NC Criminal Law
If you’re reading this, we made it at least one more week before the robots take over. Here’s a look at the week’s criminal law news.
Halligan, James, and Comey. The Fourth Circuit heard arguments this week on whether Lindsey Halligan was properly appointed as the interim U.S. Attorney for the Eastern...
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).
The core purpose of the Rules of Evidence is to achieve fairness, efficiency, and justice by ensuring that only relevant and reliable evidence is considered by the finder of fact. G.S. 8C-102(a).
A misdemeanor statement of charges is a criminal pleading prepared by the prosecutor, charging a misdemeanor. A statement of charges is a type of pleading, but is not a form of process, and cannot be used to initiate a prosecution and compel the defendant to appear. See G.S. 15A-922(b)(1).
Improper venue is waivable, while improper jurisdiction ordinarily is not.
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”.