Smith's Criminal Case Compendium
Smith's Criminal Case Compendium
Table of Contents
Smith's Criminal Case Compendium
About
This compendium includes significant criminal cases by the U.S. Supreme Court & N.C. appellate courts, Nov. 2008 – Present. Selected 4th Circuit cases also are included.
Jessica Smith prepared case summaries Nov. 2008-June 4, 2019; later summaries are prepared by other School staff.
Instructions
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In this New Hanover County case, the Supreme Court reversed the unpublished Court of Appeals decision granting defendant a new trial on his convictions of first-degree murder, murder of an unborn child, and robbery with a dangerous weapon. The Court determined that the trial court properly...
Based on the circumstances of this felon in possession case, the trial court’s failure to further inquire into and answer the jury’s questions regarding constructive possession of the gun constituted plain error. The circumstances included the fact that the jury was instructed on actual...
The trial court did err by failing to ex mero motu investigate the competency of a juror after the juror sent two notes to the trial court during deliberations. After the juror sent a note saying that the juror could not convict on circumstantial evidence alone, the trial judge re-instructed the...