Carteret County Sheriff Asa Buck has been appointed to serve on the North Carolina Commission on the Administration of Law and Justice.

Buck was appointed by Chief Justice Mark Martin of the North Carolina Supreme Court.

The sheriff will serve on the Criminal Investigation and Adjudication Committee.

The newly created commission is made up of people from the justice system as well as leaders in private and public sectors.

The goal of the commission is to do a comprehensive evaluation of North Carolina’s justice system and provide recommendations for improving our courts. The commission is expected to present its findings and recommendations to the Chief Justice and the public in early 2017.

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Over the past several months, an undercover investigation with the Macon County Sheriff’s Office (MCSO) revealed that at least nine businesses in Macon County were illegally operating sweepstakes gaming machines.

“Today was only the execution of multiple search warrants,” Macon County Sheriff Robert Holland said on Monday. “Nine businesses total since Saturday night were investigated. This follows an undercover investigation that has gone on for several months. Every business paid out cash during this investigation.”

The legal battle surrounding sweepstakes machines has been challenged in court several times over the last few years and have resulted in sweepstakes businesses opening and closing throughout Macon County.

In November 2014, a case was decided by the court of appeals in Onslow County, North Carolina, between Gift Surplus, LLC and the sheriff of Onslow County. Ultimately, the case argued that the sheriff and district attorney did not have legal capacity to close down and seize sweepstakes machines used by businesses in the county because the machines being used were in compliance with the state’s sweepstakes laws. The games, which offer slot machine style gambling, were said to be operating based on skills instead of chance, thus making them legal. The law also states that sweepstakes machines are legal if winning sweepstakes entries are redeemable for “prizes” rather than cash. Cash prizes are illegal under North Carolina Redemption Laws.

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It’s been almost five years since a brush fire pickup lunged forward and crushed volunteer firefighter Leonard Murray, killing him. But the Indiana man’s family continues to wait for an answer from the federal government about whether they will or won’t get a one-time death benefit meant to help the survivors of fallen public safety officers. Hundreds of families have waited for a year — and sometimes several years — for action from the Public Safety Officers’ Benefits Programs set up in 1976 to help out families of police, firefighters and other emergency workers who die in the line of duty or after severely stressful events on the job. A USA TODAY Media Network investigation, including a review of almost 1,500 claims filed by families since 2009, found the program mired in delays for more than a decade despite millions of dollars spent on outside audits and efforts to hire extra legal help to speed up processing languishing claims. As of August, about 750 families were caught waiting for answers on their claims for the one-time payment of about $340,000. Read more …

Raleigh, N.C. — The North Carolina Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday that state lawmakers went too far in 2011 in using some court fines to help offset the cost of housing state prisoners in county jails.

Under the Justice Reinvestment Act, people convicted of misdemeanors were moved out of state prisons as of 2012 and into county jails. The law also set up a fund to help counties with the added jail costs, using a special district court fee for misdemeanor convictions and fines on some motor vehicle violations.

The Richmond County Board of Education sued over the $50 surcharge on improper equipment violations being put into the jail fund, arguing that the North Carolina constitution requires that “the clear proceeds of all penalties and forfeitures and of all fines collected … for any breach of the penal laws” are to be “used exclusively for maintaining free public schools.”

A Superior Court judge ruled in the school board’s favor last year, but the state appealed, arguing that the surcharge isn’t a fine, and even if it is, only the “clear proceeds” should go to the schools.

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Our nation is in a hard and terrible place these days. Gun violence continues to strike down far too many people, whether in mass shootings, single shootings or questionable shootings by police. It’s all wrong. And the wounding and killing of police officers is among the worst of it.

The latest incident of an officer being ambushed came Friday night outside Houston, where The Associated Press reports that Shannon J. Miles, who has a criminal history including convictions for resisting arrest and disorderly conduct with a firearm, faces charges that he fatally shot Darren Goforth, a husband, father and 10-year veteran of the Harris County Sheriff’s Office, multiple times in the back. Goforth, who apparently didn’t even know Miles, had been gassing up his car at a service station.

Brian McCullar told the AP that he knew Goforth, 47, who had patrolled his neighborhood. “He was passionate about what he did,” McCullar said. “It’s a huge loss for this area. You’re talking about a guy that made a difference.”

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Attorney General Roy Cooper, discussing in a news conference Friday his decision not to re-try Charlotte-Mecklenburg police officer Randall “Wes” Kerrick in the shooting death of Jonathan Ferrell, called for better training in the use of force by law enforcement.

Cooper said the General Assembly should pass pending legislation that would pay for enhanced training in lethal force.

He said law enforcement officers deserve better pay, early retirement, the proper equipment and better training. But, he said, they are responsible for following the training they receive.

The legislation the attorney general mentioned is in the budget mix that House and Senate negotiators are working with. Both chambers included funding for the training in their budgets.

One line item would commit $455,000 in the current fiscal year for the N.C. Justice Academy to develop courses and training in use of force for local law enforcement agencies. Another nearly $260,000 would go to the State Highway Patrol to develop training for state law enforcement officers, including the State Bureau of Investigation, Alcohol Law Enforcement and State Capitol Police.

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Law enforcement types often have this thing about their first names. They tend to prefer initials only.

Check out their badges: S. Thomas. S. Dickason. M. Burchfield. E. Johnson. B. Venant. J. Erb. B. Ellis. Z. Morton. W. Williams.

These are the deputies who kept watch over for the last month over Courtroom 5370, home to the voluntary manslaughter trial of Charlotte-Mecklenburg police Officer Randall “Wes” Kerrick. Last week, the judge ordered a mistrial due to a deadlocked jury.

Suffice to say, many of the people who attended the trial had differing opinions about the officer’s guilt or innocence. But those I talked with were unanimous in their appreciation of the job the deputies did.

I’ve been in courtrooms where fights broke out, and relatives of the victim charged the accused. Kerrick himself reportedly received death threats, and he entered and exited under armed guard.

Yet his trial, along with the people it drew, operated with a striking sense of civility and good will. The deputies not only respected that, they enhanced it.

Granted, during a combined four weeks of jury selection and testimony, Courtroom 5370 had a handful of minor confrontations. Almost all involved the same bystander. One day, with little more than a slight change in air pressure, two deputies led the gentleman out of the courthouse. He never came back.

The mistrial set off demonstrations in several parts of the city. In the courtroom, the judge’s decision drew disappointment from both sides of the aisle. But everybody behaved.

A tone had been set – thanks in part to the guys with the initialed first names.

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Within weeks, Jackson County jailers won’t be doling out pills and peering under prisoners’ tongues to make sure they’ve swallowed their medications.

Commissioners have hired a for-profit provider of correctional health services to oversee care — including dispensing medicines — at the 72-bed Jackson County Jail.

“I’d just as soon be out of hiring and supervising nurses and leave that to the medical professionals,” Sheriff Chip Hall told commissioners during an Aug. 18 work session. “Sheriffs don’t need to be in the nursing business.”

TransformHealth Correctional Services of Statesboro, Ga., will receive $201,405.64 a year. In return, Jackson County government anticipates slashing costs, reducing liability and providing prisoners improved medical and mental-health care. Deputies should ferry fewer prisoners to the hospital, decreasing possibilities of escape and freeing those officers for other duties.

The potential losers in this deal? Local health providers, namely Harris Regional Hospital. TransformHealth has an in-house laboratory, uses a mobile unit for x-rays and ultrasound, and oversees prisoner detox in the jail, not at hospitals.

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SUNSET BEACH, N.C. — More than 80 sheriffs from across the state met in Sunset Beach on Monday for the annual North Carolina Sheriffs Association Conference.

Gov. Pat McCrory attended and said that some of the major issues facing law enforcement today include mental health and sanctuary cities.

“People with mental health issues and addiction issues are ending up in either our county jails or state prisons or emergency rooms. And that is not a long-term solution, that’s not a short-term solution. And I’m exposing that problem. And working together with the judicial branch, the legislative branch, the executive branch and the sheriffs to make sure we have a long term solution for North Carolina,” said Gov. McCrory.

Several other speakers offered advice to law enforcement. Topics like leadership and professionalism were discussed, noting that accountability starts at the top.

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With a June 30 deadline approaching, both video game parlor owners and local law enforcement are working to understand exactly what sweepstakes legislation covers.

Video poker and other electronic gambling was banned in North Carolina in 2007. Since then operators have fought to remain open and have adapted their games to comply with their reading of the law to do so.

A November 2013 injunction prevented the Onslow County Sheriff’s Office from enforcing state sweepstakes laws, Onslow County Sheriff Hans Miller said, explaining the injunction pre-dates his election to office. Miller said he recently received a call from County Attorney Lesley Moxley to inform him the North Carolina Supreme Court overturned the injunction, which would allow the sheriff’s office to enforce the state law beginning July 1.

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