Last night, I attended the annual awards dinner for the North Carolina Bar Association’s Criminal Justice Section. It was fantastic and inspiring, as it is every year. Congratulations to long-time Cumberland County assistant district attorney Cal Colyer, the first person other than an elected district attorney to win the Peter Gilchrist award, and to Charlotte defense attorney James Ferguson for taking home the Wade Smith award. In other news: Not as inspiring: Raleigh defense attorney James Crouch pled guilty to felony obstruction of justice and other charges as part of the DWI backdating scandal that brought down Wake County District Court Judge Kristin Ruth. Mr. Crouch pled guilty on the eve of trial, apparently after his own lawyers determined that he had falsified financial records in an attempt to avoid conviction. The News and Observer has the story here. The paper also reported here that 2012 will end with zero death sentences returned by North Carolina juries, for the first time since the death penalty was reinstated in 1977. There were only four capital trials all year. The United States Supreme Court granted certiorari in Maryland v. King, a case that presents the following question: “Does the Fourth Amendment allow the States to collect and analyze DNA from people arrested and charged with serious crimes?” I previously noted the possibility of the Court taking the issue, and the potential impact on North Carolina’s DNA-on-arrest statute, here. Fans of the TV show Law and Order, people with an appreciation for data collection, [...]
Faculty Coordinators
