{"id":7061655,"date":"2026-09-20T02:40:27","date_gmt":"2026-09-20T02:40:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/business\/legal\/news-roundup-north-carolina-criminal-law-blog-7\/"},"modified":"2026-09-20T02:40:27","modified_gmt":"2026-09-20T02:40:27","slug":"news-roundup-north-carolina-criminal-law-blog-7","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7061655","title":{"rendered":"News Roundup \u2013 North Carolina Criminal Law Blog"},"content":{"rendered":" \r\n<br><div>\n\t\t\n<p>If you\u2019re reading this, we made it at least one more week before the robots take over. Here\u2019s a look at the week\u2019s criminal law news.<\/p>\n\n\n<p><strong>Halligan, James, and Comey.<\/strong> The Fourth Circuit <a href=\"https:\/\/news.bloomberglaw.com\/ip-law\/doj-defends-comey-james-indictments-at-fourth-circuit-argument\">heard arguments this week<\/a> on whether Lindsey Halligan was properly appointed as the interim U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia. The answer to that question will have implications in the cases of former FBI director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James, among others. Mr. Comey still faces charges in the Eastern District of North Carolina in the case involving a photograph of seashells arranged to say \u201c86 47,\u201d an alleged threat against the President. This week, Comey <a href=\"https:\/\/storage.courtlistener.com\/recap\/gov.uscourts.nced.227449\/gov.uscourts.nced.227449.69.0.pdf\">moved to continue the trial date for that charge from next month to the February 2027 term of court<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n<p><strong>New SCOTUS Term dropping soon.<\/strong> We\u2019re just weeks away from the start of the Supreme Court\u2019s October 2026 Term. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.scotusblog.com\/2026\/09\/criminal-cases-coming-in-the-new-term-and-why-the-court-could-and-should-do-more\/\">SCOTUSblog notes the many criminal cases on the docket<\/a>\u2014and argues that, in light of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.congress.gov\/crs_external_products\/R\/PDF\/R49042\/R49042.1.pdf\">many circuit splits<\/a> involving criminal law and procedure, there ought to be even more. Among the interesting cases about to come before the Court:<\/p>\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/cdn.sanity.io\/files\/pito4za5\/production\/2539e630d0f81079069e3d845f4f073261da9802.pdf#page=50\">Viramontes v. Cook County<\/a>, in which the Court will consider \u201c[w]hether the Second and Fourteenth Amendments guarantee the right to possess AR-15 platform and similar semiautomatic rifles.\u201d The answer may turn on whether the relevant Second Amendment test requires looking at weapons that <em>were<\/em> in common use at the time the amendment was adopted, or <em>are<\/em> in common use today;<\/li>\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/cdn.sanity.io\/files\/pito4za5\/production\/1e5a48c6b68d99dc9422af2654b12f44b03bac75.pdf#page=2\">Kian v. Florida<\/a>, where the question before the Court will be whether the Sixth Amendment requires a 12-person jury in a serious criminal case; and<\/li>\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/cdn.sanity.io\/files\/pito4za5\/production\/216a573a33e5b094e146a89c11db1e23658d6649.pdf#page=3\">Jouppi v. Alaska<\/a>, in which the Court will consider whether\u2014to oversimplify the case\u2014the forfeiture of a $95,000 plane for transporting a six-pack of beer was an excessive fine under the Eighth Amendment.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n<p>I imagine we\u2019ll write more about some or all of those cases as time goes by.<\/p>\n\n\n<p><strong>New leadership at IDS.<\/strong> We\u2019ve noted in <a href=\"https:\/\/nccriminallaw.sog.unc.edu\/2026\/06\/08\/what-it-means-to-lead-the-office-of-indigent-defense-services\/\">previous posts<\/a> that Mary Pollard was stepping down as the executive director of the North Carolina Office of Indigent Defense Services. This News Roundup item can\u2019t add much to the Friend of the Court Award\u2014the Judicial Branch\u2019s highest honor\u2014<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncids.org\/2026\/pollard-closes-chapter-on-remarkable-career\/\">recently given to Mary by the Chief Justice<\/a>, but that won\u2019t stop me from trying: Congratulations Mary, and thank you for your tireless service and leadership.<\/p>\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncids.org\/2026\/meet-whitney-fairbanks-the-new-executive-director-of-the-office-of-indigent-defense-services\/\">Taking the helm at IDS is Whitney Fairbanks<\/a>. Whitney has worked at IDS for over a decade as Assistant Director and General Counsel. In addition to time as a trial lawyer and in the Office of General Counsel at the AOC, Whitney was our colleague at the School of Government from 2008 to 2013. Good luck, Whitney!<\/p>\n\n\n<p><strong>Hourly rate increase.<\/strong> Speaking of IDS, the IDS Commission recently voted for an across-the-board rate increase for private assigned counsel, effective October 1, 2026. The rate for misdemeanors will increase from $65 to $85 an hour. Low-level felonies will go from $65 to $90 an hour. More details are <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncids.org\/2026\/rate-increases-for-private-assigned-counsel\/\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n<p><strong>Mastermind.<\/strong> Finally, a man named Siddharth Jawahar was sentenced in federal court this week for his role in a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2026\/09\/17\/us\/ponzi-scheme-sentencing-travis-kelce-hnk\">Ponzi scheme that defrauded over 60 victims, including Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce<\/a>. Prosecutors argued that Jawahar used money from new investors to pay off old investors\u2014and to pay for luxury apartments, private jet travel, and other champagne problems. The name of Jawahar\u2019s main investment company? Swiftarc Capital LLC. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.justice.gov\/usao-edmo\/pr\/illegal-immigrant-sentenced-11-years-prison-multimillion-dollar-ponzi-scheme\">A press release from the U.S. Attorney\u2019s Office for the Eastern District of Missouri<\/a> reads like a question from the bar exam: \u201cAfter his indictment, Jawahar tried to obstruct justice by trying to coach a victim into giving a favorable statement to the FBI, lying about his immigration status and finances and trying to get his sister to remotely wipe his iPhone to hide evidence.\u201d No word on a getaway car. Jawahar won\u2019t be fresh out the slammer any time soon: he was sentenced to 11 years in federal prison and ordered to pay a total of $31 million in restitution to victims. I hesitate to joke too much about the situation\u2014fraud crimes like this are a scourge, as many know all too well. But to the extent that the impact is financial, the Kelces are probably better positioned than most newlyweds to weather the storm.<\/p>\n\n\n<p>Have a good weekend.<\/p>\n\n\t<\/div>\r\n<br>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>If you\u2019re reading this, we made it at least one more week before the robots take over. Here\u2019s a look at the week\u2019s criminal law news. Halligan, James, and Comey. The Fourth Circuit heard arguments this week on whether Lindsey Halligan was properly appointed as the interim U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[97],"tags":[3767,14206,14207,12685,1820,843,4098],"dealstore":[],"offerexpiration":[],"class_list":["post-7061655","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-legal","tag-blog","tag-carolina","tag-criminal","tag-law","tag-news","tag-north","tag-roundup"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>News Roundup \u2013 North Carolina Criminal Law Blog - Som2ny Network<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7061655\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"News Roundup \u2013 North Carolina Criminal Law Blog - Som2ny Network\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"If you\u2019re reading this, we made it at least one more week before the robots take over. Here\u2019s a look at the week\u2019s criminal law news. Halligan, James, and Comey. The Fourth Circuit heard arguments this week on whether Lindsey Halligan was properly appointed as the interim U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia. [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7061655\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Som2ny Network\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-09-20T02:40:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7061655#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7061655\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b85e3c3dc0e1daea076524dc8810c371\"},\"headline\":\"News Roundup \u2013 North Carolina Criminal Law Blog\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-09-20T02:40:27+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7061655\"},\"wordCount\":739,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"Blog\",\"Carolina\",\"Criminal\",\"law\",\"NEWS\",\"North\",\"roundup\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Legal\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7061655#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7061655\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7061655\",\"name\":\"News Roundup \u2013 North Carolina Criminal Law Blog - Som2ny Network\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2026-09-20T02:40:27+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7061655#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7061655\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7061655#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?bp_activities=1\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"News Roundup \u2013 North Carolina Criminal Law Blog\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/\",\"name\":\"Som2ny Network\",\"description\":\"Daily Deals\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Som2ny Network\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/4a0953c4-logo-300x86-1.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/4a0953c4-logo-300x86-1.png\",\"width\":300,\"height\":86,\"caption\":\"Som2ny Network\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b85e3c3dc0e1daea076524dc8810c371\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/729ae85bf62b9917e93538db2f2688ca?s=96&r=g&default=https%3A%2F%2Ffivemor.com%2Fwp-content%2Fplugins%2Fbuddypress-first-letter-avatar%2Fimages%2Fdefault%2F96%2Flatin_a.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/729ae85bf62b9917e93538db2f2688ca?s=96&r=g&default=https%3A%2F%2Ffivemor.com%2Fwp-content%2Fplugins%2Fbuddypress-first-letter-avatar%2Fimages%2Fdefault%2F96%2Flatin_a.png\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"News Roundup \u2013 North Carolina Criminal Law Blog - Som2ny Network","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7061655","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"News Roundup \u2013 North Carolina Criminal Law Blog - Som2ny Network","og_description":"If you\u2019re reading this, we made it at least one more week before the robots take over. Here\u2019s a look at the week\u2019s criminal law news. Halligan, James, and Comey. The Fourth Circuit heard arguments this week on whether Lindsey Halligan was properly appointed as the interim U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia. [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7061655","og_site_name":"Som2ny Network","article_published_time":"2026-09-20T02:40:27+00:00","author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7061655#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7061655"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b85e3c3dc0e1daea076524dc8810c371"},"headline":"News Roundup \u2013 North Carolina Criminal Law Blog","datePublished":"2026-09-20T02:40:27+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7061655"},"wordCount":739,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#organization"},"keywords":["Blog","Carolina","Criminal","law","NEWS","North","roundup"],"articleSection":["Legal"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7061655#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7061655","url":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7061655","name":"News Roundup \u2013 North Carolina Criminal Law Blog - Som2ny Network","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#website"},"datePublished":"2026-09-20T02:40:27+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7061655#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7061655"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7061655#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?bp_activities=1"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"News Roundup \u2013 North Carolina Criminal Law Blog"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/","name":"Som2ny Network","description":"Daily Deals","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#organization","name":"Som2ny Network","url":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/4a0953c4-logo-300x86-1.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/4a0953c4-logo-300x86-1.png","width":300,"height":86,"caption":"Som2ny Network"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b85e3c3dc0e1daea076524dc8810c371","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/729ae85bf62b9917e93538db2f2688ca?s=96&r=g&default=https%3A%2F%2Ffivemor.com%2Fwp-content%2Fplugins%2Fbuddypress-first-letter-avatar%2Fimages%2Fdefault%2F96%2Flatin_a.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/729ae85bf62b9917e93538db2f2688ca?s=96&r=g&default=https%3A%2F%2Ffivemor.com%2Fwp-content%2Fplugins%2Fbuddypress-first-letter-avatar%2Fimages%2Fdefault%2F96%2Flatin_a.png","caption":"admin"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/fivemor.com"],"url":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7061655","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7061655"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7061655\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7061655"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7061655"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7061655"},{"taxonomy":"dealstore","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fdealstore&post=7061655"},{"taxonomy":"offerexpiration","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fofferexpiration&post=7061655"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}