For more than 40 years, a North Carolina State Bar program has provided that interest earned on lawyers’ trust funds be used to finance grants to provide needed legal services to countless North Carolinians. The program has provided essential funding for legal service entities throughout the state without the use of State funds. Recently, however,...
One would understand if Ronnie Long had turned bitter and angry. After all, he had spent 44 years, 3 months, and 17 days in prison as an innocent man, wrongly taken from his family when he was just 20 years old. But Ronnie Long is a special individual. He survived a four-decade wrongful incarceration that...
The North Carolina Innocence Inquiry Commission (“Commission” or “ICC”), a first in the nation entity focused on examination of credible claims of wrongful conviction, would be eliminated under the N.C. Senate’s proposed 2025-2027 budget. That move would be a mistake. The annual budget for the Innocence Inquiry Commission is fairly modest – just $1.6 million....
No longer is Georgia one of the handful of jurisdictions in the United States with no procedure to provide some measure of compensation to those who have been wrongfully convicted. The new legislation, effective July 1, 2025, is titled “Wrongful Conviction and Incarceration Compensation Act,” and is codified at O.C.G.A. §§ 17-22-1 –12. Prior to...
The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals recently issued an important ruling on transgender healthcare and the Equal Protection Clause. The case, Kadel v. Folwell, (No. 22-1721, 4th Cir. Apr. 29, 2024), involved the North Carolina and West Virginia State Health Plans. In recent years, the state administrators of both healthcare insurance plans made changes to...
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit recently issued an important ruling in the area of equality with respect to educational opportunities. The case, B.P.J. v. West Virginia State Bd. of Educ., et al., (No. 23-1078, 4th Cir. Apr. 16, 2024), involved a 13-year-old girl (BPJ) who wanted to participate on her middle...
The Georgia Legislature ended its 2023 legislative session on March 28, 2023, without passing bills aimed at providing compensation for individuals who were wrongfully incarcerated in the state. The Legislature’s failure to act means that Georgia will remain one of only 13 jurisdictions without any statute that provides any monetary compensation for victims of wrongful...