This week the U.S. Department of Justice announced that Purdue Pharma will plead guilty to three federal criminal charges related to the company’s distribution of its opioid painkiller OxyContin. The company will plead guilty to conspiracy to defraud the United States and violating federal anti-kickback laws, offenses generally arising from Purdue Pharma’s efforts in coordination with others in the medical field to dispense OxyContin without a legitimate medical purpose. As the Associated Press reports, the plea deal is part of an $8 billion settlement that includes a $2 billion criminal forfeiture, a $3.54 billion criminal fine, and $2.8 billion in civil damages. The deal does not absolve the Sackler family, who owned the company while it engaged in the illicit activity, from criminal liability and some are calling for members of the family to face charges. Keep reading for more news.
Case Summaries – N.C. Court of Appeals (Oct. 20, 2020)
This post summarizes opinions issued by the Court of Appeals of North Carolina on October 20, 2020.
Changes in North Carolina Jail Populations During COVID-19
We have issued a series of reports on North Carolina state and county-level jail occupancy rates, including one in July 2020 focusing on changes in jail occupancy rates during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic (here, here and here). In this report, we switch our reporting metric and focus on changes in occupants as opposed to occupancy rates. We also provide a new tool for stakeholders to examine changes in county jail populations during the COVID-19 period.
Case Summaries: Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals (September 2020)
This post summarizes published criminal and related decisions from the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals decided in September, 2020.
October 15 Omnibus Order Amends and Extends Emergency Directives
Update: These directives were renewed by an order entered November 16, 2020. They now expire December 14, 2020.
Chief Justice Cheri Beasley entered an omnibus order on Thursday, October 15, 2020 extending emergency directives issued in response to the public health threat posed by COVID-19, which otherwise would have expired on that date. The order extends Emergency Directives 2-5, 8-15, 18, and 20-22. It also modifies directives 2, 10, 21, and 22. These directives (discussed in further detail below) now expire November 14, 2020.
Hot off the Press! 2020 Cumulative Supplement to Arrest, Search, and Investigation Now Available
The 2020 Cumulative Supplement to Arrest, Search, and Investigation in North Carolina, written by Robert L. Farb and Christopher Tyner, is now available for purchase. The supplement updates Arrest, Search, and Investigation (5th edition 2016). The 2016 book and 2020 supplement may be purchased as a bundle here. The supplement is current through July 1, … Read more
News Roundup
The Senate Judiciary Committee held four days of hearings this week on President Trump’s nomination of Amy Coney Barrett to the U.S. Supreme Court. The committee is expected to approve her nomination along party lines and has scheduled that vote for October 22. Barrett currently serves on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit and clerked for Justice Antonin Scalia in the late 1990’s. Prior to becoming a federal judge, Barrett spent 15 years as a law professor at Notre Dame. She noted in her opening statement that if confirmed she would be the only sitting Justice who didn’t attend Harvard or Yale. Keep reading for more news.
Armed to the Terror… Off-Road?
Some of my recent posts have addressed weapon offenses at demonstrations and other public events, and I also wrote recently about the issue of dicta in a court opinion being treated as binding precedent. Those two topics converged in an interesting way during a training seminar yesterday for magistrates.
We were discussing one of the most well-known offenses in this area, Going Armed to Terror of the People, when this question came up: is it really limited to offenses that occur “on a public highway,” or can it apply in other public places like parks, bus stations, and government buildings? If not, why not? Especially since other breach of the peace offenses like affray or disorderly conduct apply more broadly to any “public place?”
Charging practices seem to differ on this point around the state, and there is some room for debate depending on how far back we go in the case law, so I thought it warranted a closer look.
Conducting Surveillance and Collecting Location Data in a Post-Carpenter World, Part III
This post is the third in a series examining the impact of Carpenter v. United States, 585 U.S. ___, 138 S.Ct 2206 (2018) on electronic surveillance and the obtaining of location and other types of information from third parties. The first post summarized post-Carpenter decisions relating to surveillance by pole camera and tower dumps. The second examined post-Carpenter rulings on the obtaining of real-time surveillance information through satellite-based Global Positioning System data (GPS) or cell site location information (CSLI). This post examines the use of cell site simulators and the obtaining of other information about a person’s on-line activities or accounts from third parties.
News Roundup
Yesterday afternoon, federal and state officials announced that 13 men had been arrested and charged with various criminal offenses arising from plots to kidnap Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, kill law enforcement officers, and attack the Michigan State Capitol in Lansing. Many of those arrested were affiliated with a group known as the Wolverine Watchmen that has been described as an extremist private militia. Six men are facing federal kidnapping conspiracy charges and six others have been charged with a Michigan state terrorism offense. The federal criminal complaint is available here. Keep reading for more news.