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 […]

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 […]

The unanimous New Jersey Supreme Court continued in relevant part: Defendant’s plea was accepted, and jail credits were assessed per time accrued on each charge. Defendant argued that all of the 4727 days of jail credit should be applied to the aggravated assault charge even though he had accrued only 1012 days on that charge.  […]

On May 2, 2019, the New Jersey Supreme Court decided the Cape May County case of State v.  Isiah T. McNeal. This was a per curiam opinion. This means that the decision called for such a straightforward application of the law to the facts that none of the justices needed to conduct their own independent […]

The majority concluded with the following in relevant part:  On the other hand, if it turns out that the police essentially tracked Roberts’ full statement of confidence on the photo display report form and offered no confirmatory feedback, defendant would be hard-pressed to show that a technical violation of Rule 3:11(d) was “clearly capable of […]

Chief Justice Rabner continued in relevant part: The Court outlines the points that such a charge should include and notes that counsel should request such a charge when the facts warrant it. The Court asks the Model Jury Charge Committee to amend the model charge. In this case, the officers did not comply with Rule […]

The majority continued in relevant part: The Court relies on its supervisory powers to require, further, that when it is not feasible to make an electronic recording of an identification procedure, law enforcement officers must document the reasons for not having done so. The same requirement applies when officers cannot prepare a contemporaneous, verbatim written […]

The Supreme Court continued in relevant part: In Henderson, the Court reaffirmed Delgado. 208 N.J. at 252. To guard against confirmatory feedback, the Court required law enforcement to record a witness’ statement of confidence “in the witness’ own words before any possible feedback.” Id. at 254. Henderson added that “if an eyewitness’ confidence was not […]

Chief Justice Rabner continued in relevant part: The Appellate Division affirmed defendant’s conviction.  The panel found that “the failure to record Roberts’ actual words” of confidence was not “a sufficient violation (if a violation at all) of Delgado and Rule 3:11 to warrant exclusion of the evidence.” The Appellate Division also rejected defendant’s belated challenge […]

The majority continued in relevant part: Eugene Roberts pulled into the driveway of his home in Newark. As Roberts got out of his car, three men approached him. One of the men pointed a revolver at Roberts’ torso and demanded money. Another man, later identified as defendant Ibnmauric Anthony, asked for Roberts’ car keys. The […]