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...
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).
With the consent of all parties, the district court may accept guilty pleas to Class H and I felonies. G.S. 7A-272(c).
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).
When a conviction or sentence imposed in superior court has been set aside on direct review or collateral attack, a judge may not impose a new sentence for the same offense, or for a different offense based on the same conduct, that is more severe. G.S. 15A-1335.
The key question for double jeopardy analysis is whether each offense requires proof of an element that is not contained in the other — if not, they are the same offense and double jeopardy bars a successive prosecution.