A UNC School of Government Blog
If I were to compile guidance for law enforcement officers and judges on “what not to do” in an impaired driving case, I’d be sure to include excerpts from two cases decided by the court of appeals this week: State v. Petty and State v. Taylor. Let’s start with Taylor, reserving discussion of Petty for … Read more
The Court of Appeals released several criminal law opinions yesterday. One that caught my eye was State v. Merrell, __ N.C. App. __ (2011). In a nutshell, the defendant was an alcoholic who lived with his sister and her family. He began sexually abusing his niece, in a variety of ways, when she was nine. … Read more
In State v. Bowden, 193 N.C. App. 597 (2008), disc. rev. improvidently allowed, 363 N.C. 621 (2009), and Jones v. Keller, 364 N.C. 249 (2010), our appellate courts considered the sentence length and sentence credits applicable to a group of inmates with offense dates from the 1970s. They committed their crimes at a time when … Read more
The last batch of opinions from the court of appeals included a really interesting constructive possession case.The facts of State v. Slaughter, __ N.C. App. __ (2011), are as follows. Officers executed a search warrant at a mobile home. The defendant did not live in the home but was present at the time of the … Read more
According to the News and Observer, plea negotiations regarding former Senator John Edwards have not resulted in an agreement, and Edwards “was indicted today [editor’s note: literally, an hour or so ago] on charges of conspiracy and false statements and campaign law violations.” The paper previously ran a detailed analysis of some of the legal … Read more
Reckless driving is among the most commonly charged, and most broadly defined, motor vehicle offenses. Three types of reckless driving, all Class 2 misdemeanors, are defined in G.S. 20-140. First, a person who drives a vehicle on a highway or public vehicular area carelessly and heedlessly in willful or wanton disregard of the rights or … Read more
I wrote a paper about motor vehicle checkpoints last year. It’s available here. Once in a while, I get asked about so-called ruse checkpoints, a subject that I didn’t address in the paper. A typical ruse checkpoint might work as follows. Officers deploy large, flashing temporary signs on a divided highway that say “drug checkpoint … Read more
I’ve mentioned the big legislative changes pending in HB 642 (the Justice Reinvestment Act, which was discussed in House Appropriations this morning), but I haven’t written about an important criminal bill that’s already been signed into law. It’s Session Law 2011-62 (HB 270), Amend Conditions of Probation, which the Governor signed on May 3. The … Read more
The News and Observer reports that the government may seek an indictment against former Senator John Edwards as soon as next week. The case is expected to center around money funneled to Edwards’ mistress by two Edwards supporters, with the government contending that the money amounted to illegal campaign contributions and Edwards claiming that they … Read more
I was asked recently whether a juror can be removed for refusing to deliberate. The case in which the issue arose has concluded, a federal circuit court just weighed in on the issue, and I thought that others might be interested in the law in this area, hence this post. There’s no North Carolina case … Read more