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Articles Tagged with self-defense in North Carolina

What is Self Defense?

Published on: October 18, 2023 | On behalf of Arnold & Smith, PLLC

What is Self Defense?

When you are faced with danger, you want to defend yourself. When you end up seriously hurting or killing the other person as a result, you might be charged with a crime. You may defend the charges with a claim of self-defense. Self-defense is an affirmative defense to a crime. In other words, you do not dispute that the situation occurred, but it happened because you were defending yourself or your property. However, you cannot claim self-defense in every situation. The law provides for the use of force under specific circumstances.

When Can You Use Force?

Self-defense argument ineffective as former Raleigh teacher is found guilty of first-degree murder

Published on: October 8, 2015 | On behalf of Arnold & Smith, PLLC

J. Bradley Smith of Arnold & Smith, PLLC answers the question “What is the difference between a misdemeanor and a felony?”

Joanna Madonna was found guilty of first-degree murder on Monday, September 28^th, in what had been a highly publicized trial in the North Carolina capital. The former Wake County schoolteacher and 48-year-old mother was sentenced to life in prison for the Father’s Day murder of her husband Jose Perez. Madonna was convicted of first-degree murder, which means the jury found that Madonna acted maliciously and with premeditation. The jury found that Madonna took her husband, who was a recovering alcoholic with serious health issues, on a drive through northern Wake County, shot and stabbed him, and left him to die in a ditch.