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.
Latest from North Carolina Criminal Law - Page 4
Legislature Overrides Veto on 287(g) Agreements
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
Case Summaries: N.C. Court of Appeals (July 1, 2026)
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
State v. Dade and Implied Consent Pretrial Motions Chart
For implied consent offenses, pretrial motions to suppress evidence and/or dismiss the case must be made pretrial, according to and in accordance with G.S. 20-38.6. Broadly speaking, this requires the district court judge to preliminarily indicate how they would
N.C. Supreme Court Affirms Totality of Circumstances Test for Probable Cause in Marijuana Cases
The North Carolina Supreme Court recently decided two cases considering the impact of legal cannabis on probable cause. In State v. Dobson, No. 190PA24, ___ N.C. ___; 929 S.E.2d 315 (May 22, 2026), and State v. Rowdy, No.
Case Summary – U.S. Supreme Court (June 18, 2026)
This post summarizes the U.S. v. Hemani decision released by the U.S. Supreme Court on June 18, 2026.
18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(3), barring firearm possession by unlawful users of controlled substances, was unconstitutional under the Second Amendment as applied to
Amendment to Ethics Rule 1.10 and New Bulletin on Conflicts Involving Former Clients in Criminal Cases
A common issue that comes up in public defender offices is whether an attorney can ethically represent a particular client when a victim or witness in the current case is a former client of the office. Cross-examination of the former
Case Summaries: N.C. Court of Appeals (June 17, 2026)
In a case involving charges of flee to elude, the trial court did not err in admitting for impeachment purposes evidence concerning another incident in which the defendant may have appeared to flee from law enforcement
Superior Court Jurisdiction Over Misdemeanors and Infractions
In a pair of recent cases, the North Carolina Court of Appeals addressed jurisdictional issues related to the prosecution of misdemeanors and the adjudication of infractions in superior court. In State v. Gibbon, ___ N.C. App. ___, 926 S.E.2d
Using Expunged Convictions as Prior Convictions in a Habitual Felon Case
If a person has a felony conviction, then gets it expunged, may the conviction nonetheless be used as a prior conviction to support a habitual felon charge? No reported appellate case answers the question. However, the relevant statutes have recently