The Associated press reports that the families of nine victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting have settled a lawsuit against Remington Arms for $73 million. The suit alleged that Remington marketed the AR-15 style assault rifle used in the shooting in a dangerous manner by promoting its destructive capability and associating it with violence. Twenty-six people were killed at Sandy Hook in 2012 by a lone gunman; twenty of the victims were young children.
Case Summaries: N.C. Court of Appeals (Feb. 15, 2022)
This post summarizes criminal decisions from the North Carolina Court of Appeals published on February 15, 2022. As always, these summaries will be added to the School’s Criminal Case Compendium, a free and searchable database of case summaries from 2008 to present.
Case Summaries: North Carolina Supreme Court (Feb. 11, 2022)
This post summarized published criminal and related decisions from the North Carolina Supreme Court released on February 11, 2022. These summaries will be added to the Criminal Case Compendium.
News Roundup
As WCYB reports, two men who escaped from the Sullivan County Jail in Tennessee died after a motor vehicle chase across North Carolina ended in a crash in Brunswick County earlier this week. Escapees Tobias Carr and Timothy Sarver allegedly were involved in a robbery at a convenience store in Onslow County and then were chased across several North Carolina jurisdictions before their vehicle was disabled and crashed. Precise details of the incident were unavailable at the time of writing. Keep reading for more news.
Substance Use Disorder Treatment During a Pandemic: A Conversation with TROSA
Today’s post is a conversation between Jamie Markham (JM) and Kristen Rosselli (KR), Chief Operating Officer at TROSA. We’ve been getting a lot of questions about how TROSA and other substance use disorder treatment programs are operating during the pandemic, so I thought I would go straight to the source to learn more. This post should not be viewed as an endorsement of TROSA in particular—it just happens to be one of the largest programs in the state, and the one about which I get the most inquiries. As always, my goal is to share up-to-date information so you can make informed decisions for the defendants, clients, and cases that come before you.
“True Threats” After Taylor
Near the end of last year, the North Carolina Supreme Court decided State v. Taylor, 2021-NCSC-164, 866 S.E.2d 740 (2021), and we summarized the opinion here. This post considers the potential impact of Taylor on other offenses involving threatening speech, and addresses a couple lingering questions that may arise in future cases.
News Roundup
Emergency response officials and personnel at the state and local level deserve special recognition this week for their handling of the extremely dangerous fire at a fertilizer production facility in Winston-Salem. As the Winston-Salem Journal reports, a massive fire broke out at the Winston Weaver fertilizer plant on Monday night, prompting emergency responders to go door-to-door to warn residents within one mile of the site to evacuate their homes because of the possibility that roughly 600 tons of ammonium nitrate could explode and devastate the surrounding area. The threat of an explosion was diminishing at the time of writing. Keep reading for more news.
Case Summaries: N.C. Court of Appeals (Feb. 1, 2022)
This post summarizes criminal decisions from the North Carolina Court of Appeals published on February 1, 2022. As always, these summaries will be added to Smith’s Criminal Case Compendium, a free and searchable database of case summaries from 2008 to present.
SB300 and Early Warning Systems
State law now requires every law enforcement agency to implement an “early warning system.” What is an early warning system? Do such systems work? And what can small agencies do to comply with the law? Read on to learn more.