According to a recent New York Court of Appeals decision, merely viewing child pornographic material online, without creating or downloading it, is not sufficient to constitute procurement or possession of child pornography for the purposes of New York Penal Law. The purposeful viewing of child pornography on the internet is now legal in New York,” Judge Victoria A. Graffeo wrote in one of two concurring decisions for the court earlier this month. James Kent, a Marist College professor of
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The Fourth Amendment, originally adopted in the Bill of Rights in response to abuse of the writ of assistance (a type of general search warrant) during the American Revolution, contains the well-known prohibition against unreasonable searches and seizures. The rights granted by this amendment have been extended into the walls of prisons across the country, particularly to detainees and inmates who retain most of their constitutional rights while incarcerated. The strip search, a process
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One social networking site, Pinterest, allows its users to share photos of Do-It-Yourself crafts and the like. These photos are then “pinned” by other Pinterest account holders to their personal virtual bulletin board for all to see and “re-pin.” In February 2012, Business Insider featured an article about attorney Kirsten Kowalski who deleted her Pinterest account after digging into the site’s Terms of Use. Shortly after Kowalski deleted her account, popular blogs
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In a previous article, the Campbell Law Observer discussed the recent changes to North Carolina’s “castle doctrine,” which created a statutory presumption of a reasonable fear of imminent death or serious bodily harm when a person uses deadly force to defend himself in his home, vehicle, or workplace. These changes were part of a larger act which made several modifications to various laws governing the use of defensive force and the right to own, possess, or carry firearms. For the
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The State of New York recently announced that it is implementing a 50 hour pro bono requirement for admission to the NY State Bar. The news was heralded by some legal scholars as a step in the right direction, while others have derided the new requirement as another obstacle for an already beleaguered profession. The legal profession has a long, venerable tradition of being service-oriented, and many lawyers volunteer their time, talent, and legal services at no charge to support
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In March 2010, North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper commissioned former FBI agents Chris Swecker and Michael Wolf to investigate the policies, procedures, and practices of the SBI forensic laboratory. The state mandated independent review of the North Carolina SBI forensic laboratory occurred after questions arose as to whether lab serologists improperly withheld or incorrectly recorded lab results in criminal investigations. The investigation, covering the years between 1987 and 2003,
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With each new generation of the iPhone or the release of a new Android application, the capabilities of cell phones and the information they can store increase exponentially. In a time of ever-growing technology and intense competition for a piece of the market share, even the “dumbest” of smartphones may contain an array of personal, often private, information. And although tech-savvy users may think information on cell phones is safe from police searches, changes are coming in areas
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In 1977, the United States Supreme Court in Bates v. Arizona State Bar held lawyers have a right to advertise their services. However, this right is subject to additional rules and regulations. In North Carolina legal advertisements must conform to the North Carolina State Bar’s Rules of Professional Conduct 7.1 through 7.5. The nature of advertising is changing though. The State Bar confirmed in Formal Ethics Opinion 10 in October 2011 that in addition to traditional forms of
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As lawyers (or aspiring lawyers) we pride ourselves on our ability to interpret language or the intended meaning behind various assertions. Let’s put this skill to a little test. Consider the following two text messages from John: 1) “I don’t know if Bubba will be able to make it to the a golf course today… apparently his back is still hurting,” and 2) “I don’t know if Bubba will be able to make it to the golf course today… apparently his back is still hurting ;-).” Now
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In 2009, North Carolina Senate Bill 460 (SB 460), sponsored by Senator Don Davis, made its first appearance in the state legislative session. The so-called “puppy-mill bill” sought to define and regulate commercial breeders within the state. The bill would have defined a commercial breeder as “any person who owns or maintains 15 or more intact female dogs of breeding age, and 30 or more puppies primarily for the purpose of sale.” Regulation of the practice would have occurred
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The nationwide outcry over the recent shooting of seventeen-year-old Trayvon Martin by a neighborhood watch coordinator in Florida has renewed the public debate about self defense laws. Collectively referred to as the “castle doctrine,” states have enacted various forms of statutes that permit homeowners to use deadly force in defending themselves against home invaders. In fact, it was Florida’s 2005 castle doctrine statute that spurred many other states to make similar changes to
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Why North Carolina? North Carolina is situated in the middle of a controversial debate about the extraction of natural gas, which can be used as an energy resource. Hydraulic fracturing, known colloquially as fracking, has been the center of discussion among community leaders, lawmakers, and activists as the North Carolina General Assembly continues to study the effects of this new technology used to extract natural gas from shale rock formations. The practice could soon come to central
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As you are driving down the road a police car pulls behind you, you instantaneously glance down at your speedometer to make sure you are abiding by the speed limit. Immediately you become paranoid and clinch the steering wheel tighter; every three seconds you look up at your rear-view mirror watching ever so closely the police car trailing behind you. Does this feeling of apprehension and fear aid in your ability to drive? For some motorists probably not, especially when the marked patrol
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On March 2, 2012, Durham District Attorney Tracey Cline was removed from office. A portion of Judge Robert Hobgood’s order removing Cline read as follows: “Tracey E. Cline has lost the confidence of the attorneys and the public necessary to continue as an effective District Attorney for Durham County . . . By recklessly making blatantly false allegations against Judge Hudson in public record totally lacking in factual support, attacking his morality, honesty and asserting that he is
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The time has finally come. I am days away from graduating from law school, and while words cannot adequately describe my excitement for making it to this point, alive, the lingering question still exists: What’s next? The short answer is a great weekend of celebration with friends and family, followed by two months of bar preparation classes, capped off with the dreaded two-day exam at the end of July. The long answer is, unfortunately, the same, because I am one of the many graduating
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