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NJ: State waived standing by not raising it in trial court, but defendant had standing anyway

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

The state did not raise standing in the trial court, so it cannot raise it for the first time on appeal. Nevertheless, defendant has a “participatory interest” in the area where the drugs were found in the car, so he can challenge the search, which is found illegal, and the both win. State v. Minitee, 2010 N.J. Super. LEXIS 200 (August 16, 2010): In short, from this record, we discern no reason that justifies the State's failure to raise this threshold question in a timely fashion before the trial court. We will nevertheless address it because we are satisfied that Bland has the requisite "participatory" interest in the motor vehicle and the property seized to confer him with the standing necessary to challenge the State's warrantless search...continue to full post

Full post as published by Fourth Amendment on October 11, 2010 (boomark / email).