Better than Lexis? (September 4, 2009)
Jeff Welty
I am constantly amazed at the innovative work my colleagues are doing. A new and incredibly useful tool — but one that is not widely known — is Jessie Smith’s […]
News Roundup (Actual Innocence Edition) (September 3, 2009)
Jeff Welty
Although there’s been a ton of relevant news since the last News Roundup, the most timely and interesting stories all relate to claims of actual innocence. To start with, Joseph […]
Nonstatutory Mitigating Factors (September 2, 2009)
Jamie Markham
After my earlier post about nonstatutory aggravating factors, a reader took me up on my offer to write about nonstatutory mitigating factors. In addition to the twenty mitigating factors spelled […]
State v. Locklear and the Admissibility of Forensic Reports (September 1, 2009)
Jessica Smith
Last Friday, the North Carolina Supreme Court decided State v. Locklear, holding, in part, that a Crawford violation occurred when the trial court admitted opinion testimony regarding a victim’s cause […]
Britt, Heller, and the Right to Bear Arms (August 31, 2009)
Jeff Welty
The state supreme court issued a batch of opinions last Friday, and while several of them are notable, the one that has received the most attention is Britt v. North […]
Human Lie Detectors (August 28, 2009)
Jeff Welty
Our court system assumes that people can tell whether other people are telling the truth by evaluating the demeanor of the other people. This is true in a wide range […]
Possession of Stolen Goods and Receiving Stolen Goods (August 27, 2009)
Jeff Welty
I’m working on revising Arrest Warrant and Indictment Forms, a manual that provides charging language for several hundred common offenses. In the course of working on language for possession of […]
Melendez-Diaz and Limited Privileges (August 26, 2009)
Shea Denning
If a 0.15 alcohol concentration is not admitted at trial or sentencing, does it count for limited privilege purposes? I discussed in an earlier post circumstances in which the Confrontation […]
Obtaining Medical Records under G.S. 8-53 (August 25, 2009)
Jeff Welty
I’ve received questions from both prosecutors and defense lawyers about whether and how the state can obtain a suspect’s — or a defendant’s — medical records when those records may […]
Nonstatutory Aggravating Factors (August 24, 2009)
Jamie Markham
By special request, this post recaps the law of nonstatutory aggravating factors. Under G.S. 15A-1340.16(d), the State may, in addition to the 25 statutory aggravating factors set out in that […]