A UNC School of Government Blog
The State House of Representatives recently passed H 33, “An Act to Provide that Certain Consulate or Embassy Documents May Not be Used to Determine a Person’s Identification or Residence for Governmental and Law Enforcement Purposes.” Among the provisions the bill would amend if enacted is G.S. 20-7(b4), which currently permits the North Carolina Division … Read more
Hit and run is a term used to describe several felony and misdemeanor offenses set forth in G.S. 20-166, a statute in which neither the term “hit” nor “run” appears. G.S. 20-166 criminalizes a driver’s failure to stop at the scene of a crash in which the vehicle he or she is driving is involved, … Read more
We at the School of Government like to think that we produce lots of useful scholarship. We write books, articles, informal papers, blog posts, and so on. Those of us working in the area of criminal law try to make our work useful to lawyers and judges involved in criminal cases. But of course, our … Read more
The usual Friday news roundup was displaced last week by an extremely important post. But the news itself just kept coming, including the following: 1. The General Assembly passed the Forensic Sciences Act, a bill that will reform the workings of the SBI crime lab. A News and Observer story about the bill is here, … Read more
Earlier this month, the Supreme Court of North Carolina decided State v. Lane, a capital case involving the abduction, rape, and murder of a five-year-old girl. The defendant in Lane initially sought to represent himself, exercising the right of self-representation established in Faretta v. California, 422 U.S. 806 (1975) (holding that part of the right … Read more
The United States Supreme Court decided Connick v. Thompson yesterday. In a nutshell, the plaintiff, John Thompson, spent 18 years in prison as a result of a Brady violation. After he was exonerated, he sued the district attorney’s office, claiming that the office failed to train prosecutors adequately about their Brady obligations. A jury agreed … Read more
Under G.S. 14-107, it’s a Class 2 misdemeanor to write a check, “knowing at the time . . . that [the check-writer doesn’t have] sufficient funds on deposit . . . with which to pay the check . . . upon presentation.” The crime may be more serious if the check-writer is a recidivist or … Read more
Jeff wrote here about a recent high-profile case in which a defendant, Raymond Cook, was charged with multiple felony offenses after he drove while impaired and crashed into a young woman’s car in North Raleigh, killing her. In Cook’s case, the jury found the defendant guilty of impaired driving, involuntary manslaughter and felony death by … Read more
Duke took it on the chin last night, losing to a confident, athletic Arizona team. That’s the basketball roundup. Now for the criminal law roundup: 1. The Conference of District Attorneys has completed a review of the SBI lab cases identified as problematic in the Swecker report. The Conference’s press release states that the review … Read more