In Durham, a man who shot at police during a traffic stop, and who was also served with warrants for first-degree sexual offense and other crimes, was given a total bail of $7.8 million. Durham’s chief magistrate told the News and Observer that it is not the highest bail in the county’s history. Readers, what’s the highest bail you’ve seen? In other news: Also in Durham, Duke lacrosse case accuser Crystal Mangum is charged with first-degree murder in connection with her boyfriend’s stabbing death. She’s elected to proceed pro se, with one of her complaints about her lawyer being that he “offered a plea agreement . . . in which she would get time served in exchange for pleading guilty to assault with a deadly weapon.” Most murder defendants would give their lawyers a medal for negotiating such a deal, but of course I don’t know all the facts of the case. (The State denies that it extended such an offer.) The race between Paul Newby and Sam “Jimmy” Ervin for the former’s seat on the state supreme court has crossed the $1 million barrier, according to this snippet from the News and Observer. In an unfortunate reversal of a long-term trend, crime rates spiked in 2011, according to a survey conducted by the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics. It’s the first increase since 1993, and it’s big: violent crimes rose 18%. Reported crimes didn’t jump in the same way, raising the possibility that people are reporting crimes less. Crime and [...]
Faculty Coordinators
