NC Criminal Law
This post summarizes criminal law and related cases released by the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals during June of 2026. Cases of potential interest to state practitioners are summarized monthly. Previous summaries of Fourth Circuit are available here.
Where prison officials failed to preserve video footage of alleged...
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.
A court may permit a defendant who moves to withdraw a guilty plea after sentencing to withdraw the plea only when it is necessary to avoid manifest injustice.
An acquittal under the Double Jeopardy Clause includes a dismissal of a charge for insufficient evidence or an appellate court’s reversal of a conviction for insufficient evidence.
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”.
The rules of evidence do not apply at sentencing. G.S. 8C-1101(b)(3).