The trial of the week this week is in Charlotte, where former CMPD officer Randall Kerrick is charged with voluntary manslaughter in the fatal shooting of former college football player Jonathan Ferrell. The case has attracted some national attention, as evidenced by the CNN coverage here, perhaps in part because Kerrick is white and Ferrell was black. The parties disagree about the extent of the danger posed by Ferrell when he ran towards, and made contact with, Kerrick. In other news: UNC law professor on vulnerable defendants. Professor Tamar Birckhead, along with attorney Katie Rose Guest Pryal, wrote this introduction to a symposium about how vulnerable defendants are treated in the criminal justice system. It explores how juveniles, the mentally ill, the homeless, immigrants, people of color, and other disadvantaged groups are treated, and it asks whether reforms are in order. “Revenge porn” bill advances. The News and Observer reports here that a bill that would make “revenge porn” a felony continues to move through the General Assembly, now with an additional provision designed to address individuals who, while on private property, expose themselves to members of the public. Federal court strikes down “ag gag” law. A federal judge has ruled that “an Idaho law making it illegal to secretly film animal abuse at agricultural facilities violates the right to free speech.” North Carolina recently enacted a bill that seems likewise to have been motivated by undercover operations at large animal farming operations. S.L. 2015-50 creates a civil cause of action [...]
Faculty Coordinators
