The New Jersey Supreme Court concluded in relevant part: Once the corresponding entry is located within Exhibit S-152, the prosecutor is to “copy and paste” that row of data into a new document. The AIR number from that entry must then be compared against the Dennis Calibration Repository, which shall be made publicly available by placing it on a State website and shall also be summarized in a Dennis AIR Summary sheet. If the State determines that the defendant’s prior offense involved a Dennis-affected Alcotest Instrument that produced an evidential BAC reading, corroborated by Exhibit S-152 and the Dennis AIR Summary sheet, judges should afford the defendant a reasonable amount of time to decide whether to challenge the prior conviction. If the defendant wishes to challenge that earlier conviction, the defendant shall do so by filing for PCR in the jurisdiction of the previous conviction.
If the defendant, after being made aware of the existence of a Dennis-affected matter, chooses to proceed without challenging the earlier conviction, the court will inquire on the record that the defendant’s decision is knowing and voluntary, and the matter may proceed in the usual course. The Court calls on judges to resolve PCRs and related new matters as expeditiously as possible. The Court provides detailed guidance on all these points.
Regarding Exhibit S-152, the Court adopts a process that balances the State’s concerns for privacy with defendants’ due process need for notification. Once a summons number is cross-referenced in Exhibit S-152, it shall be provided to the defendant and defense counsel in discovery. Through that process, the defendant and counsel can see the date and location of offense, summons number, and the defendant’s name. The prosecutor must then use the summons number to search Exhibit S-152. Therefore, Exhibit S-152 in its newly redacted form, excluding all personal identifiers, must be publicly released on the State’s website. The prior disposition, along with the complete row of data from Exhibit S-152 and the Dennis AIR Summary sheet, together will be deemed proof beyond a reasonable doubt of whether a defendant’s prior DWI conviction is a Dennis-affected matter. The Court adopts the remainder of the Special Adjudicator’s findings, which are supported by substantial credible evidence in the record.
The fact that a prior DWI conviction involved a Trooper Dennis calibration does not mean that the conviction must be vacated. It means that the breath testing results cannot support the prior conviction. However, the State could still attempt to prove the case with observation evidence.
