NC Criminal Law

Shea Denning on Friday, April 10th, 2026

The television series Friends was a staple of my young adult life. So in 2022 when Matthew Perry published his memoir, Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing, I was eager to hear his story. In that work, Perry laid bare his decades-long struggle with addiction, though he ended the book on a hopeful note, reporting his then-current sobriety and his desire to someday marry and have children. A year later, Perry was found dead in a hot tub in his home. The...

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The state has a constitutional duty under the due process clause to disclose to the defendant any material evidence that is favorable to the defense for a trial or sentencing hearing. This duty applies in misdemeanor and felony cases.

The superior court has jurisdiction to accept a guilty plea to a misdemeanor tendered in lieu of a felony charge.

An acquittal under the Double Jeopardy Clause includes a dismissal of a charge for insufficient evidence or an appellate court’s reversal of a conviction for insufficient evidence.

In district court, jeopardy attaches once the court begins to hear evidence, which occurs when the first witness is sworn. In superior court, jeopardy attaches once the jury is sworn and impaneled.

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).