Relief from (Un?)Fair Sentencing (April 8, 2009)
Jamie Markham
One of our loyal readers asked for our take on the provision in the motion for appropriate relief (MAR) statute that allows a defendant to seek relief at any time […]
Rivera v. Illinois and “Reverse Batson” (April 7, 2009)
Jeff Welty
In Batson v. Kentucky, 476 U.S. 79 (1986), the Supreme Court held that prosecutors could not exercise peremptory challenges based on race. In Georgia v. McCollum, 505 U.S. 42 (1992), […]
Lineups, Showups, Undercover Buys, and G.S. 15A-284.52 (April 6, 2009)
Jeff Welty
In 2007, the General Assembly enacted the Eyewitness Identification Reform Act, G.S. 15A-284.50 et seq. The heart of the Act is G.S. 15A-284.52, which lays out rules for conducting lineups, […]
Least Interesting Post Ever (April 3, 2009)
Jeff Welty
Update: I spent some time over the weekend thinking about this case. It seems to me that one likely upshot of Harbison is that some states that currently provide for […]
More Credit Issues (April 2, 2009)
Jamie Markham
After Alyson’s post from yesterday, I thought it might be a good time to recap some of the other sentence credit issues our courts have addressed over the years. These […]
Jail Credit for Split Sentences (Isn’t That Special?) (April 1, 2009)
Alyson Grine
Editor’s note: SOG faculty member Alyson Grine — today’s guest blogger — holds the position of Defender Educator. As her title suggests, her principal client group is public defenders and […]
News Roundup (March 31, 2009)
Jeff Welty
Several newsworthy items have cropped up lately, so I wanted to take a day to highlight some of them. First and foremost, the News and Observer has a troubling front-page […]
Banishment, Part II (March 30, 2009)
Jamie Markham
Editor’s note: This post was originally intended to be a response to a comment to a post about sentences of banishment. The initial post, here, considered a federal sentence that […]
Miller and Constructive Possession (March 27, 2009)
Jeff Welty
Last week, the North Carolina Supreme Court decided State v. Miller, an interesting and very, very close constructive possession case. Prosecutors, defense lawyers, and judges should all be aware of […]
How Do You Measure a Life? (March 26, 2009)
Jamie Markham
A life sentence has not always meant a person’s natural life in North Carolina—probably. Under G.S. 14-2 as it existed for offenses committed after April 8, 1974, but before July […]