March 14, 2024
Author’s Note: The North Carolina Supreme Court in State v. Chambers, 56PA24, __ N.C. __ (May 23, 2025), reversed the opinion below, holding that provisions of G.S. 15A-1215(a) permitting the […]
August 5, 2021
Suppose a juror falls ill during the second day of deliberations following a two-week trial and is unable to continue her service. What are the trial court’s options? A. Replace […]
April 29, 2020
Ramos v. Louisiana, decided by the U.S. Supreme Court last Monday and summarized here, holds that the Sixth Amendment impartial jury guarantee gives defendants a right to a unanimous jury […]
March 5, 2019
Under North Carolina law a criminal defendant has the right to inform the jury of the punishment for the crime being tried. In State v. McMorris, 290 N.C. 286 (1976), […]
September 20, 2018
Earlier this week, the students and I spent the afternoon at Central Criminal Court in London, formerly called the Old Bailey and located at the intersection of Old Bailey and […]
March 15, 2017
Shortly after I published last week’s post on State v. Babich, an astute reader asked about the court’s harmless error analysis. How, he inquired, could the improper admission of expert […]
June 21, 2016
Summer is here and everyone is feeling excited about fair cross-section claims. Or at least I am after hearing an enlightening presentation about them, described below.