A number of states have subsequently adopted Heien‘s holding. Importantly, however, a number of states have either followed or acknowledged Justice Kagan’s narrow interpretation of an objectively reasonable mistake of law. In State v. Scriven, the New Jersey Supreme Court did not reach the question of whether to adopt Heien. The officer’s mistake of law […]
Taillights and Motor Vehicle Stops: Part 4
In Heien, the United States Supreme Court considered a police officer’s reasonable but erroneous interpretation of a motor vehicle statute. Chief Justice Roberts’s majority opinion noted that “the ultimate touchstone of the Fourth Amendment is ‘reasonableness.’” After explaining that “[t]o be reasonable is not to be perfect,” and that the Fourth Amendment allows for reasonable […]
Taillights and Motor Vehicle Stops: Part 3
The New Jersey Supreme Court held that the Appellate Division erred in concluding that the holding in Heien is applicable here. The motor vehicle statutes pertinent here are not ambiguous. The officer’s stop of defendant’s motor vehicle was not an objectively reasonable mistake of law that gave rise to constitutional reasonable suspicion; the stop was […]
Taillights and Motor Vehicle Stops: Part 2
The trial court granted defendant’s motion to suppress evidence resulting from the motor vehicle stop, but the court denied his motion to dismiss the indictment. On the motor vehicle stop, the trial court agreed with defendant that Officer Carletta’s understanding of the maintenance-of-lamps statute had been “incorrect” and that defendant had not violated the statute […]
Taillights and Motor Vehicle Stops: Part 1
On January 11, 2018, Justice LaVecchia wrote for a unanimous New Jersey Supreme Court in the Morris County case of State v. Ryan Sutherland. The principle issue was the constitutionality of a motor vehicle stop based on the belief that the vehicle was in violation of N.J.S.A. 39:3-61(a) and -66 because one of the vehicle’s […]
Driving While Suspended And The Vacation of DUI Conviction: Part 3
Here, we conclude that convicting defendant of driving while suspended for a second or subsequent DWI conviction when he only has one prior DWI conviction would constitute a miscarriage of justice. Furthermore, sentencing defendant to the minimum imprisonment of 180 days under N.J.S.A. 2C:40-26(c) would bring about “an increased period of incarceration as a result […]
Driving While Suspended And The Vacation of DUI Conviction: Part 2
At her trial, the defendant in Sylvester argued she was not guilty of violating N.J.S.A. 2C:40-26(b), asserting her license was not validly suspended at the time of the alleged offense because the conviction was subsequently vacated. The trial court rejected this argument and reasoned that on the date the defendant drove, her license was suspended, […]
Driving While Suspended And The Vacation of DUI Conviction: Part 1
On November 29, 2017, a three-judge Appellate Division panel decided the Essex County case of State v. Leon Faison. The principle issue was whether a defendant could be convicted of fourth-degree driving while his license was suspended for a second or subsequent DWI conviction when, after indictment for this offense, one of two of the […]
New Strict Liability Vehicular Homicide Law
N.J.S.A. 2C:11-5.3 codifies a new strict liability vehicular homicide statute that was approved on July 21, 2017. Criminal homicide now constitutes strict liability vehicular homicide, as opposed to negligent homicide, when it is caused by a driver while intoxicated or operating a vessel under the influence of alcohol or drugs. Strict liability vehicular homicide is […]
DUI Checkpoints (Part 2)
The closest the New Jersey Appellate Division or Supreme Court came to addressing the legality of DUI checkpoints was in the 2005 case of State v. Badessa, 185 N.J. 303. The issue before the Court was whether evidence gathered by the police after an unconstitutional motor vehicle stop should have been excluded in a prosecution […]