Recent blog posts - 40 of 395

North Carolina will soon have a new law, effective October 1, 2024, that prohibits local governments, state agencies, the judicial branch, and the legislative branch from allowing pornography to be viewed on their networks or devices. The law, found at Section 7 of S.L. 2024-26, establishes a deadline for government employees and officials to delete any pornography from their government devices, creates reporting requirements for unauthorized viewing or attempted viewing of pornography, and requires public agencies (including units of local government and public school units) and the judicial and legislative branches to adopt policies governing the use of their networks and devices. It also contains some important exceptions for employees and officials who might need to view pornography (as that term is defined by this new law) as part of their official duties.

 The lead criminal law story this week relates to the Illinois deputy charged in connection with the fatal shooting of Sonya Massey in her Springfield, Illinois home on July 6. After the 36-year-old woman called 911 to report a suspicious person nearby, local deputies responded. Once deputies were inside the home, Massey reportedly acted strangely and seemed confused. At one point, she moved a pot of boiling water from the stove to the sink, prompting the officers to back away from her. Massey asked the officers where they were going, and one stated that they were moving away from the water. Massey replied with a religious rebuke. Deputy Grayson responded to this by drawing his pistol, pointing it at her, and threatening to shoot her. The woman apologized, put her hands up, and ducked, but Grayson quickly fired his weapon multiple times, hitting Massey in the head and killing her. When another deputy suggested getting a medical kit to help, Grayson advised that medical assistance was futile. The full incident was captured on body camera. Grayson has been charged with first-degree murder (and other charges) and was fired from the department. Another story reports that Grayson worked for six different law enforcement agencies over the last four years. Read on for more criminal law news.

I am pleased to announce that Belal Elrahal joined our faculty earlier this month. Belal is working in the field of criminal law and procedure and will specialize in impaired […]

This post summarizes published criminal law and related cases released by the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals during June 2024. Cases of potential interest to state practitioners are summarized monthly. Previous summaries of Fourth Circuit cases are available here.

Session Law 2024-17 enacts changes to the law regarding the scope of original juvenile jurisdiction beginning with offenses committed on or after December 1, 2024. Law changes regarding the existing process to transfer a case from juvenile to superior court will also take effect at that time. Read on for a description of the changes.

Special thanks to Sheridan King, Summer Law Fellow at UNC SOG, for her significant contributions to the research and development of this post.

The previous post of this multi-part series on confidential informants (“CI’s”) delved into possible approaches to handling video and audio recordings of confidential informant activity (Parts I and II can be found here and here). CI activity is often recorded during the “main event” (the incident for which the defendant is indicted) and during “lead-up buys” (controlled purchases that create probable cause to search a location). Though trial courts throughout North Carolina regularly determine when CI recordings must be turned over to the defense, there is a scarcity of North Carolina appellate law on the subject. Thus, this post will look to other jurisdictions, including federal district courts and other states, to survey how judges are reckoning with these emerging issues pertaining to discovery, the defendant’s constitutional right to a fair trial, and the State’s interest in protecting the identity of informants.

The biggest news story of the week is a gunman’s attempt to assassinate former president and current presidential candidate Donald Trump during a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania on Saturday. The gunman, identified as 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, fired eight rounds from a semiautomatic AR-style rifle in Trump’s direction. Trump was struck in the ear, rally attendee Corey Comperatore was killed, and two other men were critically wounded in the attack. The New York Times analyzed video, audio, and photographs of the event and created this narrative video timeline. The Times video ends with this question: Why was the former president allowed to remain on stage when the threat emerged minutes before shots rang out?

This post summarizes the published criminal opinions from the North Carolina Court of Appeals released on July 16, 2024. These summaries will be added to Smith’s Criminal Case Compendium, a free and searchable database of case summaries from 2008 to the present.

At the Criminal Justice Innovation Lab, we’re focused on an evidence-based approach to criminal justice issues. We deal with a lot of data and try to make that information relevant […]

The Supreme Court’s big Second Amendment case this term was United States v. Rahimi, 602 U.S. __ (2024), which I wrote about here. But readers interested in firearms law should know that the Court also decided Garland v. Cargill, 602 U.S. 406 (2024), a case addressing the legal status of bump stocks. The case isn’t a criminal case, and it mostly isn’t a Second Amendment case, but it is an interesting case with important implications for administrative law and perhaps for the future of gun regulations.