by Fred Sisto | Feb 14, 2018 | Blog, Criminal Law, New Jersey
Therefore, for constitutional reasons, the Court will construe the terms “any other course of alarming conduct” and “acts with purpose to alarm or seriously annoy” as repeated communications directed at a person that reasonably put that person...
by Fred Sisto | Feb 12, 2018 | Blog, Criminal Law, New Jersey
Outside of the category of obscenity, courts should not play the role of censor by engaging in a weighing of an expression’s value or relative social costs and benefits. Speech cannot be criminalized merely because others see no value in it. Nonetheless, neither...
by Fred Sisto | Feb 10, 2018 | Blog, Criminal Law, New Jersey
N.J.S.A. 2C:33-4 distinguishes between “communications” and “language” that violate the statute in subsection (a), and “conduct” and “acts” that do so in subsection (c). Although a “course of alarming...
by Fred Sisto | Feb 8, 2018 | Blog, Criminal Law, New Jersey
The municipal court entered a guilty verdict against Burkert for harassing Halton on January 8 and 11 in violation of N.J.S.A. 2C:33-4(c). The court found that Burkert made and circulated the flyers in the garage and locker room, that the bubble dialogue inscribed on...
by Fred Sisto | Feb 6, 2018 | Blog, Criminal Law, New Jersey
On December 19, 2017, the New Jersey Supreme Court decided the case of State v. William Burkert. The principle issue was whether the harassment statute, N.J.S.A. 2C:33-4(c), violated the first amendment. Justice Albin wrote for the six-justice majority. This case...
