Recent blog posts

Dear Friends,

I am writing to let you know of some changes in the work we do at the School of Government for defenders and others who work in the North Carolina court system. The short version is this: I will go half-time beginning July 1 this year; the School intends to hire a new faculty member to work in criminal law, with a focus on issues affecting defenders; and Phil Dixon will become the director of the Public Defense Education program at the School. Read on for more details.

Determination of the correct disposition level available in a delinquency case requires a four-step process.

1. Identify the offense for which disposition is being entered (hereinafter referred to as the “disposition offense”).
2. Identify the offense classification for the disposition offense.
3. Calculate the juvenile’s delinquency history level.
4. Use the disposition chart to identify the corresponding level or levels for the case.

WRAL reports here on renovations at the State Crime Laboratory. The renovations, supported by a $5 million appropriation, include “a new design for the Drug, Chemistry and Toxicology wing” that allows more space for analysts and scientific work. The idea is to improve workflow and reduce backlogs – a goal on which virtually everyone can agree. Keep reading for more news.

This post summarizes the published criminal opinions from the North Carolina Court of Appeals released on April 18, 2023. These summaries will be added to Smith’s Criminal Case Compendium, a free and searchable database of case summaries from 2008 to the present.

Are you thinking about implementing a citation in lieu of arrest policy? Have you been implementing a policy and want to improve it? The UNC School of Government Criminal Justice Innovation Lab recently released a final report for the Citation Project, which included four recommendations for those interested in this work. This post summarizes the report and those recommendations.

This post summarizes published criminal and related decisions released by the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals during March 2023. Cases that may be of interest to state practitioners are summarized monthly. Previous Fourth Circuit case summaries can be found here.

Suppose that a defendant is charged with possessing fentanyl with the intent to sell it. The state’s evidence includes a Facebook direct message, purportedly from the defendant to an informant, saying “just got some China Girl, you want any?” An officer took a photograph of the direct message as it appeared on the informant’s smartphone, and everyone is satisfied that the photograph fairly and accurately depicts the message. But the defendant objects to the introduction of the message on the grounds that there’s no way to be sure that he wrote it. How might the state respond?

A 21-year-old Massachusetts man has been arrested in connection with the recent leak of classified documents concerning the war in Ukraine. His name is Jack Teixeira, and he is an IT specialist and a member of the Air National Guard. WRAL reports here that “Attorney General Merrick Garland said he is to be charged with removing or transmitting classified national defense information, a crime under the Espionage Act.” Keep reading for more news.

I have previously written about how the State may obtain the medical records of a person suspected of or charged with impaired driving. This post focuses on the requirements for admitting those records at trial.

This post summarizes the published criminal opinions from the Supreme Court of North Carolina released on April 6, 2023. These summaries will be added to Smith’s Criminal Case Compendium, a free and searchable database of case summaries from 2008 to the present.