NC Criminal Law
In recent months, I have received several questions about what North Carolina’s cyberstalking statute covers and whether it may infringe on First Amendment free speech rights. This post addresses several potential legal issues under the statute.
Background. The statute is G.S. 14-196.3. Subsection (b) makes it a crime to:
...Two or more offenses may be joined for trial when the offenses are based on the same act or transaction or on a series of acts or transactions connected together or constituting parts of a single scheme or plan. See G.S. 15A-926(a).
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.
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.
Improper venue is waivable, while improper jurisdiction ordinarily is not.
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.