Two immigration enforcement bills have passed at the General Assembly and are now on Governor Josh Stein’s desk. The deadline for his signature or veto is today.
The first bill, SB 153, contains several provisions, one of which would require state law enforcement agencies such as the State Highway Patrol and the Department of Public Safety to contact ICE if they have someone in custody who is not a legal resident or U.S. citizen. State law enforcement officers would be trained to act as immigration officers pursuant to the 287(g) program.
The second bill, HB 318, makes updates to the previously passed HB 10. Existing law, discussed by Brittney here, requires county jails to inquire into the immigration status of individuals charged with certain felonies and high-level misdemeanors and contact ICE if the jail is unable to verify that an individual is a legal resident. The new law would expand the list of crimes for which jails would have to check status. In addition, existing law mandates that a 48-hour hold be imposed upon receipt of an ICE detainer. The updated law would require that the 48-hour hold be imposed once the individual would otherwise be released, rather than upon receipt of the detainer.
Read on for more criminal law news.
Potential hemp regulations. In other news at the General Assembly, a bill has advanced out of the North Carolina Senate banning the sale of hemp to people under 21 and banning hemp on school grounds. Legislators say that children need to be protected from the marketing of hemp products as candy. Hemp is cannabis with less than a 0.3% concentration of delta-9 THC, the psychoactive component found in greater concentrations in marijuana.
Meanwhile, some lawmakers are pushing for legislation to legalize and regulate medical marijuana.
The House has also proposed various bills to regulate hemp, one of which is comparable to the Senate bill and one of which contains fewer regulations. However, these bills have not advanced nor have they received committee hearings.
Grant terminated for NC recovery court. The U.S. Justice Department pulled a $900,000 grant to start a recovery court in Wilkes County for people with criminal cases arising from substance use issues just before the court was set to launch in April. The recovery court was a collaboration between the chief judge, the district attorney, a group of defense attorneys, and a local non-profit.
The terminated grant is one of many cut by the Office of Justice Programs. More than $88 million dollars in grants to launch programs throughout the country addressing substance use and mental health were cut. The Justice Department stated that the award in Wilkes County “no longer effectuates the program goals or agency priorities.”
Minnesota prosecutions. Vance Boelter, the man accused of fatally shooting former Democratic House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, as well as shooting and injuring another Democrat, Sen. John Hoffman, and his wife, Yvette, has been charged in state and federal courts with several serious charges including murder. Federal prosecutors appear to be considering the death penalty for the man, while the state prosecutor, Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty, indicates that she intends to seek a sentence of life without parole, noting that Minnesota has not imposed the death penalty in decades. Ms. Moriarty acknowledged some tension between state and federal authorities not only as to the proper punishment to seek, but also as to who would bring Boelter to trial first.
Acting U.S. Attorney Joseph Thompson, who is handling the federal prosecution, stated that the death penalty was an “option,” but that it was too early to tell whether his office would pursue it.
Executions rising in Iran. The deputy human rights commissioner at the United Nations presented a report this week finding that the number of executions in Iran has been rising to at least 975 in 2024.
More than half of these executions were for drug-related crime, with another 43% for murder. Executions are conducted by hanging in Iran, and four of the executions occurred in public.
The number of women executed rose to 31 from 23 in the previous year. Nine women were executed for the murder of their husbands in cases involving domestic violence, forced marriage, or child marriage.
The rights office also noted reports of incidents involving torture and arbitrary detention, as well as prosecution of journalists for their reporting.
Karen Read not guilty. I’ve discussed the Karen Read case previously on this blog here and here. Read was charged with murdering her boyfriend, Boston police officer John O’Keefe, by striking him with her SUV and leaving the scene. After a mistrial in 2024, Read was retried and on Wednesday, the jury found her not guilty of murder, manslaughter while operating under the influence, and leaving the scene. The jury found her guilty of one lesser-included charge of operating under the influence, and she received a sentence of one year on probation. This lesser-included charge was added as an option for the jury after the defense requested it be submitted just prior to deliberations.
The case received outsized attention for a variety of reasons, including investigative errors, elaborate theories regarding a law-enforcement cover-up, and the convoluted facts surrounding the death.
Have a great weekend and see you next week.
