Since tomorrow’s a holiday for many, including me, this week’s news roundup comes a day early. The lead story is the apparent crumbling of the video sweepstakes industry. Major software vendor International Internet Technologies has announced that it will immediately cease doing business in North Carolina, so that the company’s owner can turn his full attention to answering gambling-related criminal charges that he is facing in Florida. The News and Observer has the story here. Several politicians, including the Governor, have disgorged campaign contributions previously received from IIT’s owner. Meanwhile, police departments and sheriffs’ offices are charging violations of the recently-upheld sweepstakes statute, G.S. 14-306.4, with increasing vigor. The Fayetteville Observer discusses the stepped-up enforcement activity here. Perhaps reports of the industry’s demise will turn out to be premature, but for now, the writing seems to be on the wall. In other news: Capacity to proceed. On Tuesday, the General Assembly overwhelmingly approved S 45, which makes changes to the statutes concerning a defendant’s capacity to proceed. For example, it limits “state facility” competency examinations to felony cases. The AOC provides a full summary of the bill in this document. I would be interested in comments on which provisions of the bill, if any, are most controversial or most significant. Death penalty bill. The General Assembly continues to move forward with S 306, the bill intended to repeal the Racial Justice Act and to allow executions to resume. The current version is here. The News and Observer’s editorial in response is [...]
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