For the first time ever, the North Carolina Prosecutors’ Trial Manual is available to the general public for purchase from the School of Government bookstore. The brand-new Fifth Edition, completely revised by my colleague Bob Farb, is offered here in PDF format. It costs $175 and weighs in at over 950 pages, covering nearly every aspect of criminal procedure. In other news: The court of appeals just reversed Superior Court Judge Orlando Hudson’s dismissal of charges in State v. Dorman, a Durham murder case. In a nutshell, the defendant was charged after an investigation that began when authorities learned that he was storing human bones in a backpack at his home. The state’s experts analyzed the bones, but they were released to the victim’s family and were cremated before defense experts could test them. Judge Hudson determined that this was an irreparable statutory and constitutional discovery violation and dismissed the case. The court of appeals praised Judge Hudson’s “diligence and persistence” in protecting the defendant’s rights but reversed, ruling that it was premature to conclude that the defendant suffered irreparable harm. The court has now reversed Judge Hudson in both of the murder cases at the center of former Durham District Attorney Tracey Cline’s removal proceeding. Judge Hudson told the News and Observer that “[i]t was her actions, not my actions,” that led to Cline’s removal. Neutral fact-finders have agreed so far, but Cline’s appeal of her removal was itself just argued before the court of appeals. Much, much farther afield [...]
Faculty Coordinators
