A UNC School of Government Blog
The top story of the week was really several stories — the News and Observer’s three-piece series on Tracey Cline, the District Attorney in Durham County. As a Durham voter, a News and Observer subscriber, and someone who works closely with prosecutors, I’m going to refrain from editorializing about the series. You can read the … Read more
Several high profile murder trials are headed for a conclusion in the near future. The News and Observer covers the Robert Stewart trial here (the defendant admits killing eight people at a nursing home, but contends that due to his mental illness and use of prescription drugs, he is not legally culpable), and the Joshua … Read more
Earthquakes, hurricanes, and other natural disasters have been top-of-mind for most North Carolina residents this week. Not for me, though. I have remained focused like a laser beam on tracking criminal law news. 1. I blogged last week about the Durham murder case that was dismissed due to the state’s release of the decedent’s bones … Read more
[Editor’s note: I’m on vacation Friday, so I’m posting this roundup Thursday night.] We welcomed a group of new magistrates at the School of Government this week. I like working with magistrates for lots of reasons, one of which is that they ask a lot of good questions. At least one upcoming blog post will … Read more
What a strange week. London’s burning, and almost 15,000 young Britons have been taken into custody; the stock market’s gone unhinged; and weirdest of all, one of the top professional soccer teams in the world, Real Madrid, won the race to sign . . . a seven year old. There have been some interesting developments … Read more
The stock market dropped like a rock yesterday, but it shouldn’t take famous litigator David Boies long to make up his losses. He’s just increased his billing rate to $1,220 per hour. I’m thinking of doing the same. Oh, wait, I don’t have a billing rate. In other news: 1. Jamie blogged here about North … Read more
The grim recent news out of Norway has spawned interesting commentary this week. The New York Times summarizes the basic facts: “at least 76 people were killed in the bombing of a government building in central Oslo and a shooting rampage at a youth camp . . . . A man described as a right-wing … Read more
Although the furor about the Casey Anthony trial has generally died down, I am going back to the well one more time, because of this New York Times story. Briefly, the prosecution presented evidence at trial from the designer of computer forensic software called CacheBack, which the police had used to examine Anthony’s computer. He … Read more
TV news broadcasts often start with sensational celebrity news that may not be tremendously substantive. I’ll follow suit and highlight this AP profile of Casey Anthony defense lawyer Jose Baez. He has a GED, ran two failed bikini companies before going to law school, and after graduation took eight years (!) to be admitted to … Read more
Nationwide, the biggest criminal law news of the week comes out of Florida, where Casey Anthony was found not guilty of the murder of her two-year-old daughter, Caylee. I personally did not follow the case closely, but many of those who did were apparently surprised by the result. Anthony was convicted of four counts of … Read more