South Carolina Lawyers Weekly

  Even without a chemistry degree, a sheriff’s captain was qualified to testify as to the theoretical yield of methamphetamine from a specific amount of pseudoephedrine, the state Court of Appeals has ruled in a case of first impression. In ...

Tagged with: Methamphetamine

Despite inappropriate remarks by an assistant solicitor that “pushed the boundaries” of respect for the court, the state Court of Appeals has affirmed the attempted murder conviction of a man whose stray bullet struck and paralyzed a college student in ...

Tagged with: Attempted Murder

The University of South Carolina didn’t violate student groups’ First Amendment rights by making inquiries into harassment allegations after a rally for “free speech,” the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Aug. 16. The appeals court unanimously upheld the ...

Tagged with: Free Speech USC

A witness may have told different stories to another witness and to the court, but where defense counsel asked him only general questions regarding the discrepancies, the lawyer  failed to properly lay the foundation for a prior inconsistent statement hearsay ...

Tagged with: Hearsay

This is the second article in a series revisiting some of Lawyers Weekly’s best stories over the years, seeing how issues have evolved since we last covered them, and how well our stories anticipated future developments. In May 2013, we ...

Tagged with: Litigation

With few exceptions, municipalities enjoy governmental immunity from common-law tort claims that arise out of their performance of governmental functions. But the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals held recently that the town of Mocksville, North Carolina, is liable for ...

Tagged with: police

Even though a defendant argued his public defender had a conflict of interest because her boss at the PD’s office represented a witness set to testify against him, the South Carolina Court of Appeals found no conflict. Nathaniel Wright was ...

Tagged with: Manslaughter

A debt collection agency is going to have to defend allegations that it unlawfully failed to inform plaintiffs that making payments on their debts could revive the statute of limitations, a federal court has ruled. U.S. District Judge A. Marvin ...

Tagged with: Claims

A serial killer on North Carolina’s death row had no constitutional right under Simmons v. South Carolina to inform the sentencing jury that because he was already ineligible for parole, he did not pose a continuing danger to society, the ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Guilford County North Carolina Supreme Court Parole

This is the second article in a series revisiting some of Lawyers Weekly’s best stories over the years, seeing how issues have evolved since we last covered them, and how well our stories anticipated future developments. In December 2014, we ...

Tagged with: driverless car