NC Criminal Law
The 2026 Appropriations Act created a new district court district, effective January 1, 2027, by splitting current District 5, a four-county district consisting of Duplin, Jones, Onslow, and Sampson Counties, into Districts 5A and 5B.
Legislative authority to redraw districts. The North Carolina...
If a search warrant validly describes the premises to be searched, a car located on the premises may be searched even though the warrant contains no description of the car. State v. Courtright, 60 N.C. App. 247, 249 (1983).
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).
If evidence is excluded by the trial court, the proponent of the evidence generally must provide an adequate offer of proof regarding the nature of the excluded evidence in order to argue on appeal that the evidence should have been allowed. See G.S. 8C-103(a)(2).
There is no double jeopardy bar to a second trial when a charge is dismissed because an indictment or other criminal pleading is fatally defective.
A prosecutor’s failure to sign an indictment does not invalidate the indictment. G.S. 15A-644(a)(4).