Category: Legal Law

Criminal law news is seldom cheery. That said, I am particularly saddened to begin the first news roundup of 2024 with a story of a school shooting. School was set to resume yesterday in Perry, Iowa, following the winter break. But before the opening bell rang at Perry High School on Thursday morning, authorities say […]

This post summarizes the published criminal opinions from the North Carolina Court of Appeals released on December 19, 2023, and January 2, 2024. These summaries will be added to Smith’s Criminal Case Compendium, a free and searchable database of case summaries from 2008 to the present. Defendant’s traumatic brain injury and subsequent memory loss did […]

This post summarizes the published criminal opinions from the Supreme Court of North Carolina released on December 15, 2023. These summaries will be added to Smith’s Criminal Case Compendium, a free and searchable database of case summaries from 2008 to the present. Going armed to the terror of the public does not require allegation that […]

This post summarizes published criminal law and related cases released by the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals during November 2023. Cases of potential interest to state practitioners are summarized monthly. Previous summaries of Fourth Circuit cases are available here. Denial of Due Process challenge by pretrial detainees against county’s use of Pretrial Services lacked findings […]

The following post is authored by SOG faculty member Kristi Nickodem. A version of this post is also available on the Coates’ Canons and On the Civil Side SOG blogs.    When abuse or neglect leads to the death of a child, concerned citizens, public officials, and members of the media often have questions about […]

This will be the last news roundup of the year. We’ll likely have a post or two early next week and then go dark for the holidays, returning in early January. We appreciate your readership this year, as well as your feedback, your topic suggestions, and all the other ways that you participate in the […]

The North Carolina Judicial College was founded in 2005 to expand the education and training the School of Government has provided for judicial branch officials since the 1930s. Through the Judicial College, the School now offers more courses of interest to mid-and later-career officials and provides that training in small group, interactive educational settings. We […]

In State v. Hamilton, No. COA22-847 (N.C. Ct. App. Nov. 21, 2023), the Court of Appeals held the prosecutor’s cross-examination of the defendant about statements he made in open court “was an inappropriate form of impeachment.”  Slip Op. p. 13.  In support of this conclusion, the Court of Appeals cited, among other things, Evidence Rule […]

I was driving around with my younger daughter this weekend when she said “I’ve never ridden on a motorcycle.” She’s ten, so she’s obviously too young to pilot one herself. But would it be lawful for her to ride as a passenger? In a word, yes. North Carolina law does not impose a minimum age […]

A longtime North Carolina resident and former professor at East Carolina University was reportedly responsible for a mass shooting on the campus of the University of Nevada at Las Vegas this week. According to the story, the man graduated from a Duke University graduate program in 1991 and taught at East Carolina University in Greenville, […]