News Roundup
Is the death penalty dying? It’s a fair question given that the Republican-controlled Nebraska legislature just abolished the punishment over the governor’s veto (the New York Times has the story […]
News Roundup
195 new bills were filed in the North Carolina Senate yesterday, the deadline for filing new bills in that chamber this session. I haven’t reviewed all the new bills – […]
Not So Fast: Dismissal of DWI Charges for Failure to Schedule Trial in 30 Days
Defendants who drive while impaired while their licenses are revoked for another impaired driving offense or who drive while impaired without a license and without car insurance risk more than […]
I’ve Been Arrested . . . But Committed No Crime
[Author’s Note: This post has been substantively edited to make corrections in response to helpful comments from readers.] A person generally may not lawfully be arrested unless there is probable […]
Recent Case on Authentication of Surveillance Video
More and more criminal cases involve video evidence, whether from patrol car dash cameras, store surveillance cameras, witness cell phone cameras, or, in the near future, wearable cameras. It’s important […]
News Roundup
Shea wrote yesterday about the top news around here: the killing of three Muslim university students by a man who lived in the same Chapel Hill apartment complex as the […]
Warrantless Stops 101 — Was the Stop Supported by Reasonable Suspicion?
In my first Warrantless Stops 101 post, I offered these basic questions to frame the analysis: Did a seizure occur? If so and it was a stop, was it supported […]
Court of Appeals Allows Sweepstakes Preliminary Injunction to Stand
On Friday, a panel of the court of appeals decided an interesting electronic sweepstakes case. The case is Sandhill Amusements, Inc. v. Sheriff of Onslow Co. It generally upheld a preliminary […]
Court of Appeals in State v. Townsend Beefs Up Prejudice Required for Relief under Knoll
[Author’s note: State v. Townsend was withdrawn and replaced by a subsequent opinion, available here. The portion of the opinion discussed below was unchanged by the subsequent opinion.] No one gets […]
The Bill for Driving While Impaired
A DWI conviction will cost you. Let’s take the case of a typical defendant who has never before been charged with or convicted of DWI. I’ll call him Forrest Firsttimer. […]