BILL POWERS

June 21, 2026

Embarrassment After Criminal Charges | How Shame Can Make a Bad Situation Worse

Embarrassment after criminal charges may be one of the least discussed but most powerful forces affecting how a case unfolds. Long before a judge hears evidence or a jury enters the courtroom, a lot of defendants are already fighting a private battle with humiliation, regret, fear, damaged pride, and the sudden awareness that others may now see them differently.

Criminal charges can carry consequences beyond the legal system. They can affect family relationships, employment, professional licenses, reputations, friendships, and self-image. For many clients, the emotional fallout begins the moment they are arrested, served with a warrant, receive a citation or traffic ticket, learn they are under investigation, or see their name appear in a court file.

What surprises criminal defense lawyers is not the existence of embarrassment. It is what embarrassment sometimes causes defendants to do.

June 20, 2026

Juneteenth in North Carolina | Freedom, Citizenship, and the Long Arc of History

by Carolina Attorneys

Juneteenth, the Wilmington Coup of 1898, and the Wilmington Ten are separated by decades, yet each raises many of the same legal questions. What happens when constitutional rights exist on paper but are not fully protected in practice? What role should courts play when political pressure, public opinion, or government power collide with individual liberty? How should lawyers respond when the legal system itself becomes part of the controversy?

These events are frequently discussed through the lens of race, politics, or social change. Those subjects are undeniably part of the historical record. For lawyers, judges, and students of legal history, however, another perspective deserves equal attention. Each episode reveals something about the rule of law, due process of law, equal protection, voting rights, freedom of expression, and the ability of legal institutions to uphold constitutional principles during periods of conflict and uncertainty.

This article is not intended as a partisan argument. It does not seek to assign modern political labels to historical events. The political actors, parties, and public debates changed dramatically between 1865, 1898, and 1971. The constitutional principles at stake remained remarkably consistent.

June 18, 2026

Marijuana Use and Gun Rights in North Carolina | United States Supreme Court Hemani

by Carolina Attorneys

Can the government prohibit firearm possession based on marijuana use?

Marijuana use and firearm possession in North Carolina require a more careful legal analysis after the United States Supreme Court decided United States v. Hemani on June 18, 2026. The decision does not legalize marijuana in North Carolina. It does not allow anyone to carry a concealed handgun while impaired. It does not erase felony firearm bans. What it does is narrow the federal government’s power to treat every unlawful marijuana user as automatically too dangerous to own or possess a firearm.

TL;DR | Marijuana Use & Gun Rights in North Carolina After Hemani

June 18, 2026

How to Work With Your Criminal Defense Lawyer

by Carolina Attorneys

Learning how to work with your criminal defense lawyer can be difficult when you believe the accusation against you is unfair, exaggerated, or legally wrong. That reaction is human. A criminal charge can affect your record, your license, your job, your family, your reputation, your immigration status, and your sense of who you are. Even a traffic ticket can feel personal. When the stakes feel high, especially in cases like DUI, domestic violence, and drug charges, fear can come out as anger, anxiety can make every sentence feel like something to fight, and embarrassment can make even careful advice sound like criticism.

Key Tip | Lawyers want to help. Part of helping is being honest, even when it’s hard to hear. An important part of criminal defense involves explaining the law and clearing up misunderstandings about how the legal system really works.

That is why it makes sense to understand what your defense lawyer likely intends when the questions feel direct, the advice feels uncomfortable, or the conversation does not go the way you expected.

May 20, 2026

Traffic Ticket Infractions in North Carolina | Superior Court Jurisdiction

by Carolina Attorneys

On May 20, 2026, the North Carolina Court of Appeals decided State v. Myers, a case that may quietly create one of the stranger jurisdictional and constitutional problems in modern North Carolina traffic-stop litigation. The opinion itself appears relatively narrow at first glance. Superior Court lacks subject-matter jurisdiction to adjudicate contested standalone traffic ticket infractions unless N.C.G.S. § 7A-271(d) applies, even if those infractions are indicted alongside related felony and misdemeanor charges. Digging a bit deeper, the opinion more subtly raises a harder question for defense lawyers going forward. What happens when the alleged traffic infraction is not properly triable in Superior Court, yet that same alleged violation is the entire constitutional basis for the felony stop, detention, seizure, or arrest?

TL;DR: A New Hanover County jury convicted defendant of felony fleeing to elude arrest by motor vehicle and misdemeanor resisting a public officer. The jury also found them responsible for two traffic infractions, those being failure to signal a lane change and failure to carry a valid driver’s license. The Superior Court consolidated the misdemeanor conviction with the infractions and entered judgment. The Court of Appeals vacated the consolidated judgment, holding that Superior Court lacked subject-matter jurisdiction over the contested standalone infractions because they were not lesser-included violations and the defendant did not admit responsibility. The fact that the infractions were included in an indictment returned by a grand jury did not cure the jurisdictional defect.

N.C.G.S. § 7A-253 sets forth that original and exclusive jurisdiction for the adjudication and disposition of infractions lies in District Court, except as provided in N.C.G.S. § 7A-271(d). Superior Court must submit an infraction to the jury when it is a lesser-included violation of a criminal action properly before the court. Superior Court may also accept an admission of responsibility to an infraction when it is either lesser-included or a related charge. Myers did not fit either category. The defendant did not admit responsibility, and the alleged infractions were not lesser-included violations of the felony or misdemeanor charges.

May 13, 2026

Proof of DWI Charges in North Carolina | Operation of a Vehicle

by Carolina Attorneys

Proof of DWI charges in North Carolina does not always require an officer to see the vehicle move or the defendant behind the wheel. In State v. Trexler, the North Carolina Supreme Court sets forth what evidence can prove the operation of a vehicle (a prima facie essential element of the offense) when law enforcement arrives after a crash and determines who was driving from statements, including confessions, physical and forensic evidence, witness observations, and the surrounding circumstances.

Trexler matters because of the State’s Burden of Proof. An overturned vehicle, signs of impairment, a breath test result, and a defendant’s statements may be enough in one case, but not so in another. The legal question (and factual inquiry) involves whether the evidence proves more than the defendant’s mere presence near a wrecked car supports a reasonable inference, sometimes predicated on circumstantial evidence, that the person charged actually drove while impaired.

TL;DR | Trexler, Prima Facie Proof of Operation, Corpus Delicti, and the State’s Burden

April 16, 2026

Road Rage in North Carolina | Self Defense

by Carolina Attorneys

In North Carolina, the line between “Standing Your Ground” and “Voluntary Manslaughter” can be thinner than a highway lane marker. While N.C.G.S. § 14-51.3 potentially provides robust protections for those defending themselves (and others from immediate bodily injury or harm), certain road rage incidents may not be subject to traditional self-defense claims.

Road-rage shootings and felony assaults with a vehicle as a “weapon” occasionally show up in North Carolina cases. They may involve a confrontation that starts on the road, escalates over time, and ends with the use of deadly force. Early narratives may frame what happened as self-defense or defense of others (such as passengers). Later scrutiny, especially when the timeline and physical evidence are examined, can lead to a very different legal conclusion.

North Carolina law does not treat “stand your ground” as a shortcut or absolute protection in every instance. Under N.C.G.S. § 14-51.3, use of deadly force may be justified only when it is necessary to prevent imminent death or great bodily harm. N.C.G.S. § 14-51.4 also removes protections in the event someone may have, in fact, provoked the confrontation.

January 10, 2026

Pretrial Limited Driving Privileges for DWI in North Carolina

by Carolina Attorneys

North Carolina law permits courts, in defined circumstances, to authorize limited driving during certain pretrial license revocations arising from impaired driving charges. That authority exists within the civil revocation framework and is governed by statute, not by the outcome of the criminal case. Whether a pretrial limited privilege is available depends on specific findings, timing requirements, and statutory prerequisites that courts evaluate before exercising their discretion in issuing an Order. The sections that follow explain how courts analyze eligibility, scope, and limitations for pretrial limited driving privileges for impaired driving charges in North Carolina.

1. A pretrial limited driving privilege is a temporary court order, not a license restoration.
A pretrial limited driving privilege is a judicial order that authorizes restricted driving during a period when a driver’s license has been revoked in connection with an implied-consent impaired driving case. It does not restore a license, erase a revocation, or signal how the criminal charge will be handled. The underlying revocation remains in place, and the privilege operates as a narrow exception that permits specified driving activity under defined, limited conditions.

2. Pretrial privileges exist within the civil revocation framework, not the criminal case itself.
Courts evaluate pretrial limited driving privileges through the lens of civil license revocation law, not as part of sentencing or disposition of the underlying impaired driving charge. The statutory authority for limited privileges in North Carolina is tied to pretrial revocations arising from alleged implied-consent offenses, rather than to post-conviction consequences. This distinction matters because eligibility rules, waiting periods, and conditions differ from those that apply after a conviction.

December 24, 2025

Standing to Challenge a Search | NC Search and Seizure Law

by Carolina Attorneys

In the recent appellate decision of North Carolina v. Escalante (also cited as State v. Escalante), No. COA25-64, filed December 17, 2025, the North Carolina Court of Appeals examined whether the defendant had the legal right, known as standing, to challenge the legality of electronic surveillance used in his arrest. The appellate court affirmed the trial court’s ruling that the defendant lacked standing to seek suppression because he could not demonstrate a personal privacy interest in the phone that was tracked.

At the Powers Law Firm, we enjoy helping clients navigate complex legal issues. Bill Powers, a seasoned trial attorney with more than three decades of courtroom experience, is a former President of the North Carolina Advocates for Justice and a recipient of the North Carolina State Bar’s John B. McMillan Distinguished Service Award. He is a widely regarded criminal defense lawyer in North Carolina and a frequent speaker and seminar host in the legal community. If you have questions about your legal rights, we invite you to reach out to Bill Powers at Powers Law Firm for guidance.

TL;DR “Hot Take” in North Carolina vs. Escalante

December 20, 2025

Remembering Governor Jim Hunt and the Quiet Influence of Paying Attention

by Carolina Attorneys

I’ve been thinking about Governor Jim Hunt since learning of his passing, and it pulled me back to a time in my life I had not revisited in years.

It feels like a long time ago now. I was a student at NC State, somewhere around 1986 or 1987. I had recently changed majors, moving away from a science-heavy course load into something more liberal-arts centered.

As part of that shift, I was informed I needed an internship. The whole idea felt foreign to me. I was used to labs, lab reports, and exams that tested concrete knowledge. This was different, and at the time I remember thinking it was silly, maybe a bit touchy-feely. Squishy, if you will.