North Carolina Criminal Law Blog

According to the Orange County (CA) District Attorney’s Office, a dozen mentally ill defendants facing criminal charges could be released if the county cannot find a facility to house them. District Attorney Todd Spitzer said that mentally ill inmates go to state hospitals for up to two years to restore competency to move forward with a trial. If competency cannot be restored, the defendant is remanded to a mental health facility. At present, the county appears to lack an adequate number of beds, which could result in the inmates being released into the community. Spitzer noted that the inmates include violent criminals accused of murder and sexual assault. The releases could occur within the next two months, with the earliest scheduled for today.

Thieves broke into a gallery of the Louvre Museum in Paris early Sunday morning, stole some of France’s priceless crown jewels, and escaped on scooters, as reported by the BBC and the NYT. Around 9:30 a.m. (local time), shortly after the museum had opened to visitors, four masked thieves used a vehicle-mounted electric ladder to gain access to a balcony overlooking the River Seine. Two thieves cut through a window with a disc cutter – setting off security alarms – and entered the Galerie d’Apollon, where they threatened security guards and stole items from two display cases. The thieves snatched eight objects, including a sapphire necklace, an emerald necklace, and a diadem worn by Empress Eugénie, the wife of Napoleon III. Read on for more criminal law news.

The U.S. Supreme Court denied review of Ghislaine Maxwell’s convictions for sex trafficking of a minor and other crimes this week, according to SCOTUSblog. Maxwell, the longtime partner and co-conspirator of Jeffrey Epstein, is serving a 20-year sentence in federal prison. The denial marks the end of Maxwell’s hopes for relief on direct appeal. On the Second Amendment front, the Court recently agreed to hear a challenge to Hawaii’s criminal prohibition on carrying concealed handguns on private property without express authorization by the property owner. The Ninth Circuit previously upheld the law. The Court declined to review a decision of the Eighth Circuit striking down Missouri’s law forbidding state law enforcement officials from enforcing federal gun rules that state officials believe violate the Second Amendment, as noted here (a deeper analysis of the case is here for those interested). Read on for more criminal law news.

The federal government entered a partial shutdown this week. The shutdown has had sweeping effects, including disruptions to law enforcement and judicial proceedings. The Justice Department announced that while federal prosecutors and criminal investigations will continue, civil cases and some immigration court proceedings will be delayed. The shutdown also affects funding for federal law enforcement training and grants to local police departments. President Trump has demanded sweeping immigration and border security measures in exchange for signing a funding bill, while House Republicans remain divided over spending priorities. If the impasse continues, furloughs could hit FBI analysts, ATF inspections, and U.S. Marshals’ prisoner transport operations, potentially causing further delays in prosecutions and court schedules nationwide. Read on for more criminal law news.

One of the top stories this week is that of Decarlos Brown, who was charged in the fatal stabbing of a woman on a train in Charlotte. The crime occurred on August 22, but the Charlotte Area Transit System recently released surveillance footage to local media outlets, causing the case to garner national attention. Brown has been charged federally with committing an act causing death on a mass transportation system, which could result in the death penalty if convicted. Brown has also been charged in North Carolina with first-degree murder.

Republican leaders of the North Carolina General Assembly have since announced their plans to introduce wide-ranging legislation when they reconvene later this month. The legislators are aiming to advance a package of proposed laws in part designed to tighten pretrial release rules, create more oversight of and less discretion for magistrates, and restart the use of the death penalty in the state. Any criminal legislation that is enacted will be covered on this blog and included in our annual legislative summaries.

Jasveen Sangha, dubbed the “Ketamine Queen,” pled guilty on Wednesday to selling Matthew Perry the drugs that resulted in his death, as reported by the AP and ABC news. Perry was found dead at his home in Los Angeles, California, on October 28, 2023. Prosecutors said that Perry bought ketamine from Sangha four days before his death. Sangha pled guilty to five federal charges, including one count of distribution of ketamine resulting in death or serious bodily injury. She is scheduled to be sentenced on December 10. Read on for more criminal law news.

For the third week, federal forces continue to perform law enforcement duties in the District of Columbia pursuant to President Trump’s efforts to combat an alleged epidemic of crime there. This is despite the Department of Justice’s data indicating that violent crime in the district is at a 30-year low. The U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia has instructed federal prosecutors to seek the highest possible charges against arrestees and to attempt to hold arrestees in pretrial detention. Some law enforcement encounters have raised questions about their legality, with a local U.S. Magistrate Judge recently describing one case as involving “the most illegal search I’ve ever seen in my life,” according to this report. Separately, the executive branch has announced plans to similarly deploy federal law enforcement in other cities like Chicago and New York, according to this story. Read on for more criminal law news.

Erik Menendez was denied parole by a panel of California commissioners yesterday. He and his brother Lyle were sentenced to life in prison in 1996 for fatally shooting their parents in the family’s Beverly Hills mansion in 1989.

During his 10-hour hearing, he offered a detailed account of how he was raised and why he made the choices he did, both at the time of his parents’ killing and during his decades in prison. A panel of two parole commissioners said Menendez was unsuitable for release. They said his actions in prison—including affiliating with a prison gang and having a cellphone in violation of the rules—showed he was a risk to public safety.

Menendez can come before the parole board again in three years if the decision is not overturned. Lyle Menendez’s case is set to be heard by the parole board today.

President Trump deployed the D.C. National Guard, took control of the Metropolitan Police Department, and reassigned FBI agents from their regular duties to patrol the streets of Washington, D.C. this week. At a press conference on Monday, Trump identified rising crime rates and the threat of violent crime as the primary reasons for his attention to law enforcement in the District. In response, the New York Times and CNN have published reports showing crime rates have steadily dropped since the pandemic, and are dropping as part of a larger trend since the 1990’s. Also this week, a federal judge in California is considering whether President Trump violated the law when he deployed the National Guard in Los Angeles. Read on for more criminal law news.

The Alamo announced last week that it’s got Pee-wee’s stolen red bicycle, as foretold in the 1985 film “Pee-wee’s Big Adventure.” But the bike is not in the basement. The AP reports that the iconic bicycle will serve as a centerpiece in the Mays Family Legacy Gallery, part of a new visitor center and museum scheduled to open in fall 2027. Read on for more criminal law news.