NC Criminal Law
In recent months, I have received several questions about what North Carolina’s cyberstalking statute covers and whether it may infringe on First Amendment free speech rights. This post addresses several potential legal issues under the statute.
Background. The statute is G.S. 14-196.3. Subsection (b) makes it a crime to:
...If the defendant does not introduce evidence, the defendant has the right to the first and last closing argument.
Language in an indictment or other criminal pleading that is unnecessary (“surplusage”) does not prohibit the state from proving theories or facts of the charged crime that are different from those alleged in the indictment.
A statement of charges may charge the same offenses as the original pleading or additional or different misdemeanor offenses. G.S. 15A-922(d).
When a statute sets forth disjunctive or alternative ways by which an offense may be committed, a warrant or indictment should charge them conjunctively, linking the alternatives by the word “and” instead of “or”.
If a case is transferred to another district for prosecution, the prosecutor of the originating district must continue to prosecute the case, unless the prosecutor of the receiving district consents to the prosecution. See G.S. 15A-133(d).