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No fingerprints, DNA sample or leads from cocaine found at the White House, the Secret Service says
WASHINGTON (AP) — No fingerprints or DNA turned up on the baggie of cocaine found in a lobby at the White House last week despite a sophisticated FBI crime lab analysis, and surveillance footage of the area didn’t identify a suspect, according to a summary of the Secret Service investigation obtained by The Associated Press. […]
DA: Not enough evidence for murder charges in man’s death
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — There isn’t enough evidence to prosecute anyone in the 2019 death of a man who had been beaten by police officers one year earlier, a North Carolina district attorney said Tuesday. An autopsy showed Kyron Hinton died in February 2019 of cocaine toxicity and a neck injury that might indicate homicide. […]
Cocaine use a factor in $1.575M settlement over fatal wreck
The family of the man who was killed after a driver of a truck towing a cement pourer ran a red light and T-boned his vehicle has settled a lawsuit for $1.575 million, the family’s attorney reports. Charles Hinnant III of Ted Greve & Associates in Charlotte reports that Eddie Shook was stopped at […]
Bogus blow or no, sale is still a conspiracy
A drug dealer’s statement to an undercover officer directing him to buy cocaine from his “boys” was properly admitted under an exception to the rule against hearsay even though the powder pawned off to police later proved to be phony, the North Carolina Court of Appeals has ruled while upholding a prison sentence handed […]
Judicial wordplay: drug case turns on meanings of ‘keep’
In relationships, exactly what constitutes “a keeper” is different for everyone. Even within a single North Carolina statute, there are two distinct meanings. Unfortunately for the defendant in State v. Rogers, the Supreme Court of North Carolina held recently that his acts fit nicely within both contexts. Possessing a vehicle for more than an […]
Criminal Practice – Cocaine Trafficking – Constitutional – Confrontation Clause – CI’s Statements
A police detective testified about what a confidential informant told him, not to prove the truth of what the CI said, but to explain how and why the investigation of defendant began. Such statements are not precluded by Crawford v. Washington, 541 U.S. 36 (2004), and admission of the same does not violate defendant’s Sixth […]
Criminal Practice – Search Warrant Application Omitted Informant Theft
U.S. v. Lull (Lawyers Weekly No. 001-095-16, 27 pp.) (Duncan, J.) No. 15-4216, May 25, 2016; USDC at Raleigh, N.C. (Boyle, J.) 4th Cir. Holding: Because a search warrant application failed to disclose that the confidential informant – who was the primary source of the information used to establish probable cause – had just been […]
Immigration – No Removal Deferral for Cocaine Trafficker
Hernandez-Nolasco v. Lynch (Lawyers Weekly No. 001-185-15, 9 pp.) (Keenan, J.) No. 14-2036, Dec. 4, 2015; On Petition for Review; 4th Cir. Holding: A Honduran citizen who reported to immigration officials that his father and brother had been murdered by a gang in the Honduras and that he had been kidnapped and threatened by the […]
Criminal Practice – Cocaine Trafficking – Indictment – Manufacturing – Compounding & Packaging
State v. Miranda (Lawyers Weekly No. 14-07-0807, 21 pp.) (Sam Ervin IV, J.) Appealed from Johnston County Superior Court (Thomas Lock, J.) N.C. App. Holding: A trafficking-by-manufacturing indictment does not need to specify the exact manner in which the defendant allegedly manufactured cocaine. Since the indictment against defendant alleges all of the elements of the […]
Feds let Durham woman keep house
The U.S. Attorney’s Office has agreed to dismiss a civil forfeiture action against a North Carolina woman’s home, according to the woman’s attorney. James Craven of Durham said the government sought to seize Mary Ford’s $289,000 Durham residence after her adult son was arrested for dealing cocaine. The son, who is in his 30s, had […]
Criminal Practice – Search & Seizure – Cocaine Possession – Abandoned Property
State v. Joe (Lawyers Weekly No. 14-06-0211, 1 p.) (Per Curiam) Appealed from Forsyth County Superior Court (Patrice Hinnant, J.) On discretionary review from the Court of Appeals. N.C. S. Ct. Holding: In a case where law enforcement officers seized a bag of cocaine after illegally arresting defendant, our Court of Appeals (1) vacated the […]
Criminal Practice – Defendant Waived Drug Quantity Objection
U.S. v. Robinson (Lawyers Weekly No. 14-01-0182, 25 pp.) (Motz, J.) No. 12-4639, Feb. 21, 2014; USDC at Raleigh, N.C. (Flanagan, J.) 4th Cir. Holding: A defendant knowingly and voluntarily waived his claim that the district court erred in relying on statements from an informant drug buyer to calculate how much cocaine defendant sold in […]
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Commentary
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- A Different Ode to Pro Bono Work
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