Individual jurors or juries through their chosen foreperson sometimes send notes to the trial court in criminal trials. The content of this kind of communication varies. Sometimes a note reveals an individual juror’s concern about his or her ability to serve impartially in the case. Sometimes the note contains a request from the jury to review evidence. Sometimes the jury asks about the governing law. And sometimes the jury writes to the court because jurors have not been able to reach a...
NC Criminal Law
on Thursday, March 5th, 2026
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A trial judge may permit any party to introduce additional evidence at any time before verdict. See G.S. 15A-1226(b).
If the elements of the offense were committed in more than one county, each county in which an element of the crime was committed has concurrent venue. See G.S. 15A-132(a).
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.
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.
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.
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