Recent Blog Posts Page 356 on North Carolina Criminal Law Blog

The top of the news today is that the Attorney General has removed and reassigned SBI director Robin Pendergraft and has at least temporarily stopped the work of “bloodstain pattern […]

I am sometimes asked if a conviction for which prayer for judgment has been continued (a PJC) can be expunged. It’s a sensible question, given—as I’ll discuss in a moment—that […]

Rule of Professional Conduct 3.4(b) states that it is improper to “offer an inducement to a witness that is prohibited by law.” Comment 3 to the rule states that “[t]he […]

Some recent celebrity news has made me think about our extortion statute. The statute is G.S. 14-118.4, and it says: Any person who threatens or communicates a threat or threats […]

I’ve blogged previously about the Britt and Whitaker cases. Britt held that a particular convicted felon retained his right to bear arms under the state constitution, and that G.S. 14-415.1 […]

Lots of interesting stuff this week. Without further ado: 1. The front page of the News and Observer today has a story that begins as follows: “Someone accused of killing […]

The court of appeals in State v. Simmons, ___ N.C. App. ___ (July 20, 2010), decided this week, awarded a new trial to a defendant convicted of impaired driving, finding […]

According to the News and Observer, Governor Perdue has signed House Bill 80, entitled “An Act to Ban the Use of Electronic Machines and Devices for Sweepstakes Purposes.” It becomes […]

In State v. Harbison, 315 N.C. 175 (1985), the North Carolina Supreme Court held that when defense counsel admits the defendant’s guilt to the jury without the defendant’s consent per […]

Two of the topics I write about the most are probation and sex offenders. Today’s post is about both, answering a question that—somewhat to my surprise—comes up pretty frequently: Can […]