North Carolina Lawyers Weekly

North Carolina has created a constitutionally protected right to demonstrate one’s innocence post-conviction with new evidence and DNA testing. After plaintiff was convicted of two murders he did not commit, the DNA of another man was identified from evidence at ...

Tagged with: Civil Rights

The plaintiff-taxpayer adequately alleged the common-law mailbox rule, which would have allowed him to claim a presumption that his refund request was delivered to the IRS. However, for taxpayers, the mailbox rule has been preempted by 26 U.S.C. § 7502. ...

Tagged with: Taxation

The parent of an autistic student seeks, not to have the defendant-school district pay for anything, but to have the school district merely allow the student’s therapist accompany him to school. Since plaintiffs are not suing to receive anything free ...

Tagged with: Schools & School Boards

Movant was convicted of possession of a firearm by a felon and filed an unsuccessful habeas petition under 28 U.S.C. § 2255. Thereafter, Rehaif v. United States, 139 S. Ct. 2191 (2019), changed the law so that the government must ...

Tagged with: Criminal Practice

Two of the plaintiff-employer’s employees died because of a fire at work, and North Carolina’s Occupational Safety and Health Hazard Association (NC OSHA) assessed several penalties against plaintiff. Plaintiff alleges that defendants – officials with authority over NC OSHA – ...

Tagged with: Civil Practice

The Armed Career Criminal Act (ACCA) allows for the enhancement of a sentence if the defendant has “three previous convictions . . . for a violent felony or a serious drug offense . . . committed on occasions different from ...

Tagged with: Criminal Practice

In exchange for the state’s dismissal of other charges – including carjacking – defendant pled guilty to kidnapping and using a firearm during a crime of violence. Years later, we determined that kidnapping is not a crime of violence under ...

Tagged with: Criminal Practice

Before revoking the conditional release of an inmate who had been committed due to mental illness, a court must establish a reasoned and logical linkage between the individual’s failure to comply with the conditions of his discharge on the one ...

Tagged with: Civil Practice

Defendant presented evidence that his 14-year-old cousin was the one who committed the armed robbery for which defendant stood trial. The district court plainly erred when it gave its jury instruction on aiding and abetting because it failed to instruct ...

Tagged with: Criminal Practice

Plaintiff brings a wrongful termination claim against state actors, pursuant to 42 U.S.C. §§ 1981 and 1983. Since plaintiff’s claim arises from post-contract-formation conduct, the claim was made possible by the Civil Rights Act of 1991. Pursuant to 28 U.S.C. ...

Tagged with: Labor & Employment