more
I was at a meeting at the Department of Correction yesterday talking about some of the changes made by the Justice Reinvestment Act (JRA, summarized here). One of the big changes is an expansion of the conditions a probation officer may add through delegated authority under G.S. 15A-1343.2(e) and (f). In talking about those changes, … Read more
In yesterday’s post, Jeff mentioned Laura’s Law, which increases the maximum punishment for impaired driving. Today’s post discusses those provisions in more detail. S.L. 2011-191, dubbed Laura’s Law in recognition of 17-year-old Laura Fortenberry, who died last summer when the car she was riding in was struck by an impaired driver who had previous DWI … Read more
Over at the Volokh Conspiracy, Ilya Somin has this post about Caylee’s Law. Briefly, legislation has been introduced in many states that would make it a crime to fail to report a child’s death within one hour, or a child’s disappearance within 24 hours. Some organizations are even calling for a federal law. This activity … Read more
I’m back from a fantastic vacation, and am grateful to Jamie for keeping the blog afloat while I was gone. Blogging is a lot of fun but it can also be a little bit of work, and it’s great to have colleagues who are willing to shoulder the load when needed. Because I have a … Read more
Nationwide, the biggest criminal law news of the week comes out of Florida, where Casey Anthony was found not guilty of the murder of her two-year-old daughter, Caylee. I personally did not follow the case closely, but many of those who did were apparently surprised by the result. Anthony was convicted of four counts of … Read more
For a variety of reasons, it is sometimes helpful to know the maximum punishment applicable to a particular type of offense. For instance, when charging a defendant with possession of a firearm by a felon, the indictment should set forth the maximum penalty by which the defendant’s prior felony offense was punishable. For some defendants … Read more