This post summarizes published criminal and related decisions of interest from the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals in April 2024. Previous summaries of Fourth Circuit criminal cases can be found here. Illegal reentry statute was not enacted with a discriminatory purpose and does not violate Equal Protection U.S. v. Sanchez-Garcia, 98 F.4th 90 (April 4, 2024). 8 U.S.C. § 1326 makes it a crime to re-enter the United States after having been removed, deported, or denied entry. The defendants were prosecuted for illegal reentry in the Middle District of North Carolina and moved to dismiss, arguing ..read more

With few exceptions, new law enforcement officers in North Carolina are required to complete a course called Basic Law Enforcement Training, or BLET. The curriculum for the course is established by the North Carolina Justice Academy, but the training is typically delivered at dozens of community colleges and through recruit academies run by some of the larger law enforcement agencies in the state. The curriculum has been significantly revised over the past few years, and I thought readers might be interested in a summary of the major changes. The previous version of BLET. The general structure ..read more

Earlier this year, the Fourth Circuit decided United States v. Zelaya-Veliz, 94 F.4th 321 (4th Cir. 2024). Phil summarized it here when it came out, but we thought it merited its own post because of its extended discussion of how the Fourth Amendment applies to search warrants for social media account information. The court’s discussion of the need for temporal limitations in such warrants is especially noteworthy, as is the court’s analysis of the scope of the information seized pursuant to the warrants approved by the court. We’ll start with a recap of the case, and then end with some though ..read more

The first criminal trial of a former U.S. President continues to dominate the news. Trump’s trial on state charges of falsifying business records in furtherance of a felony in New York is now several weeks along. However the trial shakes out, the former president has already been adjudicated guilty of ten counts of criminal contempt for violating a gag order prohibiting him from talking about jurors and witnesses in the case. The trial judge has expressly warned Trump that further violations may result in jail (while also noting the practical difficulties that a jail term would entail). Politi ..read more

This post summarizes the published criminal opinions from the North Carolina Court of Appeals released on May 7, 2024. These summaries will be added to Smith’s Criminal Case Compendium, a free and searchable database of case summaries from 2008 to the present. Search warrant for residence was supported by evidence connecting occupant of the residence to drug trafficking. State v. Boyd, COA23-984, ___ N.C. App. ___ (May 7, 2024). In this Durham County case, defendant appealed after he pleaded guilty to two counts of attempted drug trafficking after denial of his motion to suppress the results o ..read more

Intimate partner violence is abuse or aggression that occurs in a romantic relationship, usually between current or former spouses or current or former dating partners. According to the NC Coalition Against Domestic Violence, 1 in 3 women and 1 in 4 men in the United States have experienced some form of intimate partner violence. In North Carolina, 35.2% of women and 30.3% of men experience domestic violence and stalking in their lifetime. Since 2018, the North Carolina Department of Justice (NCDOJ) has partnered with several communities across the state by sharing and helping implement the Le ..read more

Homelessness is a challenging problem. Some cities have attempted to address it, in part, by prohibiting sleeping or camping in public places. The Supreme Court of the United States is currently considering whether, and under what circumstances, such ordinances are constitutional. I recently listened to the oral arguments in the case. Those who are currently litigating violations of anti-sleeping or anti-camping ordinances may be interested in this summary of the issues, as may those responsible for shaping municipal policy. Background. Johnson v. City of Grant’s Pass, 72 F.4th 868 (9th Cir. 2 ..read more

The week began with tragedy. Four law enforcement officers were killed Monday afternoon in Charlotte when they attempted to serve arrest warrants on 39-year-old Terry Clark Hughes, Jr., who shot at the officers when they arrived at his East Charlotte home. Officers returned fire, and Hughes was eventually shot and killed. The slain officers are Deputy U.S. Marshal Thomas Weeks, CMPD Officer Joshua Eyer, and Sam Poloche and Alden Elliott of the Department of Adult Correction. Four other CMPD Officers were injured, but are expected to make a full recovery. Two women, one of whom is 17, were in t ..read more

The UNC School of Government will be hosting a FREE one-hour webinar on self-defense law on May 15, 2024, at 10:30 a.m.  Registration is available here.  See below for a summary of the topic and additional details about the webinar. The law of self-defense in North Carolina received a jolt from State v. McLymore, 380 N.C. 185 (2022), where the North Carolina Supreme Court held that the only way to claim perfect self-defense is by invoking the statutory right created by G.S. 14-51.3.  The Court went on to say, however, that to the extent the statute does not address an aspect of ..read more

While a prosecutor in a criminal trial may comment on a defendant’s failure to produce witnesses or evidence to contradict or refute the State’s case, a prosecutor may not make any reference to or comment on a defendant’s failure to testify. Such remarks violate both a defendant’s federal and state constitutional rights not to be compelled to give self-incriminating evidence (see U.S. Const. Amend. V, N.C. Const. art. I, § 23) and G.S. 8-54, which provides that no person charged with a crime may be compelled to testify or “answer any question tending to criminate himself.” This rule rests on t ..read more