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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The defendant was convicted of first-degree murder in Person County. The victim was a neighbor with whom the defendant had long-running disputes. According to the defendant, he shot the neighbor in self-defense. The victim was shot 11 or 12 times, with the vast majority of the bullets having...
In this armed robbery case, the trial court did not err by admitting a videotape showing a detective test firing the air pistol in question. The State was required to establish that the air pistol was a dangerous weapon for purposes of the armed robbery charge. The videotape showed a detective...
The State laid a proper foundation to establish the relevancy of a demonstration by an expert witness who used a doll to illustrate how shaken baby syndrome occurs and the amount of force necessary to cause the victim’s injuries, where a demonstration of how the injuries were inflicted was...
Use of a mannequin’s head and a newly-purchased couch to refute the defendant’s version of the events on the day she shot her husband was properly allowed as a demonstration. Because the evidence did not constitute an experiment, the State did not have to show that the circumstances were...