If you've been charged with making a harassing phone call, you probably have been accused of violating NCGS 14-196 which makes such acts a Class 2 misdemeanor. Assuming you have never been in trouble before with the law, if convicted, you would be sentenced to a "suspended sentence" (no jail time) and either community service ...
Tag Archive: Apex Criminal Lawyer
Jail Visits at the Public Safety Center, Wake County
I recently spoke to an attorney who mentioned that there are probably only two or three dozen Raleigh criminal lawyers working in Raleigh who regularly visit clients in jail. I was shocked. I have always made it a practice to visit clients regularly in jail. When I was working for the Public Defender on felony cases, ...
Alford Pleas and Sex Offense, Rape, Sex Crimes in Raleigh, Cary, Apex
What happens if you are facing many years in prison, but the DA has just offered you a plea deal that would mean a much reduced sentence, or even just probation. What happens if you are in fact innocent of the crime, but the risk of going to trial means you may spend the next ...
Happy Thanksgiving
I work seven (7) days a week. I'm available by phone at (919) 352-9411 whenever I'm awake. If I get a call, I return the call promptly. I work like this because I know that people expect high quality service, and because people who call me usually have very serious questions about serious traffic and criminal ...
Google enters the Electronic Legal Research Business. Watch out Lexis-Nexis!
At last, Google has launched a resource aimed at lawyers. If you're a lawyer, you're locked into paying for either Westlaw or for Lexis-Nexis. Those are the dominant players in the electronic legal research market. But their services are awful. Very poorly constructed, very difficult to use, very slow, hard to learn a new ...
Eye Witness Testimony: Not Reliable
There are all kinds of studies that show that eyewitnesses are not very reliable. Eyewitnesses will swear up and down that they saw a 25 year old white male in shorts and grey t-shirt. Or that they saw a 35 year old black male, about 5'4, wearing jeans and a hoodie. They will swear ...
The pressure to plead in Wake County. Piling up the charges.
Most people don't realize that the severe penalties that are attached to many crimes in North Carolina and in the United States create real pressure on defendants to plead guilty, even when they are not guilty of the crime. Ironically, offering a defendant a very "sweet" or favorable plea deal can have the power to pressure ...
Thoughts from a Raleigh Criminal Lawyer: Melendez-Diaz v. Massachusetts
This post is about a technical area of the law, so if you're not interested in Evidence Law or the Confrontation Clause, this won't interest you.The United States Constitution says that defendants have the right to confront witnesses who testify against them. This is the general constitutional rule that prevents hearsay in criminal ...
Introduction to North Carolina Sex Offenses
Sex Offenses in North Carolina are punished harshly. In addition, North Carolina has a sex offender registry, which requires that those convicted of "sexually violent offenses" register for at least 10 years as a sex offender, do not live within 1,000 feet of a school, and abide by other restrictive regulations.I explain ...
Make your Court Dates in Wake County, North Carolina
So you've been arrested or gotten a ticket. And you've got a court date. But you've lost the little piece of paper on which the court date was written. Or you didn't hear the judge when he spoke really quickly and gave you your court date. Or you're really nervous and don't know what ...