WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina’s requirement that transgender people undergo sex reassignment surgery as part of establishing their identity is discriminatory and does not align with a majority of states and medical organizations, according to a lawsuit filed Tuesday ...

Tagged with: Identification

  A man convicted of sexually assaulting a young girl will get a new trial because the indictment didn’t identify the victim by name, a divided North Carolina Supreme Court has ruled. In 2015, Michael Lee White was convicted of ...

Tagged with: Identification

State v. Friend (Lawyers Weekly No. 14-07-1122, 11 pp.) (Chris Dillon, J.) Appealed from Hertford County Superior Court (Cy Grant, J.) N.C. App. Holding: The failure to provide information about one’s identity during a lawful stop can constitute resistance, delay, ...

Tagged with: Identification

State v. Stowes Even though an investigating officer was present when the victim picked defendant out of a photographic line-up, there was no evidence that the officer made any movements which could have influenced the victim, the victim was 75 percent certain of his identification, the line-up was conducted within days of the robbery, and the robber was in the victim’s store for 45 to 50 minutes and spoke with the victim a number of times. The only impediment to the victim’s view of the robber was that the robber was wearing sunglasses. We find no plain error in the trial court’s ruling that the line-up was not impermissibly suggestive.

Tagged with: Criminal Practice Identification

State v. Jones A school principal was not acting as an agent of the state when he tried to help an upset student identify the man who had broken into her house the previous day by showing her photos of registered sex offenders. We find no plain error in defendant’s convictions of misdemeanor breaking and entering, assault on a female, and assault on a child under the age of 12 years. Even though defendant failed to raise his due process argument at trial, since it involves the admission of evidence, we review for plain error.

Tagged with: Constitutional Criminal Practice Due Process evidence Identification

State v. Jackson Defense counsel asserted that the number of African-Americans (three) in the 60-person jury venire underrepresented the county’s African-American population. Neither counsel’s assertion nor the numbers at issue were sufficient to require the trial court to discharge the jury venire based on underrepresentation of the county’s African-American population. We find no error in defendants’ conviction of robbery with a dangerous weapon.

Tagged with: Acting in Concert armed robbery Criminal Practice Identification jury & jurors

U.S. v. Bonner The government’s circumstantial evidence linking defendant to a Subway restaurant robbery through cell phone calls and DNA on a Yankees cap is not sufficient to identify him as a perpetrator, as store employees’ only descriptions of the two robbers were that they were African-American and wore masks and bulky coats; the 4th Circuit affirms the district court decision that overturned defendant’s armed robbery conviction.

Tagged with: Criminal Practice dna Identification