The iPad is changing the way that people practice law and, in particular, criminal law. A lawyer who might previously need to carry a statute book, a federal sentencing guidelines book, a federal criminal law book, the North Carolina sentencing guidelines, as well as the Rules of Evidence into court now can fit all of…
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Author Archives: Damon Chetson
Hiring a Wake County Criminal Lawyer. What should I look for?
There are many fine Wake County criminal lawyers. If you’ve been charged with a crime, or if police have begun to call you to ask you about something that you have done or witnessed, it makes sense to reach out to a criminal lawyer as soon as possible. That’s because during this period – before…
Member of the Better Business Bureau
The Chetson Firm, PLLC last week applied for and received membership into the Better Business Bureau of Eastern North Carolina. In an ongoing effort to improve transparency into the criminal law, the Chetson Firm has submitted itself to the BBB’s accreditation process and with it a dispute resolution process for clients of the firm. The…
What is a Domestic Violence Protective Order or 50B in North Carolina?
A Domestic Violence Protective Order (DVPO) is usually referred to in North Carolina as a 50B Order. The 50B stands for the Chapter of the North Carolina General Statutes (NCGS) that lays out the legal requirements of a 50B order and the relief that a person can get from such an order. First, what is…
Social Networks May Get You Into Legal Trouble
Facebook, Twitter, and other social networking tools such as MySpace, Tumblr, and so forth have made interaction on the web much easier. For a while generation of people, the web is a way to interact with friends, family and acquaintances. People can post pictures, make comments, make status updates, comment on each others “walls”. Often…
SFSTs are part of North Carolina Basic Law Enforcement Training
In the late 1970s and early 1980s, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) evaluated a variety of field sobriety tests to determine which ones were scientifically accurate. NHTSA identified the Southern California Research Institute as the center to conduct a thorough testing of the various field sobriety tests to determine which ones had the…
Does a .08 BAC compel a guilty verdict in a DWI in NC?
North Carolina’s DWI statute – NCGS 20-138.1 – provides the State with three possibilities in convicting a person of Driving While Impaired in North Carolina. The State can either convict the person upon a showing that the person had a .08 or above Blood Alcohol Concentration at a relevant time after driving, that the person…
Criminal Calendaring in North Carolina
Calendaring is the process by which a case is set for a hearing or trial. Calendaring is crucial to the overall outcome of the case because if one party controls the calendar, that party may be able to speed up or slow down the case to that party’s advantage. In civil cases in North Carolina,…
Brief Overview of Obtaining a Controlled Substance by Fraud in NC
As in all states, it is illegal in North Carolina to obtain a controlled substance by fraud. North Carolina’s General Statutes (NCGS 90-108(a)(10) defines the act, thusly: “To acquire or obtain possession of a controlled substance by misrepresentation, fraud, forgery, deception, or subterfuge;” If the person has done this intentionally, NCGS 90-108(b) defines the act…
Paris Hilton’s Number 1 Mistake
Paris Hilton was arrested this weekend for allegedly possessing .8 grams of cocaine. That would be felony possession in North Carolina. Paris could’ve saved herself some grief, however, by not saying anything. Had she kept quiet – and been polite to police – she would’ve prevented the police from collecting any additional evidence – i.e.,…
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