Among the latest batch of opinions the N.C. Court of Appeals has released this morning:

  • A unanimous three-judge panel affirmed a lower-court ruling in favor of Franklinton, its police chief, and two police officers in a wrongful-death lawsuit connected with a 2007 high-speed chase that led to the deaths of a fleeing suspect and two passengers in an unrelated car.
  • A unanimous three-judge panel affirmed a lower-court ruling favoring Cary in a dispute over town “riparian buffer” requirements for a 108-acre tract owned by Cary Creek Limited Partnership.
  • A unanimous three-judge panel upheld the 16- to 20-year prison sentence for a man convicted of second-degree murder in a 2006 Johnston County case, rejecting Dennis Wayne Shaw’s claim that the trial judge improperly weighed an aggravating factor in the case.
  • In affirming an Onslow County drug conviction, a unanimous three-judge panel ruled that a defendant could not claim that conversations with his wife were protected by the “marital privilege” if those conversations took place in a sheriff’s office with clear signs of visual and audio surveillance.