June 16, 2016
When a person has so much jail credit that he has served his entire sentence of imprisonment, may he nonetheless be sentenced to probation? In other words, may a court sentence […]
March 3, 2016
Two new cases from the court of appeals, both involving defendants named Johnson, shed more light on the meaning of “absconding” from probation.
February 15, 2016
Aside from a few notable exceptions (impaired driving, drug trafficking, and first-degree murder), most North Carolina crimes are sentenced under Structured Sentencing. Some crimes have additional sentencing wrinkles—a kind of […]
February 11, 2016
It’s like Fight Club: the first rule of talking about sentencing at trial is don’t talk about sentencing at trial.
February 4, 2016
Let’s brainstorm all the possible sentences for a Prior Record Level I defendant convicted of two Class H felonies. I’ll go first, listing my thoughts roughly from most to least […]
January 14, 2016
Under G.S. 15A-1340.16(d), “[e]vidence necessary to prove an element of the offense shall not be used to prove any factor in aggravation.” The general idea behind that rule is to […]
January 7, 2016
After Justice Reinvestment, all North Carolina felonies are predicate felonies for certain federal purposes. That was the Fourth Circuit’s recent conclusion in United States v. Barlow. The decision significantly rolls […]
December 10, 2015
Last week I got drawn into a discussion about a North Carolina local government official convicted of DWI. The question was whether he was getting “special treatment” when his 60-day […]
November 16, 2015
Suppose a defendant is convicted of a Class F–I felony that requires registration as a sex offender. He is also convicted as a habitual felon. When sentencing the defendant as […]
November 9, 2015
Today’s post shares a revised chart for determining the proper place of confinement for a criminal conviction. The chart is available here.