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New Jersey Criminal Defense Blog

Covers news, information, and events about criminal defense law in the state of New Jersey including shoplifting, drunken driving and theft.
By Lependorf & Silverstein

Post Frequency: 4.4/day

Last Entry: November 19, 2009 at 08:00:00

New Jersey Truck Driver Involved in Felony Gross Negligent Operation Case

Posted on November 19, 2009
An article discusses the recent case of a truck driver from New Jersey who allegedly caused the death of three people. According to the report, the truck driver has pleaded guilty to the felony charge against him for grossly negligent operation resulting in death...

Jersey City 16-Year-Old Sentenced as an Adult

Posted on November 17, 2009
For a teenager to be sentenced as an adult is a serious matter which usually draws differing public opinion regarding whether justice has been served or if justice has gone too far. According to an nj.com article, a Jersey City teen, who is now 17-years-old, was 16 at the time he was arrested for holding a gun to a man?s head during a robbery...

Chatham Church Janitor Charged with Parish Priest's Murder

Posted on November 12, 2009
A heated topic of discussion lately has been the recent arrest of a Chatham church janitor who is accused of killing a parish priest whose body was found in the church rectory. Apparently, law enforcement in Philadelphia has been looking for the janitor since 1988 due to an alleged indecent assault of a minor...

New Jersey's School Violence Awareness Week Hopes to Curb Juvenile Crime

Posted on November 10, 2009
A recent shorenewstoday.com story discusses the recent success of Oakcrest High School?s participation in New Jersey?s School Violence Awareness week from October 19-23, 2009. As one of many schools that took part in the state-wide awareness week, students found themselves listening to anti-violence discussions from law enforcement personnel and participated in a series of activities that both helped inform them about potential dangers and stressed the importance of character and social awareness education...

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"Fugitive Safe Surrender" Program to Begin in Newark

Posted on November 05, 2009
It was announced in an nj.com report that a four-day ?Fugitive Safe Surrender? program expects to welcome approximately 5,000 individuals with open criminal warrants (perhaps more even) at Bethany Baptist Church from November 4 through November 7, 2009...

Lawmakers Urging Pardon of Medical Marijuana User Who Suffers from MS

Posted on November 02, 2009
According to an article from politickernj.com, New Jersey lawmakers are strongly advocating for the pardon of a medical marijuana user who turned to its consumption due to not being able to afford costly pharmaceutical drugs to ease his pain from multiple sclerosis...

New Jersey Law Still Applies on Halloween and Mischief Night

Posted on October 30, 2009
For those that think that celebrating Mischief Night and Halloween translates to New Jersey law not applying, think again. Zero-tolerance policies will be at their height the day before Halloween, also known as Mischief Night, Goosey Night, and Cabbage Night, and especially on the day of Halloween...

Benefits of Drug Court Program Seen in Cape May County

Posted on October 20, 2009
Based on a capemaycountyherald.com report, a recent Drug Court program graduation held on September 21, 2009 reflects how nonviolent offenders have a chance at successful rehabilitation. According to the article, three individuals graduated from the Cape May County Drug Court and 14 others reached the program?s final phase on September 15, 2009...

Wrong Number Mishap Results in Drug Possession Arrest of Two Women in Salem County

Posted on October 15, 2009
A recent article from nj.com reveals an interesting drug possession arrest that took place after two women dialed the wrong number--the police--when trying to arrange a cocaine pick-up. When the police received the call, a detective pretended to be the women?s drug dealer and arranged a time and place to meet so that the ?cocaine? could be delivered...

Two Sides to One Man: Well-Known Chiropractor Sentenced for Sex Crimes

Posted on October 13, 2009
The Internet has countless purposes and is used in practically every household on a daily basis. However, as a recent Internet sex crime demonstrates, what you do with your spare time on your private computer may not be as private as you think. A recent report from northjersey...

Essex County Drug Arrest of 34 Gang Members

Posted on October 08, 2009
After a nine-month investigation called ?Operation Orange Crush? that involved multiple agencies, 34 gang members have been arrested for several drug offenses and weapons violations. According to an nj.com report, Essex County is the location where the alleged gang members of the Brick City Brim Bloods and the MOB Piru set of Bloods participated in dealing drugs...

Former Chief Financial Officer Sentenced for Stealing $21,000 from Lincoln Park

Posted on October 06, 2009
The recent sentence of the former chief financial officer of Lincoln Park reflects the severe consequences of being convicted of official misconduct. Two years ago, New Jersey Attorney General guidelines were toughened regarding official misconduct charges, making it so that a convicted offender would have to serve a minimum sentence of five years without parole...

Aggravated Assault Charges Against Man With a Steak Knife

Posted on October 01, 2009
It may surprise some New Jersey residents that a person can be charged with an assault offense without ever actually laying hands on another individual. Aggravated assault occurs when an individual attempts to cause serious bodily injury to someone else, either with or without the use of a deadly weapon...

$1.3 Million Grant Given to Union County to Prevent and Control Crime

Posted on September 29, 2009
An nj.com article reported that the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant Program has provided Union County, New Jersey with $1,315,718. Many residents of the area are likely to applaud such funds considering that it will help support state and local government actions to improve the criminal justice system, as well as help prevent and control crime in Union County...

Man Sentenced to 8 Years for Vehicular Manslaughter

Posted on September 25, 2009
According to an abclocal.go.com article, a man received a sentence amounting to eight years in prison for driving while under the influence of alcohol and causing the death of a 31-year-old police officer. The 25-year-old man pleaded guilty to vehicular homicide in June for last summer?s accident that took place in Woodbridge...

Raritan Borough Marijuana Possession and Sale Arrest

Posted on September 22, 2009
A 29-year-old Raritan Borough man has been arrested for possession of marijuana in New Jersey with intent to distribute and other offenses. According to an article, the arrest comes after a two-month narcotics investigation conducted by the Somerset County Prosecutor?s Office Organized Crime and Narcotics Task Force in coordination with the Raritan Borough Police Department...

Newark Gang-Related Shooting Kills 14-Year-Old

Posted on September 17, 2009
At 2 am on August 17, 2009, a 14-year-old boy died after being shot once in the back in what the boy?s mother is calling an act of retribution. According to a story, authorities are only saying that the violent crime was gang-related. The young teen was a member of the Bloods street gang despite his family?s efforts to dissuade him from joining the gang...

Learning More About Driver's License Suspension in New Jersey

Posted on September 15, 2009
Many residents believe that you have to be arrested for driving under the influence to have your driver?s license suspended in New Jersey, but this is not so. It is true that a DWI conviction will most likely result in driver?s license suspension among other consequences; however, a person?s driving privileges can be taken away for a variety of other reasons in New Jersey...

Middlesex Borough Sexual Assault at Community Pool

Posted on September 10, 2009
Just when you thought the local community pool was safe, an incident of sexual assault has occurred, one which will undoubtedly offset the ease of parents. A 15-year-old has to be charged with sexually assaulting an 8-year-old boy. The teen allegedly sexually assaulted the young boy in a men?s bathroom at the Roy K...

New Jersey Drunk Driving Sentence Delayed for Man with 12 DWI Convictions

Posted on September 08, 2009
Due to pending DWI charges in Wayne and Riverdale, the attorney of a 40-year-old man with at least 12 drunken driving convictions and 78 suspended license violations has presented the request to have the two cases transferred to Morris County to be resolved at the same time as a June 30th offense that injured two people...

New Jersey May Enforce Adult Curfew in Effort to Lower Crime

Posted on September 03, 2009
Law enforcement and government officials are considering implementing a mandatory curfew for people of all ages in Paterson, New Jersey, due to an influx in homicides and gun-related crimes seen so far this year. According to a newjerseynewsroom.com report, Paterson, as largely populated city in New Jersey, has experienced 30 shootings already this year, including 6 New Jersey homicides...

New Jersey Money Laundering Ring, 44 Arrests Made

Posted on September 01, 2009
Although since 2001 New Jersey has witnessed more than 130 public officials plead guilty or be convicted of corruption, the recent June 23, 2009 report of 44 individuals being arrested as part of a money laundering ring is quite shocking. Not only has a New Jersey governor?s cabinet member resigned, but three mayors, two state legislators, and several rabbis were taken into custody...

National Program to Fight Against Drunk Driving

Posted on August 27, 2009
The Governors Highway Safety Administration announced in a report on August 19, 2009 that multiple states will be participating in the national ?Drunk Driving. Over the Limit. Under Arrest.? program. The program aims to better regulate drunk driving during the Labor Day holiday period, discouraging vacationers from driving under the influence and posing serious risk to all other motorists on the road...

New Jersey Rapper Says He Was Falsely Arrested

Posted on August 25, 2009
Rapper and activist Wise Intelligent says he was falsely arrested for a drug crime in New Jersey right in front of his home after they thought they saw him in the act of selling drugs, this report states. Wise, who is apparently a founding member of the group, Poor Righteous Teachers, blogged about the experience on his MySpace page...

Assistant Prosecutor in New Jersey Charged with DUI

Posted on August 20, 2009
An assistant prosecutor for a New Jersey county has been accused of drunk driving near his home in Bethlehem. According to a report, the arrest occurred when firefighters were tying to put out a burning vehicle and the man changed lanes to pass a tow truck running over a fire hose...

Bergen County Police Round Up ?Bloods?

Posted on August 18, 2009
According to recent reports from the New Jersey Crime Examiner, law enforcement officials in the state?s Bergen County recently rounded up over a dozen suspected gang members in an effort to curb New Jersey gang crime in the densely populated community...

Karate Instructor, Former Cop Pleads Guilty to Sexually Assaulting Students

Posted on August 13, 2009
A 41-year-old New Jersey martial arts teacher pleaded guilty to having sex with two of his underage female students, according to a report. The teacher was also a New York City police officer who was suspended from the department following his arrest...

National DNA Initiative Shines Light on New Jersey Crime Prevention

Posted on August 11, 2009
A national coalition of government partners researching the effects of DNA testing on crime solving has demonstrated the power of this scientific method with a series of case studies on criminal activity in New Jersey. Partners in the DNA Initiative include the National Institute of Justice, the Office on Violence against Women, the Office on Community Oriented Policing Services and the Federal Bureau of Investigation...

Comedian Artie Lange Arrested for DUI

Posted on August 06, 2009
Stand-up comedian Artie Lange has pleaded not guilty in court to one charge of New Jersey DUI, according to this UPI news report. Lange, who gained celebrity with "The Howard Stern Show" and "MADtv" was arrested after he was involved in a rear-end car accident...

New Jersey Legislation Aims to Curtail Sexting

Posted on August 04, 2009
New Jersey Assemblywoman Pamela R. Lampitt has introduced legislation aimed at curtailing "sexting" that involves young girls and boys sending racy and often, nude pictures of themselves online including sending explicit photos over their phone. According to this Associated Press report, the actions of these teens technically amount to distribution of child pornography, a New Jersey sex crime charge that could carry severe, lifelong penalties for these young people...

NJ State Police Bag Fireworks, Step up Holiday Patrols

Posted on July 30, 2009
Special New Jersey police patrols were out in force over this Independence Day weekend to make sure that all of the pyrotechnics set off by state residents were within the regulations of New Jersey state fireworks laws. According to a press release from the New Jersey State Police website, patrols have been putting more effort into confiscating illegal fireworks over the 4th of July holiday...

New Jersey Sexual Assault Charges Against Man

Posted on July 28, 2009
New Jersey sex crimes carry extremely serious consequences. If you are convicted of a New Jersey sex crime, you not only face the possibility of a lengthy incarceration, but also the stigma attached to a convicted sex offender and the requirement to register for life as a sex offender on a state and national sex offender database...

New Jersey DWI and Assault Charges

Posted on July 23, 2009
New Jersey DWI charges can have serious consequences on our lives. New Jersey DWI defense attorneys know and understand the penalties and expenses that DWI charges bring. When driving under the influence involves accidents, injuries or death, the charges can be even more severe...

New Jersey Teen Faces Child Pornography Charges

Posted on July 21, 2009
Juveniles around the country are now facing the risk of acquiring sex offender status for posting naked pictures of themselves on MySpace. This may sound hard to believe, but it happened to a 14-year-old New Jersey girl earlier this year when she was accused of child pornography for posting 30 explicit nude pictures of herself on MySpace...

Stiffer Penalties for New Jersey Repeat DUI Offenders Proposed

Posted on July 16, 2009
New Jersey State Senate President Richard J. Codey has proposed imposing stiffer penalties on repeat drunk driving offenders. According to this news report in the Daily Record, Codey filed a package of bills in the Legislature recently including one bill that would make it a fourth-degree crime to drive under the influence while already suspended for a DUI conviction...

Man with Pending DWI Charge Arrested Again for Driving While Intoxicated

Posted on July 14, 2009
A 33-year-old New Jersey man, who was already wanted on a driving while intoxicated charge (DWI), was arrested for another drunk driving charge, this time charged with aggravated driving while intoxicated with a blood alcohol level above 0.18 percent and third-degree aggravated unlicensed operation, according to this news report...

New Jersey Bus Driver Accused of Sexually Assaulting Girl

Posted on July 09, 2009
A recent WABC-TV New York article reports that a New Jersey school bus driver has been accused of sexually assaulting a 12-year-old girl. Law enforcement officials from Morris County, New Jersey claim that Edward M. Comperchio, 74, of Hopatcong, was arrested at his home on Wednesday, May 27, 2009...

New Jersey DWI ? Translation Requirement

Posted on July 07, 2009
A New Jersey Appellate Division panel of Judges ruled on July 1, 2009 that in New Jersey there is no requirement that the standard DWI statement be translated into Spanish or any other foreign language for the benefit of defendants. However, the Court?s ruling contained a recommendation that New Jersey?s Motor Vehicle Commission consider, prospectively, having the standard New Jersey DWI statement ?translated into Spanish and perhaps other prevalent foreign languages...

PHILIPSBURG TEACHER, ASSOCIATE HEAD FOOTBALL COACH, ARRESTED

Posted on July 06, 2009
A Phillipsburg math teacher and associate head football coach is among the latest to be arrested for his alleged involvement in an Oxycontin distribution ring in Pohatcong Township. Kevin M.Kane, 38, has been charged with conspiring to distribute Oxycontin, attempt to distribute Oxycontin and drug possession, according to court paperwork...

While Other States Relax Drug Sentencing, New Jersey Remains Strict

Posted on July 02, 2009
This recent report in NJ.com claims that twenty percent of New Jersey?s total prison population, around 5,596 state prison inmates, consists of inmates serving a mandatory minimum sentence for a drug offense in New Jersey of some kind. While other states have relaxed sentencing for drug crimes to save money on incarceration and alleviate some of the overcrowding in prisons across the country from imprisoning minor drug offenders, New Jersey lawmakers have resisted similar legislation...

AGGRESSIVE DRIVING CRACKDOWN

Posted on July 02, 2009
The New Jersey Director of Division of Highway Traffic Safety announced in Trenton on June 30, 2009 that the State of New Jersey has handed out grants to 75 law enforcement agencies in the state to be used during the month of July to crackdown on aggressive driving throughout the state...

New Jersey Murder Charges Filed in Casino Killing

Posted on June 30, 2009
This recent article in the Pottstown Mercury claims that a man accused of murdering a casino worker appeared in New Jersey Superior Court to face charges in connection with the murder. The New Jersey murder charges allege that Mark E. Magee, 55, of Norristown, fatally shot 55-year-old Raymond Kot three times while Kot was working in card and dice room at the Taj Mahal Casino...

New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission Suspension Hearing

Posted on June 26, 2009
A New Jersey Appellate Division Court affirmed a New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission (MVC) decision to suspend an individual?s license for 730 days without even allowing this individual a hearing in New Jersey. The Court?s decision was decided on June 16, 2009...

New Jersey Robbery Charges Against Man

Posted on June 25, 2009
An Orange, New Jersey man is being charged with robbing the TD Banknorth branch on South Street in Middleton. According to this news report, police suspect that the 37-year-old Eddie Young may be responsible for an earlier robbery at the same bank. Young was apparently identified by a downtown bike officer and pursued into a gym on North Street...

Columbia, New Jersey Marijuana Cultivation Arrest

Posted on June 23, 2009
Police arrested two men for New Jersey marijuana cultivation and operating a marijuana growing facility in Columbia. According to a Pocono Record article, authorities seized 124 marijuana plants and five pounds of processed marijuana, all with a street value of about $258,000...

New Jersey Man Arrested for DUI and Assault

Posted on June 18, 2009
A New Jersey man has been arrested on aggravated assault and DUI charges after he reportedly hit a woman in the face during an argument in Phoenixville, the Phoenixville News reports in an article. Kyle Logan Deturk, 29, of Crambury, New Jersey, is being charged with aggravated assault, recklessly endangering another person, disorderly conduct, driving under the influence of alcohol or controlled substance, higher rate of alcohol (...

New Jersey Child Pornography Distribution Charges Against Grandfather

Posted on June 16, 2009
A New Jersey grandfather is being held without bail on child pornography charges, according to this CBS news report. Officials say 66-year-old Thomas Elgert spent months preying on children, collecting naked pictures of them and trading them with sex offenders on the Internet...

Gloucester Township Juvenile Crime: BB Gun Assault

Posted on June 11, 2009
Police have arrested three people in connection with a BB gun assault in Gloucester Township. According to a news report in Gloucester County Times, an unidentified victim was hit by pellets while jogging in Veterans Park. The gun was fired from a passing vehicle, police said...

New Jersey Crime Up in 2008 According to Uniform Crime Report

Posted on June 09, 2009
The Attorney General?s Office issued its annual Uniform Crime Report recently which claims that overall, crime was up 5 percent in the first six months of 2008 over the same period of time the previous year. According to an article from nj.com, the report indicated that from January through June 2008, murder in New Jersey was up 9 percent, rape increased 15 percent, and burglaries and thefts increased 7 percent...

NEW JERSEY CONSIDERS MEDICAL MARIJUANA

Posted on June 08, 2009
Three years after it was introduced in the Legislature, the proposal to legalize marijuana fro medical use in New Jersey gets its first test in a Senate Committee. If it passes, New Jersey would become the 14th state to create a sanctioned medical marijuana program...

New Jersey Lewdness Charges

Posted on June 05, 2009
In New Jersey, lewdness is codified under 2C:14-4 and states as follows: A person commits a disorderly persons offense if he does any flagrantly lewd and offensive act which he knows or reasonably expects is likely to be observed by other nonconsenting persons who would be affronted or alarmed...

Theft of $1.2M of Medical Equipment by New Jersey Men, Enter Guilty Plea

Posted on June 04, 2009
Two New Jersey men have pleaded guilty to stealing $1.2 million in medical equipment from a hospital in New York City. A recent article claims that Joseph Stamm, 24, of Jersey City and David Schwartz, 44, of Livingston stole medical equipment from New York Presbyterian Hospital and then sold the equipment on the Internet...

New Jersey Federal Wire Fraud Charges against Financial Advisor

Posted on June 02, 2009
A Fair Haven financial adviser is facing charges for federal wire fraud in New Jersey for allegedly cheating his clients out of more than $7 million according to this report. Prosecutors investigating the case claim that Maxwell Smith promised his investors returns of up to 9 percent on investments in health care facilities...

Intent To Drive Required for DWI in New Jersey

Posted on June 02, 2009
A recent New Jersey Appellate Division Court ruled in the case of Sate v. Putz, that the State has to prove a defendant?s intent to drive in order to prove the elements of a DWI. Merely sitting in the driver?s seat with the engine idling and the parking brake off is not enough...

Alcotest Recalibration Ordered by New Jersey Courts

Posted on May 28, 2009
On March 17, 2008 the New Jersey Supreme Court ruled in a case entitled State v. Chun. This long awaited ruling addresses many issues related to driving while under the influence of alcohol charges in the state of New Jersey. Specifically, the case addressed the reliability of the Alcotest 7110 MKIII-C machine...

New Jersey Mother DUI Arrest with Child in Car

Posted on May 27, 2009
A New Jersey woman faces charges of driving under the influence of drugs, child endangerment and reckless driving after she ran a red light and weaved onto the wrong side of the road, according to this news report in The Intelligencer. Police say 24-year-old Laura A...

Motor Vehicle Commission Suspensions in New Jersey

Posted on May 27, 2009
As we all know as motorists in New Jersey, having our license to drive is incredibly important. The public transportation system in New Jersey is less than ideal, and most of us rely on our cars to get to work, school, run errands, pick up kids, etc...

New Jersey Pre-Trial Intervention (PTI) Applications: Drug Offenses

Posted on May 22, 2009
A recent New Jersey Appellate Division case addressed the issue of whether a defendant should be allowed to apply for Pre-Trial Intervention (PTI), even if the application is unlikely to be granted due to the prosecutor?s opposition. Defendant Robert Dwayne Green was indicted on three related third-degree CDS offenses, based on his alleged drug sale in New Jersey of $150...

New Jersey Pre-Trial Intervention Program (PTI) - Prosecutorial Discretion

Posted on May 20, 2009
A recent New Jersey Appellate Division case, State v. Mosner, dealt with issues of prosecutorial discretion in PTI cases. In this case, David McInnis was charged with assault by motor vehicle (a snowmobile), and five motor vehicle offenses, including leaving the scene of an accident resulting in injury or death to any person...

New Jersey Assault Charges against Man on Several Counts

Posted on May 20, 2009
A Hoboken, New Jersey, man has been accused of assaulting two police officers after they responded to a domestic abuse report at a borough apartment, the Bergen County Record reports in an article. Michael Colombo, 44, was confronted by two officers at the second-floor apartment after he allegedly struck a female tenant, leaving her with a swollen left eye...

New Jersey Lawmakers to Consider Post-Crash Sobriety Test Requirement

Posted on May 13, 2009
Drivers who are involved in New Jersey traffic fatality or serious injury crashes would be required to take a field sobriety test under a bill recently introduced in the New Jersey Legislature. According to this news report in the Insurance Journal, Assemblyman Paul Moriarty, who is co-sponsoring the bill, has said that this requirement would help law enforcement officials determine whether or not a driver should be charged with a crime in connection with the auto accident...

Vehicle Searches by Police

Posted on May 06, 2009
The U.S. Supreme Court, in a recent ruling in the case of Arizona v. Gant, ruled that police may search the passenger compartment of a vehicle incident to a recent occupant?s arrest only if it is reasonable to believe that the arrestee might access the vehicle at the time of the search or that the vehicle contains evidence of the offense of arrest...

New Jersey Sex Crimes, Man Sentenced to 5 Years in Prison

Posted on May 05, 2009
A Secaucus accountant has been sentenced to five years in state prison after he pleaded guilty to luring young boys to various locations in Wayne and photographing them performing sexual acts, according to a story from the Bergen County Record. Michael Findlay, 38, of Paterson, New Jersey, was arrested on February 23, 2007 after an investigation by the Passaic County Prosecutor's Office, which began after one of the boys' parents tipped off officials...

Immunity For Underage Drinkers In New Jersey

Posted on May 05, 2009
On May 4, 2009 the New Jersey Senate Law, Public Safety and Veteran?s Affairs Committee approved a bill that grants immunity to any individual under the age of 21 who has been drinking if that person contacts the police because he or she fears that another underage drinker has consumed too much alcohol and is in need of medical help...

Jewelry Heist Leads to New Jersey Bust

Posted on April 29, 2009
Westerville police officials believe that the recent arrest of six men in a New Jersey hotel has broken a jewelry theft ring that operated on a national scale. According to this report, police used DNA evidence and fingerprints taken from the scene of a jewel heist to link the men to a string of recent robberies of jewelers in New Jersey, New York City and other locations across the country...

New Jersey DUI, Vehicular Manslaughter: Man Gets Prison Sentence

Posted on April 27, 2009
A New Jersey man has been sentenced to more than four years in prison for an alcohol-related car accident that killed a 13-year-old girl. According to this news report, 23-year-old Joshua Nicholas Giarra of Robbinsville pleaded guilty to homicide by vehicle, DUI, recklessly endangering another person and other related charges...

New Jersey Public Official Admits Accepting Bribes

Posted on April 22, 2009
A recent report from the Fort Mill Times claims that a New Jersey public works official has admitted accepting as much as $70,000 in bribes from contractors seeking favorable rulings on city contracts. Tommaso Calautti, 44, of New Milford pled guilty recently to accepting payoffs from three contractors from May 2003 to July 2008...

Ocean Township Drug Charges against Two Men

Posted on April 17, 2009
After an extensive investigation over a period of at least eight months, dozens of people?including two men from Ocean Township?are facing a wide range of criminal charges including drug trafficking and drug possession in New Jersey with intent to sell...

New Jersey Sex Assault Confession Allowed by Supreme Court

Posted on April 10, 2009
New Jersey?s Supreme Court reinstated child sexual assault convictions recently for a man who claimed that his confession should not have been presented in his trial. According to details in this news report, John Nyhammer's 2003 convictions on aggravated sexual assault in New Jersey and child endangerment charges had been overturned when an appeals court ruled that he had not voluntarily waived his rights against self-incrimination...

New Jersey Marijuana Cultivation Case Denied Dismissal by Superior Court Judge

Posted on April 06, 2009
An article published on NJ.COM explains how a Superior Court judge refused to dismiss charges against a Somerset County man accused of growing 17 medical marijuana plants at his home. The man grew the plants, he says, because he suffers from multiple sclerosis and the drug alleviates his symptoms...

New Jersey Police Seize 100 Pounds of Marijuana

Posted on April 03, 2009
A report published on the website NJ.COM, describes how authorities in Vineland seized nearly 100 pounds of marijuana believed to be headed to Cumberland County via a tractor trailer. State police began an investigation which ultimately resulted in the arrest of the driver of the tractor trailer, 35 year old Davenport, Fla...

New Jersey Marijuana Defense Attorneys Launch New Site

Posted on April 02, 2009
The state of New Jersey has a distinctive approach to Marijuana Law for those who have been arrested for or charged with possession of marijuana, selling, or cultivation of marijuana. As of March 2009, New Jersey law enforces severe penalties on individuals convicted of marijuana related crimes...

New Brunswick Robbery Sentences Man to 15 Years

Posted on April 01, 2009
A recent report claims that a man described as a career criminal has been sentenced to 15 years in prison for robbing a man on a bicycle in New Brunswick. Jermaine Smith-Echevarria, 32, of New Brunswick robbed a 38-year-old man pushing a bicycle around midnight on May 26, 2007, on Townsend Street and Lee Avenue...

Twenty Minute Observation Upheld in DWI Cases

Posted on March 30, 2009
Superior Court Judge Mitchel Ostrer of Mercer County held on March 5, in State v. Nagorniak, that the State must prove by clear and convincing evidence that a defendant was observed by a police officer for a minimum of 20 minutes before a breathalyzer test was taken...

Newark Murder and Robbery Charges against Men

Posted on March 27, 2009
According to this recent Newsday report, two Newark men have been arrested and are facing charges for a rash of robberies and criminal homicide in New Jersey of a gas station attendant killed in one of the robberies. Raymond Perry, 43, and David Fate, 24, face felony murder charges in the death of 29-year-old Daniel Pritchard, who worked at a Verona gas station...

New Jersey Accounting Fraud Case Sentences Former Executive

Posted on March 25, 2009
An Upper Saddle River, New Jersey, man has been sentenced to a year and a day in federal prison for an accounting fraud scandal, which apparently artificially propped up the stock price of insurer American International Group Inc. According to this news report, Christopher Garand, who served as a senior vice president at Gen Re, was also fined $150,000 and will be under two years of supervised release after the term ends for his role in the case...

New Jersey DWI and Hit-and Run Arrest Of Veteran Police Officer

Posted on March 20, 2009
A veteran officer in the Lower Township Police Department was charged with driving while intoxicated in New Jersey and hit-and-run after he swerved into an oncoming lane of traffic and sideswiped a Transit Bus on Townbank Road near Bayshore Road. According to an NBC news report, authorities followed scrape marks on the street into a home on Crawford Road and found a pickup truck that had heavy front-end damage...

New Jersey Sex Crime Against Minor Charges Man

Posted on March 16, 2009
Police in Rutherford, New Jersey, arrested 40-year-old Cesar Pajares on suspicion of fondling a teenage girl over a three-year period, the Bergen County Record reports. The girl, now 16, apparently told police in February that Pajares fondled her in a Rutherford home while she was between the ages of 13 and 16...

New Jersey Drug Charges Against Arrested Men

Posted on March 13, 2009
Two men in West Milford are facing multiple drug charges in New Jersey after police found 89 bags of heroin in the mens? car. According to this news report, the arrestees were identified as 20-year-old Matthew J. Mercorella and Zachary Van Dunk, 19. Mercorella and Van Dunk were arrested after patrol officers made a traffic stop on Warwick Turnpike for a broken taillight and found the drugs in their Nissan Xterra...

New Jersey Drunk Driving Suspect Arrested

Posted on March 11, 2009
A South River woman was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence in New Jersey and crashing her car, this news Web site reports. Police arrested 40-year-old Iryna Matviyishyn after a passing motorist called a report that a vehicle had driven off Main Street in Milltown into a tree...

Wayne Sex Crime of Prostitution Charges Against Massage Parlor Worker

Posted on March 09, 2009
A massage parlor worker in Wayne is facing prostitution charges, the Bergen County Record reports. The arrest came after a Wayne Police Special Operations Unit and the Passaic County Prosecutor?s Office executed a search warrant at the Eastern Cozy Spa on Hamburg Turnpike...

New Jersey Fraud Accusation Against Residents

Posted on March 06, 2009

Wanaque 14-year-old Charged with Drunk Driving

Posted on March 03, 2009

Runnemede Woman Arrested on Suspicion of DWI

Posted on February 28, 2009

Ocean City Man Arrested On Suspicion of Sexually Assaulting 14-year-old Girl

Posted on February 25, 2009
Police in Ocean City have arrested Gregory Hoyle, a 19-year-old man on suspicion of sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl, according to this news report. The alleged assault occurred at a Mercer Place home the evening of January 31, 2009. Hoyle has reportedly been charged with sexual assault and is currently been held in Cape May County Jail...

New Jersey High Court Stirs Up DUI Stop Rules

Posted on February 22, 2009
The New Jersey Supreme Court has ruled that a person can be stopped on suspicion of drunk driving on the basis of a reliable report that the person was intoxicated. According to a news report in The Star Ledger, the decision was based on a case where a teenager called police and reported that her father had gotten into his car drunk and driven off after an argument with her...

New Jersey Man Arrested After He Admits Carrying Marijuana

Posted on February 19, 2009
Anthony Lopez, 29, of North Bergen was arrested in Bayonne, New Jersey the morning of January 9, 2009 after he admitted to police that he possessed marijuana. According to this news report in the Jersey Journal, Lopez walked past officers outside a Bayonne gas station when police said they smelled a strong odor of burnt marijuana coming from him...

Miranda Rights Eroded In New Jersey

Posted on February 16, 2009
The New Jersey state Supreme Court has recently held that police did not have to re-administer Miranda warnings to a defendant once they let him know, mid-interrogation, he was under suspicion. In this case, the defendant was called and asked to come to the station house to discuss whether his uncle had sexually abused his 9 year old niece...

Man Arrested on Suspicion of DWI in Delaware

Posted on February 12, 2009
Richard Milligan, 25, a resident of Wilmington, Delaware, was arrested January 10, 2009 and charged with driving while intoxicated, according to this news report. Milligan also received a summons for reckless driving, failure to stop at a stop sign, failure to maintain a lane and for driving an unregistered and uninsured motor vehicle...

Guilty Plea Withdrawal In New Jersey

Posted on February 10, 2009
The New Jersey Supreme Court decided a case on February 4, 2009 that outlines the factors all Courts in the State of New Jersey are to use when determining if a prior, guilty plea can be withdrawn. The case entitled State v. Slater lists the following four factors to be considered: 1) whether the defendant has asserted a colorable claim of innocence; 2) the nature and strength of the defendant?s reasons for withdrawal; 3) the existence of a plea bargain; and 4) whether withdrawal could result in unfair prejudice to the state or unfair advantage to the accused...

New Jersey Appeals Court Throws Out Sex Abuse Conviction

Posted on February 05, 2009
A New Jersey court has thrown out a conviction in a sex abuse case because of comments a Bergen County sheriff?s officer made to jurors, according to this news report. Roy Hermalyn, who was an assistant school superintendent, was convicted in November 2007 of official misconduct...

New Jersey Road Rage Probation Violation

Posted on January 29, 2009
On January 28, 2009, a Mercer County New Jersey Superior Court Judge sentenced Daniel Robbins, Jr. to 18 months in jail for violating his probation in New Jersey. The defendant had been convicted by a jury of two counts of assault by auto in November of 2006...

Passaic County Man Faces Drug Charges

Posted on January 14, 2009
A 56-year-old Paterson man has been recently arrested by authorities who say he dealt narcotic substances from his house. According to a news report in the Herald News, officials searched and found a small quantity of cocaine and cash at the address of 2 Chadwick St...

Manhunt Continues for Escaped Prisoner

Posted on January 08, 2009
On Tuesday January 6, 2009 Marc Harris, who was serving time at the Skillman Dairy Farm on Burnt Hill Road in Montgomery, New Jersey for a March, 2008 drug distribution offense in Atlantic County, New Jersey, escaped following a brief fight with a prison officer...

New Jersey Disorderly Persons Offenses

Posted on January 07, 2009
What is a Disorderly Persons offense? A Disorderly Persons Offense is a category of offense that can be related to a small amount of drugs, a simple assault, a petty theft, etc. Disorderly Persons offenses are handled in the municipal court of the municipality where the offense occurred...

New Jersey "Synergistic Effects" DWI

Posted on January 02, 2009
In the State of New Jersey, an individual can be charged with a DWI if there is a consumption of legally prescribed or illegal drugs and alcohol which, together, produces a synergistic effect. This is the case even if the impact of either the drugs or alcohol, alone, would not render the defendant intoxicated...

New Jersey Drunken Driving Investigative Stop

Posted on December 31, 2008
On December 22, 2008, The New Jersey Supreme Court reversed two lower court decisions that relate to Clifton, NJ police officers who stopped a driver on suspicion of driving while intoxicated in New Jersey based solely on a tip the officers received from the drunk driver?s seventeen year old daughter...

New Jersey Drunk Driving Checkpoints

Posted on December 30, 2008
During the holiday season, almost all municipalities in the State of New Jersey are more vigilant than ever in trying to arrest drunk drivers. One very common technique that is utilized by municipal police departments during this time of year is what is commonly referred to as a DWI-check point...

MUNICIPAL COURT JUDGE FACES DISCIPLINE FOR DWI

Posted on December 18, 2008
A Cape May County New Jersey Municipal Court Judge testified before a New Jersey Ethics Committee panel on Wednesday, December 10, 2008 regarding a New Jersey DWI incident that took place on March 27, 2008. The New Jersey Municipal Court Judge was charged with a DWI after failing field sobriety testing and an Alcotest breath test...

Jersey City Driver Arrested on Suspicion of DUI

Posted on December 05, 2008
A driver was arrested on November 15, 2008 on suspicion of drunk driving after he plowed his car into an area where garbage was stored. A pedestrian was struck by one of those trash cans and injured in the knee. According to this news report, 41-year-old Phillip Serpe of Jersey City refused to take a field sobriety test...

Judge Sends Convicted Sex Offender to Treatment Facility Instead of Prison

Posted on November 28, 2008
A Superior Court judge opted to send a 20-year-old man convicted of sexually assaulting two young boys to an inpatient treatment program instead of handing him down a prison sentence. According to this news report in the New Jersey Star Ledger, Judge John Dangler agreed with Alexander Willadsen?s defense attorney that Willadsen should be sent to a treatment facility instead of getting a 10-year prison sentence, which was recommended by prosecutors...

Trenton Police Arrest Two Men On Murder and Robbery Charges

Posted on November 17, 2008
Two men have been arrested on suspicion of a May 4 murder in Trenton. Patrick McFarlane, 19, and Roderick Armstrong, 20, were arrested in connection with the murder of 44-year-old Richard Mason who was shot and killed at the corner of Kirkbride Avenue and New Willow Street during an alleged robbery, according to this ABC News report...

Man Arrested on Suspicion of Molesting Girl in Supermarket

Posted on November 10, 2008
Hamilton Township police have arrested a man who they say molested a 12-year-old girl inside a local Acme Supermarket on October 19, 2008. According to a CBS News report, the incident captured on the store?s surveillance camera, happened when the young girl got separated from her mother inside the store...

Suspected Drunk Driver Hits Pole, Leaves Accident Scene

Posted on November 01, 2008
A Ramsey man was arrested and charged with driving under the influence after he reportedly hit a pole early morning on November 15, 2008 and then left the scene of the accident. According to this news report in the Times of Trenton, 22-year-old Andrew Cronin struck a pole on Franklin Corner Road at Princeton Pike and then left the scene of the crash...

Trenton And Pemberton Township Drug Charges Filed Against Gang Members

Posted on October 24, 2008
In a recent drug raid of two Browns Mills homes New Jersey state troopers and Pemberton township officers arrested seven people, reported The Trenton Times. Simultaneous raids were conducted in the 300 block of Trenton Road and the 300 block of Seminole Trail resulting in the arrest of alleged members of the Bloods street gang...

New Jersey Sex Charges Result in Arrest of Bus Driver

Posted on October 15, 2008
Maria Fernandez, 53, a Jersey City bus driver who transports developmentally disabled people, was arrested on sex charges in New Jersey for instructing one of her passengers to touch another inappropriately. According to a recent article in The Jersey Journal, Central Avenue resident Fernandez was charged with aggravated criminal sexual contact and endangering the welfare of an incompetent person and arrested in Bergen County...

Lake Wallkill Auto Accident Results in Charges for Sussex Driver

Posted on October 07, 2008
A recent car accident near Sleepy Hollow Road in Vernon Township killed Ryan Olsen, a resident of Vernon, according to this article. Vernon Township police said Olsen, 22, who died at the accident scene was one of three people in the car that was driven by Joseph Cavanaugh of Sussex...

Driver?s Comments at Accident Could Be Used against Him, New Jersey Judge Rules

Posted on October 01, 2008
A 26-year-old driver?s statements at the scene of an accident on Route 80 in Roxbury where three people died could be used against him at his trial, Superior Court Judge Salem Ahto ruled. According to an article in the Star-Ledger, Damian D?Aleo?s admissions of drinking beer and driving under the influence of drugs, specifically taking Ecstasy and cocaine before the crash can be used at the trial...

Man Arrested in Villas on Drug Possession Charges

Posted on September 08, 2008
Police in Villas, N.J., reportedly seized 1.5 pounds of high-grade marijuana and 100 prescription narcotic pills from a home after responding to a domestic dispute there, the South Jersey News Online reports. Police reportedly arrested a 20-year-old resident on illicit drug charges after police found drug paraphernalia and bags of marijuana in the home in plain view...

Easton Man Indicted on Suspicion of Sexually Assaulting Teenager

Posted on August 30, 2008
28-year-old Joshua Roehrich has been indicted on sexual assault charges in Warren County. The grand jury indictment stems from suspicion that Roehrich sexually assaulted a 13-year-old Phillipsburg girl over a two-year period. According to this news report, officials allege in a 10-count indictment that Roehrich abused the girl from June 2005 to September 2007 when the girl turned 16...

New Jersey DUI, Homicide Charges in Easton Motorcycle Accident

Posted on August 23, 2008
A man facing DWI charges in Easton, New Jersey has also been charged with homicide by prosecutors in connection with a June 9 double fatal motorcycle accident on Route 611 in Easton. According to a news article in The Morning Call, James M. Black of Lopatcong Township was driving with a blood alcohol level twice the legal limit, which is ...

Senior Citizen Accused Of Possessing Child Porn In His Computer

Posted on August 15, 2008
A 74-year-old has been arrested and charged with possession of child pornography in Hamilton after police reportedly found images of children having sex with adults on his home computer, according to this article. Charles W. Britton was arrested after a three-week investigation by local police, the Mercer County Prosecutor?s Office and a State Police forensics unit...

Perth Amboy High School Teacher Accused of Having Sex with Student

Posted on August 12, 2008
A high school football coach and substitute teacher has been arrested and charged with having a sexual relationship with a Perth Amboy high school student. According to a recent news article, 25-year-old Demond Edwards of Woodbridge was charged with sexual assault in Perth Amboy and endangering the welfare of a child ? both second-degree offenses...

Four Arrested in Newton on Drug Possession Charges

Posted on August 07, 2008
Police officers seized 476 bags of cocaine and arrested four people on suspicion of drug possession in Newton in what is one of the largest drug busts in Sussex County. According to a news article in The Star-Ledger, the street value of the cocaine also made this one of the largest drug busts in Sussex County...

Products Liability and Warranty Protected With Well Written Disclaimer

Posted on August 06, 2008
If your company sells commercial goods to other businesses for resale, fabrication, or use in other products, you should make certain that your warranty disclaimers are well written, properly communicated, and otherwise enforceable. One of the most important disclaimers you should consider is a limitation of consequential damages...

Paterson Man Accused of Murdering His Girlfriend

Posted on August 01, 2008
Police arrested a man on Paterson homicide charges after investigators found his girlfriend?s body stuffed in a bag in his apartment, according to a Star-Ledger new report. Randy Martin, age 47, is being held on $1 million bail. His girlfriend, 26-year-old Maria Hoppe of Randolph was reported missing on June 10...

Long Island Doctor Accused of Spying With Hidden Camera

Posted on July 30, 2008
A Long Island doctor is in trouble after police accused him of installing a hidden camera in the bathroom of his medical office, according to this news article. Nassau County police say Vincent Pacienza of North Hills was arrested and charged with unlawful surveillance...

Bridgeton Man Pleads Guilty To Forgery

Posted on July 23, 2008
A 55-year-old Bridgeton man has plead guilty to forgery, after he falsified U.S. bonds worth more than $41,000. According a news report in South Jersey News Online, Rory McCafferty admitted that from May 2005 to March 2006 he forded another man?s signature, used false identification and cashed about 253 bonds at different banks in Bucks County in Pennsylvania...

New Jersey Supreme Court Makes "Bad Law" in Child Abuse Case, Denigrating Our Constitutional Right to Confront Our Accusers (Part 3)

Posted on July 16, 2008
Part 3 of a 3-part series about the Right to Confrontation. By Peter B. Paris ?Testimonial? or ?Non-Testimonial?: That is the Constitutional Question In Crawford, the Court?s key point was that, if the out-of-court statement was ?testimonial,? it cannot be admitted in evidence without an opportunity to cross-examine the person who made the statement...

New Jersey Supreme Court Makes "Bad Law" in Child Abuse Case, Denigrating Our Constitutional Right to Confront Our Accusers (Part 2)

Posted on July 15, 2008
Part 2 of a 3-part series about the Right to Confrontation. By Peter B. Paris The Historical Use of Exceptions to the Hearsay Rule to Erode the Right to Confrontation In 1980, when the U.S. Supreme Court decided Ohio v. Roberts, the Right to Confrontation began its twenty-four year decline...

New Jersey Supreme Court Makes "Bad Law" in Child Abuse Case, Denigrating Our Constitutional Right to Confront Our Accusers (Part 1)

Posted on July 14, 2008
Part 1 of a 3-part series about the Right to Confrontation. By Peter B. Paris There is an old adage in the legal world that warns us, ?BEWARE: Bad facts make bad law.? In other words, sometimes when ?bad facts? occur, like a horrible crime or tragic event, policy-makers react with short-term legal ?fixes? which end up having negative, unintended consequences down the road...

Wrong-Way Driver Could Be Charged With DUI

Posted on July 10, 2008
A 36-year-old Allentown woman is facing drunken driving charges after she operated her vehicle against the flow of traffic on Route 22 in Bethlehem Township and struck a vehicle and injured a driver, the Express-Times reports. Michele L. Leigh crashed her Pontiac minivan into a Ford Mustang driven by Michael L...

Easton Man Faces Felony Driving Under the Influence Charge

Posted on July 03, 2008
A 26-year-old Easton man is facing charges of driving under the influence in connection with a Feb. 21 fatal auto accident in Ross Township. According to this report Dudd Flanagan III was driving a 2007 Hyundai west on Kunkletown Road in Ross Township when the accident happened...

The Milberg Settlement & Dealing With Unfair Stereotypes In The Legal Industry

Posted on June 22, 2008
As a former police officer and current New Jersey litigation attorney, I have worked in two of the most unfairly maligned professions in this nation. As an attorney, I have accepted the fact that unfair stereotypes are simply part of doing business in this day and age...

New Jersey Dog Attack Laws Questioned Following Congo The German Shepard's Euthanization

Posted on June 20, 2008
As New Jersey attorneys who represent victims of dog bites and owners of dogs accused of biting, we feel it is incumbent upon us to comment on the case involving Congo, the Princeton Township German Shepherd that was recently euthanized by its owner and which garnered international attention last year when a Princeton Municipal Court judge ordered Congo to be euthanized, only to be reversed by a settlement with the local prosecutor after massive public outcry...

Princeton?s Lependorf & Silverstein, P.C. welcomes Peter B. Paris to the firm

Posted on June 16, 2008
Peter B. Paris, Stanford Law graduate and President of the Princeton High Class of 1987, returns to his hometown to join longtime friends and colleagues, Gabriel Lependorf and David Silverstein at Princeton?s own Lependorf & Silverstein, P.C. As Peter recalls, ?Gabe and I have talked about joining forces ever since I was in law school and Gabe was in his first law office on Nassau Street...

New Jersey Teen Acquitted Of First-Degree Murder Charge

Posted on June 06, 2008
A Somerset County jury has acquitted a North Plainfield teenager of first degree murder, robbery and felony murder. According to an article in the Star-Ledger, 19-year-old Dionys Rivas was accused of robbing and killing 60-year-old Maximo Castro on April 27, 2005...

5-Year-Old Boy Dies In Queens Street Racing Accident

Posted on May 31, 2008
A 5-year-old boy has died in a tragic hit-and-run auto accident in Queens when two teenagers drag racing in their car hit the sport utility vehicle the boy was riding in, according to a CBS News report. The article states the boy, Jordan McLean, was ejected from his aunt?s SUV after the collision occurred...

Officials Investigate Fatal Heavy Machinery Accident In Plainfield Township

Posted on May 25, 2008
Federal officials are investigating a workplace industrial accident that occurred in Plainfield Township, which killed 60-year-old William H. Edwards, a Monroe County man. According to a news report in The Express Times, Edwards suffered from head trauma after a machine he was working on at RPM Recycling gave way and broke landing on his head...

Dog Owner Whose Pitbull Attacked 5 Says His Dog Was Provoked

Posted on May 23, 2008
The owner of a pit-bull that attacked and bit five people in Parsippany is asking the court to spare his dog saying that the dog attack outside a public library was provoked, the New Jersey Star Ledger reports. The owner also told the municipal judge he was sorry about the injuries his dog caused and that he would build a fence in the interest of public safety to keep the pit-bull within his property on Lake Hiawatha...

Roseto Auto Accident Injures Three

Posted on May 18, 2008
Three Roseto residents were injured in an auto accident in Blairstown Township after an unidentified driver swerved across a double yellow line and forced them off the road, according to an article in the Express Times. The unknown driver, reportedly traveling in a silver-colored vehicle, caused Linda Piperato to go off the road and strike a road sign and utility pole, the article states...

School Administrator Accused of Stealing Prescription Drugs from Nurse?s Office

Posted on May 15, 2008
A Gloucester County middle school administrator is facing charges for stealing students? prescription drugs from his school?s nurses office for his personal use. According to a news report, Philip Bevilaqua, a vice principal at the Gateway Regional Middle School in Woodbury Heights, specifically stole drugs such as Ritalin and Adderall ? medication that is commonly used to treat hyperactivity disorder, but also prescription drugs that are commonly abused...

Former High School Coach Gets 7 Years in Prison For Sexual Assault

Posted on May 11, 2008
A former high school girls? basketball coach who was convicted of sexually assaulting a player has been sentenced to seven years in prison, the New Jersey Star-Ledger reports. Pamela Balogh, 40, a former coach at Immaculata High School, was found guilty of second-degree sexual assault, third-degree aggravated criminal sexual contact and endangering the welfare of a child; and fourth-degree criminal sexual contact...

West Windsor Man Arrested On Suspicion of Driving Under the Influence

Posted on May 07, 2008
Police arrested a 28-year-old West Windsor man on suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol, crashing his car, then walking away from the scene of the accident. According to this news report, Roman Karvalis lost control of his Honda while driving on Route 1 near Carnegie Center Boulevard...

Bridgeton Teenager Accused Of Drowning and Killing Her Newborn Son

Posted on May 01, 2008
In a tragic Bridgeton case, a local 14-year-old has been charged with murder on suspicion of drowning her newborn baby in the tank of a public restroom during a Cinco de Mayo festival at the Cumberland County Fairgrounds. According to a news article in South Jersey News Online (), the girl not identified because of her age, is already the mother of a 13-month-old and hid this pregnancy from her friends and family...

UNCOUNSELED PRIOR DWI PLEA

Posted on April 25, 2008
On October 10, 2007 a New Jersey Appellate Division panel of Judges decided a DWI appeal that was approved for publication on May 5, 2008. The case involved a DWI charge from Hudson County, New Jersey. The defendant pleaded guilty to a third DWI charge in Municipal Court and was sentenced to 180 days in the Hudson County jail...

Senate Committee to Discuss Reform to New Jersey Worker?s Compensation System

Posted on April 18, 2008
Senator Paul Sarlo (D-Bergen) announced yesterday that the Senate Labor Committee will convene on May 5th to discuss problems with New Jersey?s $1.8 Billion worker?s compensation system, according to a published report in the New Jersey Star Ledger. It was a series of reports in The Star-Ledger that prompted the special hearings...

Police Officer Accused of DUI Pleads Case in Court

Posted on April 14, 2008
A recent article that appeared in the New Jersey Star Ledger illustrates the benefits of having a New Jersey DUI Defense attorney who can prepare a convincing defense using the specifics of the case. Rodney Sanders, 39, was accused of third-degree assault by auto for allegedly causing a three-car crash on Route 22 in North Plainfield on July 31, 2007...

New Jersey Supreme Court Greenlights Alcotest

Posted on April 08, 2008
The verdict came in March 17: The New Jersey Supreme Court has approved the use of the new Alcotest 7110 breath-testing device -- as long as law enforcement and the manufacturer follow certain procedures. Under the court's decision, law enforcement must limit prosecutions to those who test within a certain accuracy range and check Alcotest's accuracy twice a year...

Fifteen-Year-Old DWI Haunts Senate Candidate

Posted on April 02, 2008
A candidate for New Jersey's Senate seat found out last week what New Jersey DWI lawyers have been telling our clients for years: DWI convictions can haunt you long after you thought they were over. Andy Unanue, a businessman who is heir to the family-run Goya Foods corporation, filed papers April 7 to run for Senate as a Republican...

Suspect Arrested A Year After Robbery Incident

Posted on March 24, 2008
In a real world example of the FBI and local authorities finally ?getting their man?, a former Roselle Park resident has been arrested on numerous charges more than a year after the alleged assault of a borough resident who surprised him in the midst of a burglary...

18 Arrests Made In National Drug Ring Bust

Posted on March 20, 2008
Over 14 ounces of cocaine, over 60 grams of marijuana, more then $25,000 in cash, 4 guns and 18 arrests were made in a coordinated pre-dawn raid that shut down a major drug distribution ring that shipped West Coast narcotics to sellers in New Jersey and Delaware...

Speed Limit To Be Cut In Response To Fatal Accident

Posted on March 16, 2008
In a move that will hopefully save lives in the future, the Department of Transportation and Logan Township have agreed to lower the speed limit on a dangerous mile-long stretch of Center Square Road from 45mph to 40mph. The change comes after a fatal New Jersey Auto accident claimed the life of a local teenager earlier this year...

Ex-Suspect Sues Arresting Officer, Township Over Crash

Posted on March 06, 2008
This is an unusual story that draws concerns over the potential liability a motorist can face for injuring a passenger in a New Jersey auto accident, especially when the driver is a public servant performing duties at the time of the crash. Sue Marie Podolski was arrested in the early morning hours of Oct...

Millville Dog Owners To Face Charges After Dog Attack

Posted on March 01, 2008
In an excellent example of the strict liability laws that govern New Jersey Dog Bite attacks, a South Jersey News Online story published January 25th details the specifics of a case in which a dog attack ended with one of the canines being cannibalized by a neighboring dog...

Embezzling Cardiologists Face Prison, Fines

Posted on March 01, 2008
Two New Jersey cardiologists who took nearly $900,000 through so-called ?no-show? jobs at the New Jersey University of Medicine and Dentistry are facing $250,000 in fines and up to ten years in prison each for their embezzlement. The doctors, Bakul Desai, and Laxmipathi Garipalli, were each paid hundreds of thousands of dollars for their jobs, which required them to do nothing whatsoever...

Embezzling Cardiologists Face Prison, Fines

Posted on February 28, 2008
Two New Jersey cardiologists who took nearly $900,000 through so-called ?no-show? jobs at the New Jersey University of Medicine and Dentistry are facing $250,000 in fines and up to ten years in prison each for their embezzlement. The doctors, Bakul Desai, and Laxmipathi Garipalli, were each paid hundreds of thousands of dollars for their jobs, which required them to do nothing whatsoever...

Officer Sentenced to 11 Years In Prison After Fatal DUI Crash

Posted on February 21, 2008
After killing a 2-year-old child and leaving his mother in a vegetative state, Jersey City police officer Kevin Freibott will face 11 years in prison. It is estimated that Freibott?s blood alcohol concentration (BAC) was more than three times the legal limit of 0...

Man Accused of Leaving Accident After Driving While Intoxicated

Posted on February 19, 2008
A Garwood Borough resident was arrested on January 29th on charges of driving while intoxicated and leaving the scene of an accident, according to an associated press report published Wednesday, January 30th. Ronald J. Ciuba, 39 was charged by Officer Todd Herz with leaving the scene of an accident, careless and intoxicated driving, and having no insurance...

Gym Teacher, 4 Accomplices Arrested On Drug Charges

Posted on February 14, 2008
In an alarming example of the proximity of the ever growing drug culture and our school system, a gym teacher from Lacey Township Middle School has been arrested along with four other men on cocaine and illegal steroid charges, according to a Star Ledger report published Thursday, February 7th...

Acquittal by Reason of Insanity

Posted on February 13, 2008
New Jersey?s Code of Criminal Justice provides an Insanity Defense for criminal defendants. Section 2C:4-1 governs this defense. The defense is an affirmative defense which means that the burden of proof standard that typically must be met by the prosecution is shifted to the defense, and the defense must prove an insanity defense by a preponderance of the evidence...

SEARCH WARRANT INSUFFICIENT

Posted on February 12, 2008
On January 29, 2008 the New Jersey Appellate Division in State v. Marshall decided that the trial judge erred in denying a suppression motion with regard to a search warrant that was issued without sufficient specificity. The police were investigating Allen Daniels, a suspected New Jersey drug dealer...

Breathalyzer Debate Leaves New Jersey DWI Cases in Question

Posted on February 08, 2008
As the argument about New Jersey breathalyzers heads to the Supreme Court, thousands of New Jersey DWI cases are now in limbo. As reported previously on this blog, the Alcotest is headed to the Supreme Court to determine its reliability in measuring blood alcohol content (BAC) levels...

New Jersey Death Row Closure ? What Now?

Posted on February 05, 2008
New Jersey?s controversial decision to replace the death sentence with life without parole has taken on a new face as the state closes its death row and transitions prisoners to other parts of jail. It?s also confused New Jersey residents, some of whom are still reporting on death row cases and who misunderstand what has become of the six men who sat on New Jerseys? death row prior to last month?s ban on lethal injection in the state...

New Jersey Judge Faces Heavy Consequences in DWI Case

Posted on February 01, 2008
You may remember our previous post on a New Jersey Municipal Court judge who found himself on the wrong side of the law in November has pleaded guilty to driving while intoxicated (DWI) and making threats to an officer. George R. Korpita was pulled over by a Roxbury policeman after a concerned motorist called the police...

Will MySpace Reporting Help Protect Kids?

Posted on January 29, 2008
With recent news about New Jersey and other states brokering a cooperation deal with MySpace to help protect kids from online predators come questions. Will MySpace reporting really help protect kids? Or will it just provide another venue for false accusation and entrapment? Given the recent national hysteria about New Jersey sexual predators, including the wildly popular Dateline ?To Catch a Predator? series, the answer is not yet clear...

Fatal Crash: Driver Was Drunk, Speeding, and on the Phone

Posted on January 25, 2008
The incident sounds outrageous, but injury is now a devastating reality for one man, who suffered a severed leg and a broken leg after he was hit by a woman who was driving under the influence, talking on a cell phone, and speeding. Carlos Varela, who works for Roselle Suburban Sanitation, was hit by Dawn Davis, who pinned him to her truck...

New Jersey Body Snatcher Will Plead Guilty

Posted on January 22, 2008
In a case that reveals the vital importance of the right legal strategy and criminal defense attorney, New Jersey man Michael Mastromarino has agreed to plead guilty to charges connected to an expensive criminal operation in which body parts were stolen from corpses, then sold...

Alcotest Not Much Improvement Over Breathalyzer

Posted on December 20, 2007
An investigator appointed by the New Jersey Supreme Court believes a new breath-testing device for DWI cases is reliable, reports the Associated Press. Retired Judge Michael Patrick King was appointed to investigate Alcotest?s accuracy after lawsuits brought by 18 DWI defendants claimed the device hadn?t been tested properly...

State Legislature Likely to Ban the Death Penalty

Posted on December 19, 2007
New Jersey is buzzing this week about the state legislature?s vote on whether to ban capital punishment. The state Senate has already voted in favor of the ban; the Assembly and Gov. Corzine are expected to follow suit. They?re following a national trend: The U...

Meter Maid Charged With Obstructing Police

Posted on December 18, 2007
A parking enforcement officer from Bayonne was criminally charged on Dec. 7 when her job interfered with police detectives? job, reports the Jersey Journal. Two police detectives were staking out a narcotics suspect in an unmarked car parked at a meter when the officer, Susan Wojtkowski, began writing them a ticket...

Drunk Driving Charge For Roxbury Judge

Posted on December 04, 2007
Police arrested Municipal Court Judge George Korpita Jr, recently in Roxbury on charges of drunk driving. According to an online article that appears on the Star-Ledger?s Web site , Korpita, 47, a resident of Lake Hopatcong, was in the Ledgewood section of Roxbury Township, driving in a black Chrysler sedan on Route 46 West, when authorities stopped him...

Sparta Township School Teacher Arrested For Sex Crimes

Posted on November 30, 2007
http://www.lependorfsilverstein.com/lewd-conduct.shtmlPolice arrested a math teacher from the Vo-Tech School in Sussex County for allegedly having sexual relations with two students. The New Jersey Herald, in an online article reported recently that Richard Koppenaal a resident of Frankford Township was being held on suspicion of having illegal sexual relations and sexual contact with two of the high school?s students over the course of the last two years...

Teacher?s Aide Charged With Possession Of Child Pornography

Posted on November 28, 2007
A Phillipsburg Middle School teacher?s aide is under investigation after he was charged with possession of child pornography. Detectives took James Leonarczyk?s personal computer from his home, according to a news report in the New Jersey Star-Ledger...

Driver Makes Bomb Threat To Elude Arrest Warrant On Drug Charges

Posted on November 26, 2007
This story is a great example of how you can dig a hole 10 times deeper than the one you?re already in. Instead of hiring a competent New Jersey defense attorney to get him out of trouble and get the help he needs, Kyle Lewthwaite decided to do something he thought was very smart...

New Jersey Must Do Away With the Death Penalty

Posted on November 21, 2007
New Jersey lawmakers are poised to make an historical decision next month ? on whether to do away with the death penalty. If the legislature is in agreement, New Jersey will be the first state in the United States to abolish capital punishment since the Supreme Court reinstated it in 1976...

New Jersey Woman Faces Vehicular Homicide Charge In Five-Car Wreck

Posted on October 19, 2007
A 51-year-old Haskell woman, who is facing drunk driving charges in connection with a fiery crash that killed a New York couple on Aug. 19, is now facing vehicular homicide charges, according to a news report in the New Jersey Herald . Officials said Kathleen Sullivan was under the influence of alcohol when she caused a chain reaction crash that send Keey and Cynthia Felski?s Ford Explorer airborne and injured the couple fatally...

Bloomfield Doctor To Face Additional Sex Crime Charges

Posted on October 17, 2007
A New Jersey doctor, already being accused of sexually assaulting 10 female patients, could face additional charges on suspicion of abusing more women in his care, according to a news report in the New York Times . According to the report, 64-year-old Raymond P...

New Jersey Cop Charged With DWI And Assault By Autos

Posted on October 15, 2007
A police officer in Plainfield is in trouble after he reportedly crashed into two other vehicles while he was driving drunk on the highway. According to a news report in the The Star Ledger 38-year-old Rodney Sanders has been charged with third-degree assault by auto in the July 31 incident...

New Jersey Man Charged With Drug Crimes And Vehicle Code Violations

Posted on October 11, 2007
Police stopped a Willingboro man early morning Sept. 19 on Route 1 because officers say he was speeding at 75 mph. But according to a crime blog in The Times of Trenton police officers smelled something else in his vehicle ? burning marijuana. David Williams, 24 was arrested on suspicion of possessing marijuana and drug paraphernalia and faces speeding and other motor vehicle code violations, the article states...