By North Carolina Lawyers Weekly Staff
Published: May 15,2013
U.S. v. Grant A district court abused its discretion in adding as a special condition to defendant’s sentencing order an obligation to turn over any tax refund as part of her restitution for illegal receipt of social security payments, and the 4th Circuit vacates the order setting the special condition.
By North Carolina Lawyers Weekly Staff
Published: May 15,2013
State v. Noble : Evidence of defendant’s pattern of encouraging persons under 21 years of age to drink alcohol at her home was admissible to help the state prove she aided and abetted the victim – a person she knew to be under 21 – in drinking alcohol on the day he died of alcohol poisoning.
By North Carolina Lawyers Weekly Staff
Published: May 10,2013
State v. Vaughn Even though defendant was angry that Shawn Pressley had beaten and injured her, she was also concerned for her friend, Latisha Kenney, with whom Pressley was arguing, when defendant got out of the safety of her car, carrying a knife. Pressley charged defendant, and she stabbed him. Since there was no evidence that defendant was the aggressor, the trial court plainly erred when it instructed the jury that self-defense is justified only if the defendant is not the aggressor.
By North Carolina Lawyers Weekly Staff
Published: May 9,2013
U.S. v. Davis The 4th Circuit reverses a sentencing order insofar as it required defendant to pay $685 in restitution for a homeowner’s broken window and homeowner’s deductible, on defendant’s conviction pursuant to a plea agreement to possession of a stolen firearm; the presentence report identified no “victim” of the offense of conviction, and the restitution order was not authorized by statute.
By North Carolina Lawyers Weekly Staff
Published: May 9,2013
State v. Webb Kelly Greene was appointed as counsel for defendant, but Tom Wilson represented him at his probation revocation hearing. Even if the trial court did not make the necessary findings in open court regarding a substitute attorney, since defendant admitted to the probation violation and expressed no dissatisfaction with Mr. Wilson’s services, any error by the trial court was not prejudicial.
By North Carolina Lawyers Weekly Staff
Published: May 9,2013
State v. Thomas Although police set up the drug buy at issue, since defendant had been buying similar pills from the same person for months, defendant was not entrapped. We find no error in defendant’s convictions of trafficking in opium or heroin by possession and trafficking in opium or heroin by transportation.
By North Carolina Lawyers Weekly Staff
Published: May 9,2013
State v. Tindall Where the probation violation reports alleged only that defendant violated two conditions of her probation – to “not use, possess or control any illegal drug” and to “participate in further evaluation, counseling, treatment or education programs recommended
By North Carolina Lawyers Weekly Staff
Published: May 9,2013
State v. Greenlee Despite slight variances between the incident report descriptions of items reported stolen and the descriptions of items sold to a pawn shop by defendant, considering the evidence in the light most favorable to the state, the trial court did not err in denying defendant’s motion to dismiss the charge of possession of stolen goods with respect to a stolen GPS, a Tascam Recorder, and a men’s watch.
By North Carolina Lawyers Weekly Staff
Published: May 9,2013
State v. Gerald : An assault victim’s brother, Eric Bullard, his wife Christy, and a deputy sheriff entered defendant’s locked, empty home without a warrant, and the deputy waited while the Bullards took pictures and collected “evidence” of the assault. When defense counsel failed to object to the admission of the pictures and evidence collected by the Bullards, counsel provided ineffective assistance. Defendant is entitled to a new trial.
By North Carolina Lawyers Weekly Staff
Published: May 9,2013
In re C.W.N. An attorney’s failure to present a closing argument in the context of a nonjury juvenile delinquency hearing is not, standing alone, ineffective assistance of counsel per se. We affirm the adjudication of delinquency.
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Bartlett v. Wayne County Board of Education Plaintiffs contend that the majority of eyewitnesses in this case testified that the responding officer’s diagram depicting the accident scene was accurate, that the diagram demonstrates plaintiffs’ “van had to have been almost directly in front of the bus at the time [the bus driver] started her turn,” and that this evidence conclusively established that the bus driver failed to yield the right-of-way to plaintiffs’ van.
Fidelity Bank v. North Carolina Department of Revenue Even though the N.C. Revenue Act uses the Internal Revenue Code to determine state net income, and even though the Code treats “market discount income” on U.S. Treasury bonds as interest for purposes of the Code, under the N.C. Revenue Act market discount income on U.S. Treasury bonds is treated as income rather than interest.
Apex Tool Group, LLC v. Ingersoll-Rand Co. Neither plaintiff nor the individual defendants are Texas residents; nevertheless, each of the individual defendants’ employment agreements includes an unambiguous and mandatory forum selection clause, which says any lawsuit involving the agreement must be brought in Harris County, Texas. The employment agreements were entered into by plaintiff’s predecessor and the individual defendants, who apparently did not live in Texas when they entered into the contracts and thus apparently anticipated interstate travel in the event of a trial.
