This post summarizes published criminal law and related cases released by the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals during July of 2025. Cases of potential interest to state practitioners are summarized monthly. Previous summaries of Fourth Circuit cases are available here.
News Roundup
President Trump deployed the D.C. National Guard, took control of the Metropolitan Police Department, and reassigned FBI agents from their regular duties to patrol the streets of Washington, D.C. this week. At a press conference on Monday, Trump identified rising crime rates and the threat of violent crime as the primary reasons for his attention to law enforcement in the District. In response, the New York Times and CNN have published reports showing crime rates have steadily dropped since the pandemic, and are dropping as part of a larger trend since the 1990’s. Also this week, a federal judge in California is considering whether President Trump violated the law when he deployed the National Guard in Los Angeles. Read on for more criminal law news.
New Edition of Probation Violations in North Carolina
I’m happy to announce the availability of the Second Edition of Probation Violations in North Carolina. The book is available in the School of Government bookstore, here. Even though the number of people on probation in North Carolina is about half of what it was when I started at the School of Government in 2007, … Read more
New Limits on MARs in Noncapital Cases
My colleagues have been blogging about some of the changes to our criminal law wrought by recent legislation. Session Law 2025-70 also amends G.S. 15A-1415, which governs the grounds that a defendant may assert by motion for appropriate relief (MAR), and establishes limitations as to time. Whereas the statute previously listed grounds that a defendant may assert by MAR at any time after the verdict, the recent amendments create a seven-year limit on most noncapital MARs. This post addresses the changes to G.S. 15A-1415 (effective Dec. 1, 2025).
Case Summaries: N.C. Court of Appeals (August 6, 2025)
This post summarizes the published criminal opinions from the North Carolina Court of Appeals released on August 6, 2025.
The State presented sufficient evidence to establish that a hammer was used as a dangerous weapon to support conviction for robbery with a dangerous weapon.
State v. Blackburn, No. COA24-1016 (N.C. Ct. App. Aug. 6, 2025). The victim was sleeping in his Mazda as he did every night when he was awakened by banging on the outside of his car. Two men pulled the victim from the car and held a gun to his head. Three men threatened to shoot him if he didn’t hand over his money, and when the victim stated he didn’t have any money, the men pushed him against the car facing the vehicle, and one of the men hit the victim with a hammer. The defendant stated he hit the victim with a hammer on the back of the victim’s shoulder, while the victim testified that he was hit on the back of the head and neck, fell to the ground, and lost consciousness for a short period. When he came to, he saw the men driving away in the Mazda. The defendant was apprehended near the stolen vehicle later that night. The defendant was convicted of robbery with a dangerous weapon and conspiracy to commit robbery with a dangerous weapon after a jury trial.
News Roundup
The town of Wendell, NC, recently purchased two drones and associated equipment for $20,000 to support the police department. Officials state the drones will help locate missing or endangered people, find criminal suspects, investigate traffic crashes, and support special operations. A sergeant noted the drones could be particularly helpful in locating children or adults with cognitive issues who go missing. The drones have heat-detecting cameras, live tracking, high-powered zoom, and distance-measuring tools. Proponents are optimistic that the technology will help officers by providing a perspective on chaotic scenes before officers go in blind. However, civil liberties groups have concerns that the technology may lead to intrusions on privacy. Law enforcement drone programs are proliferating throughout North Carolina in places such as Asheville, Burlington, Chapel Hill, Charlotte, and Winston-Salem.
Read on for more criminal law news.
New Judicial College Course Catalog
The North Carolina Judicial College was founded in 2005 to expand the education and training the School of Government has provided to judicial branch officials since its founding in 1931. And expand we have! Last year we offered nearly 50 continuing education courses that provided more than 700 hours of continuing education credit. Those courses include orientation programs, classes focused on discrete topics of interest, experiential learning opportunities, skills-based training, and leadership seminars. They are offered to an array of judicial officials, including trial and appellate court judges, magistrates, and clerks of court.
Summer 2025 Motor Vehicle Law Changes
The legislature enacted a raft of changes this summer to motor vehicle and criminal law. This post examines three session laws that enhanced criminal penalties and revised regulations for motor vehicle offenses and operation. The changes cover broad ground, including changing vehicle inspection requirements, authorizing speed-measuring cameras, and heightening penalties for certain motor vehicle offenses that result in injury. Read on to learn more.
Pretrial Custody Release: Notes from Other Jurisdictions
When a person is arrested, a law enforcement officer must take that person before a judicial official without unnecessary delay. Subject to certain statutory exceptions, defendants charged with most noncapital offenses are entitled to pretrial release in accordance with G.S. 15A-534, which requires that at least one of five types of release be imposed before a defendant can be released. One type of release a judicial official may impose on a defendant is a “custody release,” under which a defendant is placed “in the custody of a designated person or organization agreeing to supervise him.” G.S. 15A-534(a)(3). This is the extent to which the custody release is described. The North Carolina general statutes do not provide additional guidance as to qualifications of a custodian, terms of the supervision, or penalties for improper supervision.
Other states have pretrial release statutes that are identical or substantially similar to that of North Carolina, explicitly providing for pretrial release of a defendant into the custody of an individual or organization. Many of those statutes—like that of North Carolina—do not offer further guidance regarding the custodian’s supervision of the defendant. However, there are a few that offer additional detail about the parameters of the custody release.
This post highlights custody release provisions in select states. While none of them is binding on this condition in our state, North Carolina judicial officials may find the information useful in crafting their local pretrial release policies.
Purses, Fanny Packs, Backpacks, and Duffel Bags: The Impact of Arizona v. Gant on Searches of Hand Luggage Incident to Arrest
Law enforcement officers have long been authorized to search a person incident to the person’s arrest. But the precise scope of that authority has shifted over time. The most recent major case in this area was Arizona v. Gant, 556 U.S. 332 (2009), which placed new limits on an officer’s ability to search a motor vehicle incident to the arrest of an occupant. Whether Gant has any impact on an officer’s authority to search hand luggage like purses and backpacks has been the subject of considerable controversy. The issue is important given the ubiquity with which men as well as women carry backpacks, satchels, crossbody slings, and many other types of bags. This post discusses searches of such items incident to arrest.