Criminal Charges in College – Campus Police While sitting at Gate C3 at the Nashville airport yesterday, I received back-to-back panicked calls from mothers of, let’s say, University of Anytown students. I was returning home to Charlotte after touring a prospective college with my teen-aged daughter. As a criminal defense…
Criminal Code Reform Who makes the criminal laws in North Carolina? Is it the General Assembly through the NC General Statutes or local municipalities through Criminal Code Violations? The answer presently is, “both.” That may be about to change, albeit at a glacier-like pace. It seems “Criminal Law Reform,” as…
They say difficulties come in threes. I don’t know if I necessarily subscribe to that proverb, especially as it may relate to the life of a Charlotte lawyer. It’s not that “stuff” doesn’t happen. It’s just that it happens all the time, one thing after another. My days in court…
IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF NORTH CAROLINA No. COA18-817 Filed: 20 August 2019 Stanly County, No. 17CRS700160 STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA v. SHAWN PATRICK ELLIS, Defendant. Appeal by Defendant from judgment entered 13 March 2018 by Judge Karen Eady-Williams in Stanly County Superior Court. Heard in the Court of…
IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF NORTH CAROLINA No. COA17-477-2 Filed: 20 August 2019 Mecklenburg County, Nos. 15 CRS 212911-13 STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA v. JERRY GIOVANI THOMPSON Appeal by defendant from judgment entered 3 January 2017 by Judge William R. Bell in Mecklenburg County Superior Court. Originally heard in…
Search Warrants are subject to Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable searches and seizures. Without “probable cause,” a search is ordinarily deemed “unreasonable” and therefore improper. As is the case with many legal issues involving criminal charges, there are certain exceptions. Searches of a home or residence invite additional scrutiny by…
Subjective Fear in the 50B Protection Order Context A recent unpublished opinion by the NC Court of Appeals reminds family law attorneys and criminal defense lawyers alike that “fear of imminent bodily injury” is a subjective standard and need not be objectively reasonable. That may come as a surprise to…
It’s not always obvious when you meet someone who will change your life. It may be something as small as a random encounter with a stranger or a smile and kind word at just the right time. Reverend Jerry Robinson “Influencers,” as the kids nowadays might say, at the spiritual level, are often people you’ve known maybe forever. …
It happens. Sometimes people charged with a criminal offense forget about a court appearance and need help “recalling warrants” or striking an Order for Arrest. You may have even been scared and decided not to appear in court on the assigned date, later realizing that only made a bad situation…
Broken Windows, Broken Lives Social scientists and criminologists understand there exists an inverse relationship between crime rates and the lack of enforcement of criminal laws. It’s called the Broken Windows Theory. The criminological explanation of the social decline theory goes like this. Signs of crime that are readily visible, indicative…