On December 6, 2016, Justice Alito delivered the opinion for a unanimous United State Supreme Court in the case of Bassam Salman v. United States. Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and SEC Rule 10b–5 prohibit undisclosed trading on inside corporate...
Judge and Jury
Issue Preclusion & Inconsistent Verdicts: Part 2
The issue-preclusion component of the Double Jeopardy Clause does not bar the Government from retrying defendants after a jury has returned irreconcilably inconsistent verdicts of conviction and acquittal and the convictions are later vacated for legal error unrelated...
Issue Preclusion & Inconsistent Verdicts: Part 1
On November 29, 2016, Justice Ginsburg wrote for a unanimous United State Supreme Court in the case of Juan bravo-Fernandez and Hector Martinez-Maldonado v. the United States. A jury convicted Bravo and Martínez of bribery (18 U.S.C. 666), simultaneously acquitting...
Bias Intimidation Statute
The third principle issue decided in State v. Ravi was whether based on the Supreme Court's decision in State v. Pomianek, holding that N.J.S.A. 2C:16-1a(3) is unconstitutionally vague, the court must vacate the defendant's third degree bias intimidation convictions....
Witness Tampering and Hindering
In State v. Ravi, decided on September 9, 2016, the Appellate Division addressed three principle issues. This was a case that garnered national attention in the wake of Ravi’s college roommate committing suicide after allegedly discovering that Ravi had recorded and...
Successful Appeal of Sentencing Downgrade
On August 26, 2016, the Appellate Division upheld the decision of the Ocean County Criminal Presiding judge to impose a downgraded sentence in State v. Deborah Meehan. This was a case that I handled over many years at the trial level. While the State may attempt to...
Lunsford Phone Records Decision
On August 1, 2016, the New Jersey Supreme Court decided the case of State v. Lunsford. In a 5-2 decision, the Court held that telephone billing records should be available to police based on a showing of relevance, as opposed to the higher “probable cause” standard...
Strategy at Testimonial Hearings
Many defendants do not realize that regardless of the perceived strength of the evidence against them, there may be a basis to have all of the evidence thrown out and their case dismissed. This is because if evidence is illegally acquired it cannot be used in court if...