by Michelle Sparrow | Aug 10, 2012 | Criminal Law Blog, Homicide
A jury sat in a Wake County courtroom earlier this week watching a videotaped interrogation. A Knightdale police officer and a North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation agent were asking a suspect about his involvement in a January 2010 homicide. The... by Michelle Sparrow | Jul 29, 2012 | Criminal Defense, Criminal Law Blog
North Carolina Gov. Beverly Perdue signed several bills into law earlier this month that the state’s criminal defense attorneys have been following. The new laws will change penalties, for the most part. One new crime also enters the books. One of the most... by Michelle Sparrow | Jul 20, 2012 | Criminal Defense, Criminal Law Blog
State officials reported statewide crime statistics for 2011 recently, and the numbers are a mixed bag. The crime rate reported for all offenses in North Carolina was the lowest it has been since 1977, but the murders rate rose by almost 6 percent during the same time... by Michelle Sparrow | Jun 7, 2012 | Criminal Defense, Criminal Law Blog
As predicted, the North Carolina House of Representatives is considering a proposal that would radically alter the Racial Justice Act. As we have discussed, the act allows inmates and defendants sentenced to death to use statistics to prove that their trials were... by Michelle Sparrow | May 24, 2012 | Criminal Defense, Criminal Law Blog
It is hard to know which trial to follow: the John Edwards campaign finance trial or the trial of the troubled young man accused of killing a member of North Carolina’s state board of education? Both cases carry some heartache, and both have provided challenges...