The New G.S. 90-96
Last year, the Onion (my favorite news satire outfit) ran an article headlined “Nation Shudders at Large Block of Uninterrupted Text.” It’s a pretty funny take on modern society’s overreliance […]
Individual Voir Dire
According to the News and Observer, the trial of Laurence Lovette begins today in Hillsborough. Lovette is charged with the first-degree murder of Eve Carson, who was, at the time […]
Consolidated Judgments and DWI
The Structured Sentencing Act permits judges to consolidate convictions for multiple felony offenses entered at the same time or multiple misdemeanor offenses entered in the same session of court and […]
Habitual Breaking and Entering
I wrote recently about how the Justice Reinvestment Act changes North Carolina’s existing habitual felon law (you can read that post here). This post examines a new recidivist offender statute […]
Corpus Delicti
According to my teenaged kids, “corpus delicti” sounds like something that will get you in trouble if you write about it on a government-sponsored blog. It is, however, an issue […]
News Roundup
Last night I attended the annual awards banquet of the North Carolina Bar Association’s Criminal Justice Section. Wake County District Attorney Colon Willoughby was presented with the Peter Gilchrist Award, […]
Media Interviews by the Defendant
Jerry Sandusky, the former Penn State defensive coordinator accused of sexually abusing multiple young boys, gave a telephone interview to NBC’s Bob Costas. You can hear the interview here. (Those […]
Unanimity and Felony Murder
The jury need not be unanimous regarding the felony underlying a defendant’s conviction of felony murder. State v. Taylor, 362 N.C. 514 (2008) (the defendant was charged with felony murder, […]
Civil License Revocations and Double Jeopardy
As most readers of this blog know, many people charged in North Carolina with driving while impaired and other implied consent offenses suffer the immediate consequence of having their driver’s […]
Absolute Impasse
As a general rule, some decisions in the course of a criminal trial are made by the defendant and others are made by defense counsel. A defendant decides, for example, […]