LIBRARY
Life, Death, or Lifetime Consequences: How We Evaluate Severe-Penalty Cases
Not every criminal case is the same. Some cases carry consequences so extreme that a single ruling, a single witness, or a single missed opportunity can define the rest of a person’s life. When the exposure is life imprisonment, capital punishment, or lifetime consequences like sex-offender registration, case selection is not a marketing decision, it’s…
Preserving Appellate Issues at Trial, A Practical Checklist for Defense Lawyers
In high-stakes criminal cases, appellate success often depends on what happens in the trial court long before a notice of appeal is filed. Appellate courts review the record, not memories. Preservation is how trial counsel ensures the record reflects the legal issues that matter, the grounds supporting them, and the rulings that resolve them. This…
Appealing After a Guilty Plea in North Carolina, What Still Can Be Challenged
A guilty plea often feels final. In many cases, it is. But a plea does not erase every legal issue, and it does not eliminate every path to relief. In North Carolina, the ability to appeal after a guilty plea depends on what happened in the case, what rights were waived, and whether the issue…
Sentencing Appeals in North Carolina, The Errors That Actually Move the Needle
A sentencing hearing can feel like the end of the road. In reality, it can be the beginning of a separate legal fight. In North Carolina, many appeals do not turn on what happened in front of the jury, they turn on what happened after the verdict, when the court imposes punishment. Sentencing is technical,…
The Appellate Record Starts at Trial, Preservation in High-Stakes Cases
In severe-penalty criminal cases, the trial is not only a fight for today, it is the foundation for everything that may come next. Appeals are decided on the record, and post-conviction litigation often rises or falls on what the trial court did, what counsel asked for, and what was preserved. In other words, the most…
What We Need to Evaluate a Severe-Penalty Case, Documents and Timeline Checklist
When the stakes include decades in prison, life without parole, or lifetime consequences like sex-offender registration, the first evaluation has to be fast, organized, and grounded in the record. Serious cases do not benefit from vague summaries or secondhand retellings. They benefit from documents, dates, and clarity. At Blau | Hynson, we accept only a…
When Everything Is on the Line: High-Stakes Criminal Defense in North Carolina
When a criminal charge carries the possibility of decades in prison, life without parole, or lifetime consequences like sex-offender registration, the case is not “routine.” It is catastrophic. The stress is immediate, the decisions are irreversible, and the margin for error is essentially zero. At Blau | Hynson, we accept a limited number of trial-level…
Historic Elmwood: A Federal-Style Landmark at 16 N. Boylan Avenue
Set just off Hillsborough Street, Elmwood (16 N. Boylan Avenue) is one of Raleigh’s oldest surviving homes and a touchstone of North Carolina legal history. Built circa 1813 in the Federal style, the house was constructed for John Louis Taylor, the first Chief Justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court, who is known to have…
How We Evaluate Post-Conviction Requests: Records, Deadlines, Remedies
What we look for in the file, why timing rules everything, and which remedies might apply. Step One: The Record Tells the Story Post-conviction work begins with documents, not opinions. We review the judgment, indictment, plea transcript (if any), trial transcripts, motions and rulings, jury instructions, exhibits, and sentencing materials. If there was an appeal,…
Post-Conviction Reality Check: Strong Claims vs. Strong Evidence
The difference between suspicion, new narratives, and admissible proof that can move a court. A Claim Isn’t a Case Post-conviction work lives and dies on proof, not passion. Courts don’t grant relief because a story sounds plausible or because the verdict feels wrong. They act when presented with admissible evidence that is material, credible, and…
Appeals Aren’t Retrials: When “No Reversible Error” Ends the Path
Strong feelings about a verdict aren’t enough to win an appeal. Appellate courts don’t re-try cases; they review the record to decide whether a legal error occurred and whether that error changed the outcome. If the court finds “no reversible error,” the conviction or sentence stands—even if the case felt unfair. What Appeals Actually Review…
Why We Take So Few Cases: Merit, Timing, and Impact
Clients come to us at the hardest moment in a criminal case-after conviction, when the margin for error is gone. At Blau | Hynson, we accept fewer than five percent of inquiries each year. That selectivity isn’t about scarcity for its own sake; it’s how we deliver meaningful results in appellate and post-conviction work. What…
What Do Appellate Courts Do? Understanding the Role of Review in Criminal Cases
When a criminal case doesn’t end at trial, it may move to a higher court for review. This next step occurs in what’s called an appellate court—a fundamentally different legal venue than a trial court. Unlike a trial court, which hears evidence and determines facts, appellate courts examine what happened at trial to determine if…
VIDEO ARTICLE: Grace Under Pressure – Oral Arguments Before the Supreme Court of NC
Watch Criminal Appeals Argued Before the North Carolina Supreme Court Behind every successful criminal appeal is not only months of written preparation, but also a single, unforgettable moment in the courtroom. In these featured videos, you’ll witness attorneys Dan Blau and Warren Hynson argue in separate matters before the North Carolina Supreme Court, a rare…