When a person’s license is revoked for certain offenses involving impaired driving, the person must, before his or her license may be restored, obtain a substance abuse assessment and complete […]
The top story of the week was really several stories — the News and Observer’s three-piece series on Tracey Cline, the District Attorney in Durham County. As a Durham voter, […]
The court of appeals decided State v. Howard earlier this week. The opinion addresses several issues, but I want to focus on what is sometimes called the connected crimes doctrine, […]
Under G.S. 15A-534.1, when a defendant is charged with assault, stalking, communicating threats, or certain other crimes against “a spouse or former spouse or a person with whom the defendant […]
I’ve been asked several times recently whether a particular set of facts should be charged as embezzlement, in violation of G.S. 14-90, or as larceny by employee, in violation of […]
Several high profile murder trials are headed for a conclusion in the near future. The News and Observer covers the Robert Stewart trial here (the defendant admits killing eight people […]
In a post here, I wrote about the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Bullcoming v. New Mexico, 131 S. Ct. 2705 (2011), holding that substitute analyst testimony in an impaired […]
The North Carolina Supreme Court decided Lee v. Gore last Friday, affirming the court of appeals and holding that DMV lacked authority to revoke the petitioner’s driving privileges pursuant to […]
I’ve written about traffic stops at some length, in this paper. One of the areas in which the law is unsettled is the extent to which officers may engage in […]
Every cell on the felony sentencing grid is divided into three ranges of permissible minimum sentences—mitigated, presumptive, and aggravated. Most defendants (69 percent) are sentenced in the presumptive range, about […]