Category: Criminal Defense
Another Case for the North Carolina Innocence Inquiry Commission As nice as it would be to have a perfect criminal justice system, we don’t. We do the best we can with what we have, but in a system made up of humans, we must ultimately deal with human failings. When…
Avoiding Warm Weather Crimes Crime is seasonal. While almost all charges will appear throughout the year, many charges are more prevalent during some months than others. Driving while impaired, for instance, we see most often from mid-November until the beginning of January, as people end up having one too many at…
The Unexpected Effects of Legalized Marijuana Drug-related offenses account for a fair amount of the cases we see here at Kurtz & Blum, PLLC, and a not-insignificant number of those cases are marijuana related. Throughout the United States, marijuana arrests make up half of all drug-related arrests for the past 20…
The recent story of a man currently serving a life sentence at Polk Correctional Institute sounds more like a Hollywood movie or TV crime drama. In 2012, Kelvin Melton was convicted of being a habitual felon and of assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill. He was put…
Part of the Miranda warning goes: “Anything you say or do may be used against you in a court of law.” For one Kansas convict, however, the clause missed the word “have.” Howard Kurtz, a skilled Raleigh lawyer with Kurtz & Blum, PLLC discusses a recent case of a man on trial…
When Mistake is No Defense: A Short Explanation of Statutory Rape Spring has finally sprung for good, and to paraphrase Tennyson, in Spring a young person’s thoughts turn to love. However, as many of us can attest to, strong emotion does not always help people make the wisest decisions. With…
An Old Drug with New Users: A Discussion of Increased Heroin Use in the North Carolina Triangle One of the more interesting things that I have noted in my time as an attorney is that the illegal drug trade responds to market forces just like every other type of good….
Five Points to Remember when Testifying in Your Own Defense Both the United States and North Carolina Constitutions prohibit a criminal defendant from being forced to testify against himself. A defendant cannot be called to take the witness stand in his own trial unless he or she wishes to do so. The…
N.C. Supreme Court Justices to Rule on the RJA The Racial Justice Act was a groundbreaking piece of legislation, the only law of its kind in the United States. Passed in 2009, the law allowed people convicted of murder to have their capital sentences reduced to life in prison if…
A Legal Guide to Pet Care Pets provide a great deal of love and companionship to people, and are treasured members of many families. Most of the staff here at Kurtz & Blum, PLLC are proud pet owners. However, owning a pet comes with certain responsibilities that can be enforced legally. If…
