In Batson v. Kentucky, 476 U.S. 79 (1986), the U.S. Supreme Court held that the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment prevents prosecutors in criminal cases from exercising
Continue Reading The ups and downs (and up again?) of a Batson challenge
Last Friday, Chief Justice Beasley of the Supreme Court of North Carolina, held a press conference on the State judiciary’s response to the coronavirus pandemic. Most of the announcements during
Continue Reading North Carolina’s Appellate Courts Proceed During the Coronavirus Pandemic
NOTICE: Take the following post with a grain of salt. The Court of Appeals issued an updated opinion in the Ellis case on 20 August 2019. Although the opinion is
Continue Reading Right for the Wrong Reasons, Redux
In October 2018, I gave a CLE presentations with (now recently sworn in) Judge Allegra Collins: “Life Preservers on the Titanic: Issues Not Properly Preserved for Appellate Review.” Part
Continue Reading Supreme Court Reaffirms That Non-Constitutional Sentencing Arguments Are Automatically Preserved for Appellate Review
Most lawyers, upon learning that a case on appeal has been decided, immediately flip (or scroll) to the last page of the opinion to see the result. Reading the analysis
Continue Reading WHAT JUST HAPPENED? A Guide To Dispositions In North Carolina Appellate Opinions
A while back, Justice Edmunds