Fall is here, meaning cooler weather, leaves changing colors, and of course, elections. The North Carolina Bar Association has a new website that provides the results of performance surveys regarding incumbent trial court judges and their challengers. There are also elections for several seats on the court of appeals, and one on the state supreme court. In the latter race, this News and Observer article states that “[Court of Appeals Judge Sam] Ervin leads [incumbent Justice Paul] Newby by a 31-23 margin margin, according to a survey by Public Policy Polling, a Democratic leaning firm based in Raleigh.” Sound like a football score? That’s because a massive 46 percent of voters are totally unfamiliar with the candidates and their judicial philosophies are undecided. Judge Ervin aims to reach some of those voters with a series of ads to be aired during the Judge Judy TV show. In other news: The Washington Post reported here on the exoneration of Louisiana death row inmate Damon Thibodeaux, who falsely confessed to the rape and murder of his 14-year-old cousin but was freed after an unusual joint reinvestigation by the prosecution and the defense showed that almost every aspect of his confession – given after a long and grueling interrogation – was demonstrably false. The Innocence Project counts him as the 300th person, and 18th death row inmate, freed on the basis of DNA evidence, though it appears from the story that the principal relevance of DNA evidence in this case was that there wasn’t [...]
Faculty Coordinators
