State v. Jones Where, despite struggling with and even trying to hit the arresting officer, defendant refused to remove his hand from his jacket pocket, this behavior led the officer to believe defendant might be armed. After defendant was arrested, the officer walked about 10 feet, retrieved the jacket from the ground, searched it and retrieved a bag of crack cocaine. Defense counsel’s failure to move to suppress the crack was not prejudicial because the search of the jacket was a lawful search incident to defendant’s arrest.

Tagged with: Constitutional Criminal Practice Effective Assistance of Counsel search & seizure search incident to arrest

State v. Holder The colloquy among the trial court, defense counsel, and defendant shows that defense counsel explained to the trial court in defendant’s presence that defendant had consented to permitting his counsel to concede to the jury that he was guilty of “something other than felony fleeing ... to elude arrest.”

Tagged with: Constitutional Criminal Practice Effective Assistance of Counsel lesser included offense

State v. Phillips Even though a capital defender learned that defendant had been arrested for murder and tried to get in to see defendant, since defendant waived his Miranda rights and talked to law enforcement officers without asking for a lawyer, law enforcement officers were not required to allow the attorney to see defendant. We find no error in defendant’s convictions of four counts of first-degree murder, first-degree kidnapping, attempted first-degree murder, assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill inflicting serious injury, robbery with a firearm, and arson. We also find no error in the sentence of death.

Tagged with: confession Constitutional Criminal Practice Effective Assistance of Counsel miranda waiver murder

State v. Brown. Even though defendant's trial counsel failed to object to the admission of a horizontal gaze nystagmus (HGN) test, N.C. R. Evid. 702(a1)(1) permits expert testimony on the results of an HGN test on the issue of impairment.

Tagged with: Brunswick County Criminal Practice dwi Effective Assistance of Counsel evidence reasonable suspicion search & seizure traffic stop

State v. Livengood. (Lawyers Weekly No. 10-07-0875, 8 pp.) (Sanford L. Steelman Jr., J.) Appealed from Rowan County Superior Court. (Richard L. Doughton, J.) N.C. App. Holding: On cross-examination, the state’s expert said the physical findings from the victim’s exam ...

Tagged with: assistance of counsel Criminal Practice Effective Assistance of Counsel expert witnesses ineffective assistance Rowan County Sexual Offense