News Roundup (February 3, 2012)
Jeff Welty
All roads lead to Fayetteville. Now, there’s a sentence I never thought I’d type. But this week, it’s true. Mainly, the first evidentiary hearing in a Racial Justice Act case […]
Consolidation Across Effective Dates (February 2, 2012)
Jamie Markham
Many parts of the Justice Reinvestment Act, including most of the changes related to “front-end” sentencing, were made effective for offenses occurring on or after December 1, 2011. It takes […]
In the Matter of District Court Administrative Order (February 1, 2012)
Shea Denning
Among the opinions filed by the North Carolina Supreme Court last Friday was an order captioned “In the Matter of District Court Administrative Order.” Without providing any factual background regarding […]
Testimony from Anonymous Witnesses (January 31, 2012)
Jeff Welty
The Fourth Circuit recently decided United States v. Ramos-Cruz, a case involving an MS-13 member who was convicted of assorted federal crimes, all generally tied to his gang membership and […]
Advice to Officers after Jones (January 30, 2012)
Jeff Welty
I’ve had quite a few questions from officers and others about United States v. Jones, the Supreme Court’s recent GPS tracking decision. I previously summarized the case here. Below, I’ve […]
News Roundup (January 27, 2012)
Jeff Welty
The Jones GPS tracking case was the biggest legal news of the week. I blogged about it here, and plan to post some additional thoughts next week, but in the […]
Qualifying Predicate Traffic Violations for Purposes of Misdemeanor Death by Vehicle (January 26, 2012)
Shea Denning
Misdemeanor death by vehicle is defined in G.S. 20-141.4(a2) as (1) unintentionally causing the death of another person (2) while violating a State law or local ordinance applying to the […]
Supreme Court Justices and the State of the Union (January 25, 2012)
Jeff Welty
In case you missed it, President Obama delivered the annual State of the Union address last night. The address is rooted in Article II, section 3 of the Constitution, which […]
The Supreme Court on GPS Tracking: U.S. v. Jones (January 24, 2012)
Jeff Welty
Yesterday, the United States Supreme Court decided United States v. Jones, the important GPS tracking case I previously blogged about here. (The case was captioned United States v. Maynard at […]
Defending Santa: Is It a “Breaking” to Enter Through an Open Chimney? (January 24, 2012)
Jessica Smith
Now that Christmas is over, Santa’s cases are coming on for trial. He’s accused of multiple counts of burglary. We already know the facts: He entered dwellings at night, using […]