April 11, 2011
State v. Holland, A-4384-09 and State v. Pizzo, A-4775-09

The reliability of the Alcotest was questioned in two separate drunk driving cases. The defendant’s New Jersey lawyers argued that the calibration thermometer used in the Alcotest was produced by a different manufacturer than used in the Courts to determine reliability and thus the results were not reliable. The New Jersey lawyers argued that since the thermometer had been produced by a different company, the state had failed to uphold the conditions established in a previous case.

In both municipal cases the judges rejected the argument presented by the defendant’s attorneys. Both lawyers appealed the ruling.

The Appellate Division ruled that further evidence was needed to determine whether a difference existed between the results the thermometers manufactured from different locations. The court ordered a hearing on the comparability of the two thermometers.

Legal Quote of the Week:

“…all things are presumed to have been rightly done unless there is reasonable ground shown for doubting it.”

Sir James Hannen, British jurist, Woodhouse v. Balfour (1887), L.R., 13 Pr. D. 4

October 18, 2010
Drug Court Alternative to Revocation

NEW JERSEY LAWYERS EVALUATE INCARCERATION ALTERNATIVE FOR PARTICIPANTS IN DRUG COURT WITH MULTIPLE VIOLATIONS

On October 5, 2010, a New Jersey state senator wrote to the Administrative Office of the Courts urging them to inform every court judge of the temporary incarceration and reinstatement alternative for individuals in drug-court with multiple violations.
The relevant statute, N.J.S.A. 2C:35-14(g), states that when a person in drug court with previous violations faces permanent revocation of drug court eligibility, a short term of incarceration may be imposed; after which the individual may be reinstated to the drug court.
Participants in drug court are drug-and-alcohol-addicted individuals that have no record of violent offenses. These participants undergo close monitoring as well as routine drug testing and frequent court appearances.

Legal Quote of the Week:

“Everything yields. The very glaciers are viscous, or regelate into conformity, and the stiffest patriots falter and compromise”

Ralph Waldo Emerson

The New Jersey Supreme Court recently ruled that a warrantless arrest was valid involving a case where law enforcement had probable cause to arrest a suspect in a public place. The Court recognized the longstanding requirement that arrest warrants and warrantless arrests in public must be supported by probable cause to believe that a crime has been committed and the person sought to be arrested committed the offense. In this case, the arrest warrant was defective and the focus of the decision whether the State of New Jersey acted reasonably in effectuating the arrest. The Court focused on the conduct of law enforcement and concluded that the actions of the suspect in fleeing his private apartment into a public place where the police could arrest him without a warrant based upon probable cause.

Legal Quote of the Week:

“….sunlight is the best of disinfectants…”

Louis D. Brandeis, 1856-1941, New York Times, February 15, 1984

 New Jersey Attorney, John F. Renner

Certified by the Supreme Court of New Jersey as a Criminal Trial Attorney