Cyberstalking
Furious that her ex-boyfriend slept with her best friend, defendant puts up a post on Facebook falsely stating that boyfriend enjoys intimate relations with inbred dogs (actually, the phrase “enjoys […]
News Roundup
A lot of attention was focused on Cupertino, California this week as Apple introduced a new iPhone and company founder Steve Jobs died. There’s a gossamer connection to the blog, […]
Is a Burned Out Brake Light a Basis for a Stop?
We’ll start with a pop quiz: A police officer sees that the right brake light of a vehicle fails to illuminate when the driver applies brakes while driving down a […]
Where to Serve a Sentence
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 […]
Is Padilla Retroactive?
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, […]
First Monday: Supreme Court Preview
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 […]
News Roundup
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 […]
Empty Your Pockets
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 […]
You Can Hold Me Down: Restraining the Defendant During Trial
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 […]
Per se impairment, reasonable doubt, margins of error, and all that lies between
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 […]