The jury in the Lindsay Clancy case was in its seventh day of deliberations when we posted last week’s News Roundup. Later that day, the trial judge declared a mistrial; jurors had reported on three occasions that they were unable to reach a verdict. The prosecutor said there would not be an immediate decision about whether to retry 36-year-old Clancy for killing her three young children. The AP...
NC Criminal Law
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A judge may not constitutionally impose a suspended sentence for a misdemeanor conviction unless the defendant was represented by counsel or properly waived counsel.
A court should allow a defendant who moves to withdraw a guilty plea before sentencing to withdraw the plea for any “fair and just” reason.
Evidence of the victim’s character may be introduced in two circumstances: First, the defendant may introduce evidence of a “pertinent trait” of the victim’s character. G.S. 8C-404(a)(2). The most common example is evidence of the victim’s violent character, offered when the defendant is claiming self-defense. Second, in homicide cases, the state may offer evidence of the victim’s character trait for “peacefulness” to rebut a claim by the defense that the victim was the first aggressor.
Prosecution of the defendant for an infraction will bar a subsequent prosecution for a more serious offense arising out of the same conduct.
Unlike “character,” which refers to a person’s general disposition or personality trait, a “habit” is a person’s regular response to a repeated, specific situation. Evidence of a person’s habit may be introduced to show that the person’s conduct was in conformity with that habit on a particular occasion. G.S. 8C-406.
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