News Roundup
The legislature is in session and a bill to make the Moravian cookie the official state cookie was introduced this week. According to my admittedly casual research, only a few […]
Court of Appeals Affirms Order Dismissing Media Entities’ Petition for Release of Law Enforcement Recordings in Andrew Brown Case
After Andrew Brown, Jr. was shot and killed in Elizabeth City in April 2021 by law enforcement officers who were attempting to serve arrest and search warrants on him, several […]
So Your Indictment May Be Flawed: What Now?
A non-lawyer might be forgiven for being somewhat confused by the rules governing indictments. The basics are summarized easily enough: a trial court’s jurisdiction depends on a facially valid indictment; […]
The Effect of Legal Hemp on Drug Dog Sniffs (Part II)
Last week, in Part I of this series, I discussed whether having a drug dog sniff a vehicle is a search if the drug dog might alert upon smelling hemp, […]
News Roundup
Attorney General Josh Stein now appears to be highly unlikely to be charged criminally over a campaign ad he ran in the last election cycle. The ad charged that Stein’s […]
Case Summaries – N.C. Court of Appeals (Feb. 7, 2023)
This post summarizes the published criminal opinion from the North Carolina Court of Appeals released on February 7, 2023. This summary will be added to Smith’s Criminal Case Compendium, a […]
N.C. Supreme Court Weighs in, Again, on Forfeiture of Counsel
In December, the North Carolina Supreme Court decided State v. Atwell, 2022-NCSC-135, ___ N.C. ___ (2022)—its third time weighing in on the issue of forfeiture of counsel. The defendant had […]
The Effect of Legal Hemp on Drug Dog Sniffs (Part I)
Hemp and hemp products are now legal under state and federal law. Hemp is the same plant as marijuana and contains the same chemical compounds, though in different concentrations. Could […]
News Roundup
The New York Times story about Tyre Nichols’ funeral is here. Rev. Al Sharpton delivered the principal eulogy, but there were many speakers, including Mr. Nichols’ mother and Vice President […]
NC Supreme Court Orders Trial Court to Reconsider Gag Order in Greensboro Body Camera Case
The North Carolina Supreme Court held last December in In re Custodial Law Enforcement Recording, 2022-NCSC-125, 881 S.E.2d 96 (2022), that a trial court abused its discretion in denying the […]