In a recent case from our NC Court of Appeals, the Appellate Court vacated a Defendant’s DWI conviction on the grounds that there was not enough facts to support the checkpoint set up by law enforcement. The issue was whether …
A recent U.S. Supreme Court case has changed the rules on juvenile questioning making it easier for law enforcement to obtain confessions (J.D.B. v. North Carolina, October Term (2010)). Investigating two recent home break-ins, an Investigator with the Chapel Hill Police Department went to a middle school to
In a recent case from our Supreme Court, the Court affirmed the decision of the NC Court of Appeals to set aside a one (1) year NC DMV suspension for Petitioner Lee’s refusal to submit to a chemical analysis of his breath in a DWI criminal case (Richard
What was once sacred, “a man’s castle,” just lost considerable ground in regards to our Fourth Amendment right against unreasonable searches. A recent U.S. Supreme Court decision, deriving out of Kentucky, gives law enforcement officers the authority to breakdown the door and enter without a search warrant, if
New search and seizure law requires law enforcement officers to limit their search of a vehicle incident to arrest, to areas within the immediate control of the person arrested for weapons and only for evidence of the crime for which the person is being arrested. When defining what constitutes
In a felony trafficking case of opium a veteran chemist of some thirty-four years with the State lab, admitted under oath that he had not tested all of the pills submitted. The chemist went on to state under oath that he had conducted a chemical analysis on about
In North Carolina the alcohol concentration evidence in DWI cases, is only prima facie evidence that one was impaired while driving. It does not create a legal presumption that (automatically) requires the fact finder to find guilt (State v. Simmons, 698 S.E.2d 95 (2010) citing State v. Narron,
Opinion testimony by the arresting officer that asthma has no effect on a person’s ability to provide a sufficient breath sample was admitted over defendant’s objection by the Judge in the defendant’s jury trial. Additional evidence offered without objection was that the defendant’s inability to provide a breath
No more is safe driving and having the vehicle you are driving in proper working order enough to avoid being stopped. If you are driving a vehicle where the registered owner is revoked, law enforcement can pull you over under new law. The NC Court of Appeals in
Being noticeable nervous is not justification on its own to detain somebody according to a recent ruling from the NC Court of Appeals. The case in question, involved the stop of a vehicle based on the defendant’s weaving in his lane of travel and suspicion of driving while
