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These days, it seems as though there’s a trial of the century every week or two. Media coverage of court proceedings has never been more intense, even with Nancy Grace […]

In 1985, the General Assembly reclassified certain minor traffic violations as a new type of non-criminal violation, termed an infraction. S.L. 1985-764. Though the legislation provided that infractions were to […]

According to a recent AP poll, discussed here, only 8% of Americans said that they felt very confident about the “people who are running” blogs, while 47% lacked confidence in […]

It has long been the rule in North Carolina that all that is required for a judge to revoke probation is a finding that the defendant has violated a valid […]

In recent years, courts have generally deemphasized formalistic compliance with procedural rules. But sometimes, procedural considerations can still make or break a case. Take, for example, State v. Oates, __ […]

From time to time, an officer from another state wants to get medical records from a North Carolina hospital. For example, a South Carolina officer may want the medical records […]

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 […]