The New Jersey Compassionate Use Medical Marijuana Act (better known as CUMMA) is an act that allows the distribution and possession of medical marijuana. Specifically, CUMMA declares the following: a) Modern medical research has discovered a beneficial use for marijuana in treating or alleviating the pain or other symptoms associated with certain debilitating medical conditions, […]
In The News – Fred Sisto Defends Brick Physician Assistant
Fred Sisto was recently hired for a high profile case in Brick, New Jersey. A physician assistant in Brick is facing a series of charges for allegedly distributing prescription drugs illegally. Many news sources are covering the story. The Asbury Park Press stated the following: “A physician assistant faces a series of charges after Monmouth […]
Cheap Attorney Pit Falls – Part 4
Far too many lawyers that hold themselves out as “criminal defense attorneys” spend their entire careers without ever cross-examining a witness in court. Since the willingness and ability to do so are your strongest bargaining chips in court, even when and especially when you are just looking for a good plea bargain as opposed to […]
Cheap Attorney Pit Falls – Part 3
Of course, finding a good criminal defense attorney is much easier said than done. I can remember thinking before I practiced law that all lawyers must be pretty much equal. My logic was that they all have to graduate law school and pass the bar exam, so they must all be pretty good. With the […]
Cheap Attorney Pit Falls – Part 2
The best attorneys still use a conditional discharge or dismissal as a last resort, as opposed to an easy first resort. This is because contesting motions or a trial in municipal court can lead to a downgrading or dismissal of the charges without having to use a one-time-only diversionary program. Even a well-negotiated municipal court […]
Cheap Attorney Pit Falls – Part 1
There are numerous pitfalls to hiring a lawyer based strictly on the lowest price. This applies to serious felony cases handled at the superior court level, as well as municipal court offenses. It is important to keep in mind that even municipal court offenses can carry heavy penalties like loss of a driver’s license, jail […]
Pre-Trial Intervention Program (PTI) – (Part 6)
The PTI appeal, while labor-intensive, is the defendant’s first opportunity to not only point out their own positive attributes, but to also point to the alleged facts of their cases that support admission. It is very effective to use the state’s own police reports to justify PTI admission. A searching review of these reports in […]
Pre-Trial Intervention Program (PTI) – (Part 5)
While the plain language of our criminal code does not distinguish between theses two very different types of “distribution”, the unique features of a PTI applicant’s case must be considered. See Nwobu, at 255 (holding that PTI decisions are primarily individualistic in nature and a prosecutor must consider an individual defendant’s features). Logic dictates that […]
Pre-Trial Intervention Program (PTI) – (Part 4)
To apply Guideline 3(i) and the long out-dated narcotics scheduling of marijuana under these circumstances (mentioned in part 3 of this blog) would lead to an absurd result. The narcotics schedules were published in 1970. See N.J.S.A 24:21-1 et seq. In 1972, a congressionally created commission called the National Commission on Marijuana and Drug Abuse, […]
Pre-Trial Intervention Program (PTI) – (Part 3)
To overcome a program director’s PTI denial, the accused must establish arbitrary or capricious conduct amounting to an abuse of discretion, by a preponderance of the evidence. State v. Lopes, 289 N.J. Super. 460, 478-79 (Law Div. 1995). The preponderance of the evidence standard, as opposed to “clear and convincing evidence” should apply when the […]
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