President Obama delivered the annual State of the Union address this week, and the Washington Post reports here that Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg seized the moment to take her annual State of the Union nap. Hopefully this news roundup will keep everyone awake!
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News Roundup
Last Friday, the Criminal Justice Section of the North Carolina Bar Association presented its annual awards for excellence in prosecution and criminal defense. The prosecutor award went to Assistant United States Attorney Sandra Hairston, who serves in the Middle District of North Carolina and who regularly outlawyered me when I was doing federal criminal defense work. The defense attorney award went to Mark Owens, Jr. of Greenville, who this NCBA press release describes as the “elder statesman” of the Pitt County bar. Congratulations to both winners.
News Roundup
An organization called Concerns of Police Survivors has designated today the first National Law Enforcement Appreciation Day. The organization argues that “[i]n light of recent negativity directed toward law enforcement nationally, there is a need to show law enforcement officers that our citizens recognize the difficult and sometimes impossible career they have chosen, in public service to us all.” It suggests taking steps like thanking an officer, wearing blue, or posting a positive story about police on social media.
Officers have a tremendous amount of power, and as a result face constant scrutiny. In my view, such scrutiny is entirely appropriate. At the same time, it is a great idea to recognize and to be grateful for the many officers who are doing their very best to perform a tough job. Especially given the recent assassination of two officers in New York and the overall increase in officer deaths in 2014 (discussed here in the Washington Post), today seems like a good a day to do so.
News Roundup
This will be the last blog post of 2014. It is also a full and interesting post — if I do say so myself — as it has been quite a busy news week, from the Supreme Court on down.
News Roundup
The nation and the state continue to discuss events in Ferguson, Missouri and in Staten Island, New York. One direct impact of the controversy in North Carolina is that the Legislative Black Caucus plans to introduce legislation in the 2015 session that would require law enforcement officers to wear body cameras, according to this WRAL story. The details of the proposal are not yet clear.
News Roundup
Several grand juries have recently considered whether to charge white police officers with killing black men. We’ve already discussed the case in Ferguson, Missouri on this blog. Wednesday, a Staten Island, New York grand jury declined to indict officer Daniel Pantaleo in the death of Eric Garner. The New York Times has the story here. Then a South Carolina grand jury indicted officer Richard Combs for murder in the fatal shooting of Bernard Bailey, as Time reports here. Is it a small sample? A historic moment? A coincidence? An epidemic? Some or all of the above, depending on your point of view.
News Roundup
Short week, short news roundup. National attention remains focused on Ferguson, Missouri, where attorneys for Michael Brown’s family have weighed in on the prosecutor’s handling of the grand jury proceedings concerning Brown’s shooting. The attorneys “criticized everything from the types of evidence . . . presented to the jury to the way it was presented and the timing of the grand jury’s decision,” according to this story on WRAL. There were several Ferguson-related protests locally, including one that blocked a freeway in Durham. Opinion is certainly divided about the prosecutor’s management of the process, as this Think Progress story notes.
News Roundup
I love highlighting my colleagues’ great work on the blog. Shea already announced her new book this week, but also check out Jessie Smith’s interview on WUNC, talking about the backlog at the State Crime Lab and the practical solutions a working group identified. And take a look at the new electronic platform for all the manuals produced by the School’s Indigent Defense Education group. As a teaser, next week, the blog will feature a newly-released manual that is available on the platform.
News Roundup
It might not seem like a sexy story, but in terms of practical impact, the rollout of a new system for handling certain traffic cases in Forsyth County is a big deal. The Winston-Salem Journal has the story here. The super condensed version is that the new system is for people who have been charged with infractions that the State would normally dismiss upon proof of compliance, like expired tags or no operator’s license. These defendants can scan their citations and the paperwork proving that they’ve addressed the problem, the DA’s office can review the submissions, and if appropriate, the DA’s office will dismiss the charges. If you have experience with the system, please post a comment.
News Roundup
Shea blogged here about the same-sex marriage rulings in North Carolina’s federal courts, and the potential criminal law and other issues those rulings present for North Carolina magistrates. There have been a bevy of developments since, including a decision by the Sixth Circuit upholding a ban on same-sex marriage, apparently teeing the issue up for the Supreme Court, and a dispute between Senator Phil Berger and the Administrative Office of the Courts about whether magistrates may refuse to perform same-sex marriages based on sincerely-held religious beliefs. WRAL covers the latter story, including a link to the latest AOC letter on the issue, here. I also recommend my colleague Michael Crowell’s detailed exploration of the issue, here. But that’s far from the only big story of the week.