Obstruction of Justice?

Question

Where can I find North Carolina elements of crimes for a obstructon of justice by failing to provide truthful information charge? I can't seem to find it in the N.C. statutes.

Answer 1

Do you have a criminal complaint or some other document showing what the actual charge is?  It should have the section of the applicable statute.  If you have access to a lay library, look for the West Digest for your state.  A digest is a collection of small blurbs collected from different court cases, arranged in order by topic.  Check the index for "obstruction of justice" and you'll be able to find names of court decisions dealing with that crime.  You will then have a citation telling you where you can find a written copy of that decision in the court reporter (the reporter is a bound volume containing copies of written court decisions; the citation format is [Volume Number] [of what reporter] and [page number]; 357 NC2nd 1258 is North Carolina, 2nd series, [page 1258.  (if they hit toomany volumes, they start counting again on a new series).  Once you find that decision, the decision should specify the name of the charge and its statute section.  This is probably the long way of doing it but looking at digests is a good way to get a feel for what the relevant law is.