A disturbing event at a local Raleigh area department store shows the kinds of abuses of power that sometimes happened when private sector security staff become involved in altercations with public citizens.
News from the NewsObserver online in February shows a chilling incident at a local Belk store, where a security staff person allegedly tried to extort sex by texting a 23-year-old woman...Read More
New study estimates false conviction rate of death row inmates at 4.1%. In case we need another reason to abolish the death penalty.
Abstract
The rate of erroneous conviction of innocent criminal defendants is often described as not merely unknown but unknowable. There is no systematic method to determine the accuracy of a criminal conviction; if there were, these errors would not occur in the...Read More
If you’re keeping tabs at home, there was yet another unconstitutional DWI checkpoint (roadblock) executed in Raleigh on January 31, 2014, at Glenwood Avenue and St. Marys Street. Forty-three of your tax-funded law enforcement officers were not fighting violent crimes that evening while they were arresting citizens on their way home from dinner.
And, as they like to do, they even...Read More
Many drivers in North Carolina are shocked when their vehicle is seized by the state following an arrest (not conviction) for Driving While Impaired (DWI). But, it turns out, the state legislature has made vehicles subject to seizure in any case in which the driver is arrested for DWI while either driving while his or her license is already revoked as a result of a prior DWI, or if the...Read More
Let me preface this post with a disclaimer: This should not be treated as legal advice. All cases are different, and this information may not apply in your case. State laws are also different, and I currently only practice law in North Carolina. Finally, there is clearly no single answer to the question of what one “should” do that applies to all cases. And if you want to get...Read More
No one is safe from the long arm of the various Wake County law enforcement agencies. Here are the date and locations of the latest DWI (“sobriety”) checkpoints in Wake County:
Monday, Dec. 30, 2013: SW Maynard and Kildaire Farm Rd.
Friday, Dec. 27, 2013: St. Mary’s St. and W Peace St.
Be careful out there, and remember that you are not required to answer questions or...Read More
