Chief Justice Rabner continued: In criminal cases up until now, the Court has used the Frye standard to assess reliability. Decided a century ago, Frye involved a defendant’s effort to introduce evidence of a blood pressure test that could purportedly reveal whether a person was telling the truth. 293 F. at 1013. The Frye court’s […]

The Court continued in relevant part: Judge Lisa concluded in a 332-page report that DRE evidence should be admissible under the Frye standard. Counsel discussed error rates associated with DRE evidence in their briefs to the Special Master and the Court. But although error rates are expressly considered under Daubert, they are not directly covered […]

On February 17, 2023, the New Jersey Supreme Court decided the latest round of appeals in the Morris County case of State v. Michael Olenowski. The principal issue concerned the appropriate standard to evaluate the admissibility of expert “drug recognition” evidence under N.J.R.E. 702. Chief Justice Rabner wrote for the unanimous court in relevant part: […]

The Appellate Division concluded with the following in relevant part: Moreover, the purpose of the shoplifting statute is “preventing the loss of merchandise without full payment–the protection of inventory.” De Angelis v. Jamesway Dep’t Store (App. Div. 1985). The sales tax on a particular piece of merchandise is not a part of a store’s inventory, and it […]

On December 21, 2022, a three-judge appellate panel decided the Middlesex County case of State v. Eric Burnham. The principal issue under N.J.S.A. 2C:20-11 was whether sales tax could be calculated to determine for the value of goods for the grading of a shoplifting offense. Temporarily assigned Appellate Division Judge Marczyk wrote for the panel […]

Regarding the time frame for hearing appeals, N.J.S.A. 2C:58-4(e) anticipates that the Superior Court will hold a hearing on an appeal from law enforcement’s denial of an identification card, a purchase permit, or a carry permit within 60 days of the applicant’s written request for such a hearing. The hearing on an appeal from the […]

The Administrative Directive continued: Judges must strive to act on those pending applications within 60 days and should not exceed that 60-day timeframe without good cause. Any applications pending with law enforcement are to be decided by the appropriate chief police officer or superintendent. Effective today, any permit to carry application presented to the court […]

The following Administrative Directive 14-22 was issued by Director Glenn Grant to assignment judges and trial court administrators in New Jersey. It provides for procedures based on recent legislation which, in part, removes the Judiciary from the initial decision-making process for handgun permit applications. It supersedes Directive 06-19 and became effective on December 22, 2022. […]

Defendant also argues that the court erred by finding aggravating factor four. In the context of this case, aggravating factor four applies if “the defendant took advantage of a position of trust or confidence to commit the offense.” N.J.S.A. 2C:44-1(a)(4) (emphasis added). Notably, at sentencing the State did not argue aggravating factor four applied. The court nevertheless found it […]

The Appellate Division continued in relevant part: We recognize that “the benefit a defendant receives when passion/provocation is established is not an outright acquittal rather, a homicide that otherwise would be first-degree murder is mitigated to manslaughter.” State v. Canfield (App. Div. 2022). But see Carrero (“We find that the trial testimony presented a rational basis on which […]