NC Criminal Law
The big news of the week was the election, with most media coverage focused on the change to the balance of power in Congress. This is not a political blog, but I don’t think I’m stepping out of my nonpartisan lane when I say that results up and down the ballot are sure to impact federal and state criminal justice policy and the courts.
This ...
G.S. 15A-134 provides that if a charged offense occurred partly in North Carolina and partly in another state, a person charged with that offense may be tried in North Carolina only if he or she has not already been placed in jeopardy for the same offense by the other state.
Each separate offense charged against a defendant must be pled in a separate pleading, or in a separate count within a single pleading. See G.S. 15A-924(a)(2).
Venue to try an accessory after the fact is proper in any county where the principal could be prosecuted or in the county where the defendant committed acts that form the basis of the charge of accessory after the fact.
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.
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”.