Trial Vol. 2

Julie Ramseur Lewis and John Rubin

Volume Two, Trial, of the North Carolina Defender Manual focuses on the principal areas of criminal procedure at the trial stage. Fifteen chapters cover a variety of topics, such as personal rights of the defendant, selection of the jury, opening and closing arguments, witnesses, and appeals, post-conviction litigation, and writs. This edition of the manual, released in 2020, includes updated chapters from 2018 to 2020. The 2020 edition is available for purchase as a soft-bound book here.

2020

About the Authors


Julie Ramseur Lewis

Julie Ramseur Lewis has served as an assistant public defender in Charlotte since 1993. The majority of her practice is in the state appellate courts. She has also practiced in district and superior court and continues to provide trial support for the Office of the Mecklenburg County Public Defender. Before serving as an assistant public defender, Ms. Lewis clerked for Chief Judge R.A. Hedrick of the North Carolina Court of Appeals and thereafter was a staff attorney for the North Carolina Court of Appeals. She has also served as an adjunct professor of Legal Research and Writing at the University of North Carolina School of Law at Chapel Hill. Ms. Lewis earned a B.A. magna cum laude from Catawba College and a J.D. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

John Rubin

John Rubin joined the School of Government faculty in 1991. He specializes in criminal law and procedure and indigent defense education. Before joining the School, he practiced law for nine years in Washington, D.C., and Los Angeles, California. He has written extensively on criminal law and procedure and teaches and consults with indigent defenders, judges, magistrates, prosecutors, and others who work in the court system. He earned a B.A. from the University of California at Berkeley and a J.D. from UNC-Chapel Hill. In 2008, he received the Albert and Gladys Coates Term Award for Faculty Excellence. In 2012, he was named Albert Coates Professor of Public Law and Government.