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 house leased by the defendant and her mother was destroyed by a fire. The police sergeant who was sent to investigate the fire observed that there was an unusually low number of personal belongings in the home and “not what you would expect in a home that was just lost to a fire.” Slip...
In this burning of personal property case, the trial court did not err by failing to instruct the jury regarding the defendant’s presence at the crime scene. Contrary to the defendant’s argument, presence at the scene is not an element of the offense.
In an arson case, there was sufficient evidence of malice where, among other things, the defendant was enraged at the property owner.