A lawsuit has been filed against the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services and its secretary, asserting that the state’s lack of assessment and treatment services has resulted in people with severe mental disabilities suffering in county jails while waiting months for psychiatric services. The complaint—which can be accessed here—centers on those who sit in jail for months or years if there are concerns about their capacity to proceed in their criminal case. The lawsuit contends that they wait, on average, two months for an assessment to be completed and nearly five months for ..read more

Most readers of this blog are familiar with Arrest, Search, and Investigation in North Carolina. For those who are not, it is a treatise on search and seizure law. It covers stops, arrests, warrantless searches, search warrants, and much more. The most recent (sixth) edition was published in 2021 and was authored by long-time School of Government faculty member Robert L. Farb and research attorney Christopher Tyner. However, the law is never static, and the intervening years have seen major developments concerning issues such as digital searches, strip searches, the recording of interrogations ..read more

In this brief blog I want to announce updated editions of two much lengthier resources. One is my Guide to Relief from a Criminal Conviction, now updated to include legislation enacted by the General Assembly through the end of 2023 as well as pertinent court decisions. Each section of the guide analyzes a different form of relief from the consequences of a criminal conviction in North Carolina—for example, an expunction of a nonviolent felony or misdemeanor conviction under G.S. 15A-145.5. For each form of relief, the guide includes an easy-to-use (I hope) table identifying the offenses for w ..read more

When the court issues an order of disposition committing a juvenile to a youth development center (YDC), that commitment is almost always required to be for an indefinite period of time that lasts at least six months. G.S.7B-2513(a). The court cannot order an end date for these commitments. However, the court is required to determine the maximum period the juvenile may remain committed before an extension would have to be filed or the juvenile must be released, and to notify the juvenile of that determination at the time disposition is ordered. G.S.7B-2513(a4). How should this maximum period o ..read more

Today I begin a series of blog posts discussing the law around confidential informants, motions to reveal identity, and discovery. Technological developments have made it more common for law enforcement to document the activity of a confidential informant (“CI”) through video and audio recording. This change raises challenging legal questions, such as whether the identity of the confidential informant must be revealed to the defense and what must be turned over in discovery. Today’s post discusses the landmark case of Roviaro v. U.S. and introduces the basic issues, focusing on the factors tha ..read more

The first criminal trial of a former U.S. president began this week in Manhattan. Donald Trump faces 34 felony counts of falsifying business records, based on allegations that he dishonestly classified payments to porn actor Stormy Daniels and Playboy model Karen McDougal as legal expenses, when they were in fact hush-money payments to hide affairs. Falsifying business records is a misdemeanor in New York, but the crime is elevated to a felony when done with intent to conceal a second crime. District Attorney Alvin Bragg has stated that the evidence will show that Trump falsified the records w ..read more

This post summarizes the published criminal opinions from the North Carolina Court of Appeals released on April 16, 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. Odor of marijuana plus a cover scent provided adequate probable cause to search vehicle. State v. Dobson, COA23-568, ___ N.C. App. ___ (April 16, 2024). In this Guilford County case, defendant appealed after his guilty pleas to possession of a firearm by a felon and carrying a concealed firearm, arguing error in denying his motion to ..read more

This post summarizes a published criminal law released by the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals during March 2024. Cases of potential interest to state practitioners are summarized monthly. Previous summaries of Fourth Circuit cases are available here. Failure to disclose change in witness’s statement before trial and failure to correct the witness’s misleading statements at trial was not material under the facts of the case and did not justify post-trial relief U.S. v. George, 95 F.4th 200 (March 11, 2024). The defendant was tried before a jury and convicted of possession of a firearm and ammun ..read more

A common point of confusion among law enforcement and the public is about the use of unlabeled pill bottles. Is it legal to possess prescription medicine in a container other than the original bottle with the prescription affixed? Does discovering an unlabeled pill bottle justify seizing and searching it to see if it contains contraband? Can a pill bottle be removed from a pocket during a frisk based on plain feel? Does it provide reasonable suspicion or probable cause to search or arrest a suspect? A case decided by the Court of Appeals earlier this month, State v. Jackson, No. COA23-727; ___ ..read more

The right to appeal an order in a delinquency matter is established in G.S. 7B-2602 (Right to appeal) and G.S. 7B-2603 (Right to appeal transfer decision). These statutes do not identify every order that is entered in a delinquency action. Instead, there is a right to appeal after entry of specified final orders and any order transferring jurisdiction to superior court for trial as an adult. This post explains when there is a statutory right to appeal an order in a delinquency matter, who has the right to appeal, and restrictions on juvenile court jurisdiction while an appeal is pending. The R ..read more