Recent blog posts - 88 of 397

Late last week Governor Roy Cooper’s office announced that he had commuted the sentences of three people who were sentenced to lengthy prison terms as teenagers and had served decades behind bars.  April Leigh Barber, now 46, served 30 years in prison after being convicted of killing her grandparents by setting their house ablaze when she was 15 years old; she has a job lined up as a paralegal when she is released, according to WFMY.  Joshua McKay, now 37, served 20 years for the murder of Mary Catherine Young in Richmond County when he was 17; the Richmond County Daily Journal says that he would have been released in November of this year absent the commutation. Finally, Anthony Willis, now 42, has served 26 years for the murder of Benjamin Franklin Miller in Cumberland County at the age of 16; WRAL reports that Willis has earned several college degrees while in prison, including a masters degree.  The commutations were recommended by the Juvenile Sentence Review Board, which Cooper previously established by executive order.  Keep reading for more news.

This post summarizes published criminal decisions from the North Carolina Court of Appeals released on March 15, 2022. These summaries will be added to Smith’s Criminal Case Compendium, a free and searchable database of case summaries from 2008 to present.

This post summarizes criminal decisions released by the Supreme Court of North Carolina on March 11, 2022.

This post summarized published criminal and related decisions released by the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals during February 2022. Decisions that may be of interest to state practitioners are summarized monthly. Previous Fourth Circuit case summaries are available here.

As the Associated Press reports, countries around the world are calling for an investigation of whether Russia has committed war crimes during its invasion of Ukraine.  In a joint press conference with Polish President Andrzej Duda, Vice President Kamala Harris expressed the US Government’s support for the investigation, saying that Russia had committed “atrocities” during the invasion by bombing civilian areas, including an attack on a maternity hospital in Ukraine.  Keep reading for more news.

This post summarizes an unusual point of law that recently caught me by surprise, and it’s one which I don’t believe we’ve ever directly covered on the criminal law blog before: the impact of bankruptcy on criminal charges.

After reading that introduction, I know some of you may be tempted to skip this one, but bear with me — whether you’re prosecuting or defending, and whether it’s a complex felony embezzlement case or a simple misdemeanor failure to return rental property, this could potentially be a pretty big deal. (Alternatively, if that’s not enough to hook you, please click through anyway to see a personal announcement at the end of this post.)

As Reuters reports, this week Purdue Pharma and its owners the Sackler family agreed to pay $6 billion to resolve litigation brought by a group of state attorneys general related to the company’s substantial culpability for the American opioid epidemic.  The deal is part of bankruptcy proceedings that, if approved, will result in Purdue Pharma ceasing to exist.  In 2020 Purdue Pharma pleaded guilty to federal criminal charges related to its distribution of OxyContin.  Keep reading for more news.

This post summarizes published criminal decisions from the North Carolina Court of Appeals released on March 1, 2022. These summaries will be added to Smith’s Criminal Case Compendium, a free and searchable database of case summaries from 2008 to present.

I am excited to announce the release of a new guide on Defining “Injury” for North Carolina Assault and Other Offenses.

As the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports, Travis McMichael, Greg McMichael, and William “Roddie” Bryan were convicted this week by a federal jury of hate crimes related to their murder of Ahmaud Arbery in Georgia two years ago.  All three men were convicted of state murder charges in December of last year.  Outside the courthouse, Arbery’s family celebrated the verdict and thanked supporters for standing by them in what they called a “very long, stressful fight” for justice.  Keep reading for more news.