On April 28, 2022, a three-judge appellate panel decided the Essex County case of State v. S.J.C. The principal issue under N.J.S.A. 2C:1-6 was whether the defendant was prejudiced by the State’s seven year delay in filing sexual assault charges. Judge Rose wrote for the Court in relevant part: Against this legal backdrop, we review […]
Severance of Charges (Part 3)
The Appellate Division concluded with the following: In Sterling, the Court affirmed the defendant’s conviction regarding one sexual assault, despite improper joinder with another sexual assault and a separate burglary, because of “the strong, independent proof of the defendant’s guilt” of that assault. Notably, the Court found the incontrovertible DNA evidence as to that one assault […]
Severance of Charges (Part 2)
The Court continued in relevant part: In State v. Orlando, the defendant was convicted of separate counts in an indictment charging him with impairing the morals of two girls who were his neighbors, ages nine and seven, one in April and one in June. The trial court denied a motion for severance without explanation, despite “circumstances […]
Severance of Charges (Part 1)
On April 19, 2022, a three-judge appellate panel decided the Camden County case of State v. Karl Smith. The principal issue under N.J.S.A. 2C:1-8 was whether it was reversible error for the trial court to refuse to sever child sex abuse charges involving two victims. Presiding Judge Messano wrote for the panel in relevant part: […]
Operating a Motor Vehicle With a DWI Suspension (Part 3)
Justice Pierre-Louis continued in relevant part: The Appellate Division reached the opposite result in State v. Faison, 452 N.J. Super. at 394 -95. There, a different panel held that prior DWI convictions for which a defendant obtained PCR could not serve as predicate DWI convictions for a Section 26(b) prosecution. Id. at 395. The court […]
Operating a Motor Vehicle With a DWI Suspension (Part 2)
The Court continued in relevant part: And it is hardly the case that Section 26(b) is a purely distinct offense separate and apart from N.J.S.A. 39:3-40, given the fact that Section 26 specifically incorporates that statute by reference. See N.J.S.A. 2C:40-26(b) (“It shall be a crime of the fourth degree to operate a motor vehicle […]
Operating a Motor Vehicle With a DWI Suspension (Part 1)
On April 5, 2022, the New Jersey Supreme Court decided the Monmouth County case of State v. Michael Konecny. There were two principal issues under N.J.S.A 2C:40-26. The first is whether DWI convictions can increase the custodial sentence for the crime of driving while suspended for a second or subsequent DWI or refusal. The second […]
Concurrent and Consecutive Sentences (Part 2)
The appellate panel continued in relevant part: In giving weight to the first Yarbough factor, i.e., “there are no free crimes,” the judge reasoned, “if all of these were to be run concurrently, it certainly would minimize the defendant’s criminal behavior, and certainly would send the wrong message to the public so when they have an opportunity […]
Concurrent and Consecutive Sentences (Part 1)
On March 31, 2022, a three-judge appellate panel decided the Gloucester County case of State v. Rami Amer. The principal issue under N.J.S.A. 2C:44-5 concerned the overall fairness of the consecutive sentences imposed. Judge Enright wrote for the Court in relevant part: Recently, the New Jersey Supreme Court reinforced the standards for imposing consecutive sentences […]
Political Bribes (Part 6)
Judge Fisher concluded with the following in relevant part: Because we find no statutory ambiguity, the rule of lenity has no application. But, even if we were to assume an ambiguity exists within N.J.S.A. 2C:7-2, the rule doesn’t provide a defendant with a get out of jail free card. As Chief Justice Wilentz said in De Marco, “it […]
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