Belated Halloween Edition
As a runner and a criminal lawyer, I found this story irresistable. The short version is that the police in Boulder, Colorado decided to stamp out the Naked Pumpkin Run, […]
Follow Me on Twitter
With nothing terribly interesting or important going on in the world of criminal sentencing, it seemed as good a time as any to engage in some blatant self-promotion. For much […]
News Roundup
Even leaving aside the saga at the Board of Elections, there have been too many interesting news stories lately to ignore. 1. The News and Observe has this story about […]
Waiving Probation Supervision Fees
Under G.S. 15A-1343(c1), defendants placed on supervised probation must pay a monthly supervision fee of $30, unless exempted by the court. That exemption may only be granted for good cause […]
Traffic Stops, Part II
I noted yesterday that a law enforcement officer conducting a traffic stop may order the driver and any passengers out of the vehicle. It’s also reasonably clear that the officer […]
Traffic Stops
As one eminent Fourth Amendment scholar has observed, “[i]n recent years more Fourth Amendment battles have been fought about police activities incident to . . . what the courts call […]
Ignition Interlock for All
The New York Times published this editorial last week advocating that all people convicted of impaired driving – including first-time offenders – be required to install ignition interlocks in their […]
Electing to Serve a Sentence
Suppose a defendant is convicted of a crime and the judge wants to (or, in a “C” or “C/I” cell in the sentencing grid, has to) suspend the sentence. Can […]
Galindo and “Substitute Analysts” After Melendez-Diaz
On October 20, 2009, the North Carolina Court of Appeals decided State v. Galindo, holding that a Crawford violation occurred when the State’s expert gave an opinion, in a drug […]
Should Child Pornography Offenders Forfeit Their Homes?
I’ll get to the topic of today’s post in just a moment, but first I wanted to note what I found to be a fascinating little tidbit about the Willingham […]