professional responsibility; disqualification of counsel based on conflicts of interest between former counsel and counsel associated in practice with former counsel; conflict imputation to lawyers associated in practice; Rules 1.6, 1.9, and 1.10 of the North Carolina Rules of Professional Conduct; no appeal of right exists from the denial of a motion to disqualify opposing counsel; trial court did not err, much less abuse its discretion, in denying motion to disqualify based on imputed conflict between former counsel in the same case who became associated in practice with opposing counsel after representation was terminated

Waiver of counsel; NCGS 15A-1242

Motion for Mistrial; Juror Misconduct

First-degree murder; Evidence Rule 702; fingerprint testimony; right to public trial; preserved objections.

malicious conduct by prisoner; ineffective assistance of counsel; plain error; lay-opinion testimony; motion to sequester witnesses; calculation of prior record level

Anders review; guilty plea

Preservation, jury instructions, and self-defense

Motion to Continue; Forensic Reports; Confrontation Clause

kidnapping; restraint for the purpose of inflicting serious bodily harm; sufficiency of the evidence.

issues are whether court committed plain error by failing to inform jury of its decision to sustain objection and whether court abused its discretion by admitting alleged inflammatory evidence