We are excited to announce the publication of a new bulletin in our Administration of Justice series: “Initial Appearances before North Carolina Magistrates.” Special thanks to my colleagues Brittany Bromell and Melanie Crenshaw in putting this together. They
Last week, several people sent me news articles about the prosecution of Samuel Tunick, who was detained by federal agents while re-entering the United States after a trip abroad. During the encounter, officers asked him for the passcode to his
Effective beginning with offenses committed on or after December 1, 2025, Part V. of Session law 2023-114 significantly revised North Carolina’s law governing capacity to proceed in delinquency cases. The changes included creation of new credentialing requirements for juvenile forensic
North Carolina has a budget again. S257 became S.L. 2026-41 when Governor Stein signed it on July 7. The bill contains many provisions pertinent to the criminal justice community. Some, like the $1,750 bonus for every local law enforcement officer
It’s the day of trial in superior court and final motions and notices are being exchanged before the jury pool comes in. Amidst the sharing of witness lists, motions to sequester, and motions in limine, an issue comes up. Has
The Confrontation Clause of the Sixth Amendment bars the State from introducing testimonial hearsay statements from a witness who does not testify at trial unless the witness is unavailable and the defendant had a prior opportunity to cross-examine the witness.
Constitutional protection against double jeopardy is understood to extend no further than the Fifth Amendment requires. Two recent cases from the Court of Appeals, however, seem to find greater double jeopardy protection under state law. In State v. Broadway,
The Supreme Court decided several major cases in its recently-concluded Term, but for people interested in the Fourth Amendment, the most anticipated was United States v. Chatrie, __ U.S. __ (June 29, 2026), a case about so-called geofence warrants.
Last month, the General Assembly overrode several gubernatorial vetoes that had been sitting for over a year. Among those overrides was Senate Bill 153, which is now chaptered as Session Law 2026-19. Part of the law directs various state
Trial court did not err by failing to intervene in prosecutor’s closing argument; trial court did not err by declining to instruct on assault inflicting serious injury as a lesser included offense of assault with a deadly weapon with intent
