Charlotte's got banking, Asheville's got mountains, and Eastern North Carolina has the beach, but right now, the Triangle has criminal justice stories in spades. In Orange County, the taking of testimony has begun in the Laurence Lovette/Eve Carson trial. The News and Observer story here includes an interesting discussion of the feasibility of emergency PINs that could be used by a person being forced to make a withdrawal from an ATM. Meanwhile, in Durham, convicted murderer Michael Peterson is pressing for a new trial based on alleged misconduct by former SBI agent Duane Dever. District Attorney Tracey Cline was unsuccessful in her attempt to have Superior Court Judge Orlando Hudson removed from the case. At the same time, Cline is facing allegations of misconduct in connection with motions for certain inmates' prison records, as described here. In other news: 1. The General Assembly is apparently considering taking action against illegal immigration, as reported here. At the same time, Alabama, one of the states with the toughest new laws targeting illegal immigrants, is considering revising its measures in light of court challenges and complaints from the business community. 2.Sentencing Law and Policy just highlighted a law professor's forthcoming article singing the praises of the Innocence Inquiry Commission, and proposing it as a national model. 3. North Carolina's Justice Reinvestment Act went into effect last week. We'll see how it plays out here, but I was interested to note this story in the Austin Statesman reporting that prison capacity and costs continue to [...]
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