The New Jersey Supreme Court held that the Appellate Division erred in concluding that the holding in Heien is applicable here. The motor vehicle statutes pertinent here are not ambiguous. The officer's stop of defendant's motor vehicle was not an objectively...
DUI
Taillights and Motor Vehicle Stops: Part 2
The trial court granted defendant's motion to suppress evidence resulting from the motor vehicle stop, but the court denied his motion to dismiss the indictment. On the motor vehicle stop, the trial court agreed with defendant that Officer Carletta's understanding of...
Taillights and Motor Vehicle Stops: Part 1
On January 11, 2018, Justice LaVecchia wrote for a unanimous New Jersey Supreme Court in the Morris County case of State v. Ryan Sutherland. The principle issue was the constitutionality of a motor vehicle stop based on the belief that the vehicle was in violation of...
Driving While Suspended And The Vacation of DUI Conviction: Part 2
At her trial, the defendant in Sylvester argued she was not guilty of violating N.J.S.A. 2C:40-26(b), asserting her license was not validly suspended at the time of the alleged offense because the conviction was subsequently vacated. The trial court rejected this...
Driving While Suspended And The Vacation of DUI Conviction: Part 1
On November 29, 2017, a three-judge Appellate Division panel decided the Essex County case of State v. Leon Faison. The principle issue was whether a defendant could be convicted of fourth-degree driving while his license was suspended for a second or subsequent DWI...
New Strict Liability Vehicular Homicide Law
N.J.S.A. 2C:11-5.3 codifies a new strict liability vehicular homicide statute that was approved on July 21, 2017. Criminal homicide now constitutes strict liability vehicular homicide, as opposed to negligent homicide, when it is caused by a driver while intoxicated...
Driving While Suspended For Second DUI and PTI
In State v. Rizzitello, Docket No. a-0536-15 (App. Div. 2016), a case originating with the defendant’s arrest in Brick Township , the Appellate Division was called upon to determine whether a defendant charged with fourth degree driving during a period of license...
Laurick Relief – IDRC Letter To Court
The following novel arguments were successfully submitted on behalf of one of Fred Sisto’s clients in order to reduce his two day jail sentence to twelve hours at the Intoxicated Driver Resource Center: When Laurick relief is granted for a second DWI, it is within the...
Laurick-Relief
When facing an additional DUI charge after your first offense, the penalties increase dramatically and in many cases include a jail sentence. Depending on the circumstance, however, there is something known as “Laurick relief” that could be granted by the court in...
DUI Checkpoints (Part 2)
The closest the New Jersey Appellate Division or Supreme Court came to addressing the legality of DUI checkpoints was in the 2005 case of State v. Badessa, 185 N.J. 303. The issue before the Court was whether evidence gathered by the police after an unconstitutional...