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
Navigate using the table of contents to the left or by using the search box below. Use quotations for an exact phrase search. A search for multiple terms without quotations functions as an “or” search. Not sure where to start? The 5 minute video tutorial offers a guided tour of main features – Launch Tutorial (opens in new tab).
In this Guilford County case, defendant appealed his conviction for second-degree murder, arguing error in failure to provide a jury instruction on voluntary manslaughter. The Court of Appeals found no error.
Based on texts and cellphone evidence admitted at trial, defendant arranged to...
On March 13, 2016, the defendant was out at a bar in Greensboro with his nephews and several other people to celebrate a friend’s birthday. As they were leaving the bar around 2:00 a.m., another group of men approached and one of them asked a woman in the defendant’s group if she would perform...
The evidence was sufficient with respect to the defendant’s voluntary manslaughter conviction. The defendant was charged with first-degree murder. At trial the defendant admitted that he shot and killed his wife. He argued however that as a result of diabetes, his blood sugar was dangerously low...
The trial court did not err by denying the defendant’s motion to dismiss a voluntary manslaughter charge. The court rejected the defendant’s argument that there was insufficient evidence that she killed the victim by an intentional and unlawful act, noting that although there was no direct...