As of this morning, the jury in the Lindsay Clancy trial remains deadlocked for the seventh day. Clancy, accused of killing her three children, faces charges including murder, second-degree murder, and manslaughter, or may be found not criminally responsible due to her mental health at the time of the deaths. Courtroom tensions escalated...
NC Criminal Law
The superior court has general jurisdiction over all felonies, as well as any misdemeanors which are lesser-included offenses of the felony, joined with the felony, or initiated by grand jury presentment. G.S. 7A-271(a).
A judge may accept an Alford plea, in which a defendant pleads guilty but does not admit committing the offense and protests his or her innocence, if the record strongly supports the defendant’s guilt and the defendant intelligently concludes that it is in his or her interest to enter such a plea. The consent of the prosecutor is not required.
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”.
Prosecution of the defendant for an infraction will bar a subsequent prosecution for a more serious offense arising out of the same conduct.
If the defendant does not introduce evidence, the defendant has the right to the first and last closing argument.
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