The United States Supreme Court recently issued an ethics code that is to guide the conduct of its justices.  There have been calls for the Court to issue such a set of ethics rules for some time, but recent revelations about the questionable ethical conduct of some of the justices apparently forced the Court to act.  Some of these problems included the fact that Justice Thomas’ wife worked to overturn the 2020 election just prior to the January 6 Capitol riot, and he continued to participate in cases relating to the riot and the election.  He also failed to disclose luxury trav ..read more

Street Cop Training, a private company owned by a formed Middlesex County law enforcement officer, conducted a week-long seminar in Atlantic City in 2021.  The seminar was attended by about 1,000 officers from around the country, with about 240 of them from New Jersey.  Most of the New Jersey officers paid their attendance fee with taxpayer money.  In fact, approximately $75,000 in taxpayer funds were spent so as to allow the New Jersey officers to attend the conference. The New Jersey state comptroller’s office recently issued a report saying that the seminar glorified violence ..read more

Our Supreme Court recently considered whether the mere odor of marijuana coming from a vehicle during a traffic stop allows a search of the engine compartment and trunk.  In State v. Cohen, decided earlier this year, law enforcement had information from a confidential informant that the driver was bringing guns from another State into New Jersey for sale.  A “be-on-the-lookout”, or BOLO went out, and a trooper spotted the car on the New Jersey Turnpike and pulled it over for ostensible traffic violations.  When the trooper stopped the vehicle, he detected a strong odor of raw ma ..read more

Many defendants have either limited or no ability to speak English.  Thus, the court will supply interpreters in those cases where defendants require such services so that they can understand and participate in the proceedings.  Before COVID, live interpreter services were typically provided in court during any proceeding where they were required.  During the pandemic, many proceedings, including those where interpreters were used, were conducted virtually because in-person court appearances were suspended for health reasons.  Although live appearances have been largely rei ..read more

Many people who are subject to Megan’s Law and Community Supervision for Life (CSL) or Parole Supervision for Life (PSL) regularly contact our firm to ask about relief from the requirements and obligations of these overly burdensome laws.  We file motions in all 21 New Jersey counties for clients seeking to have their registration and supervision obligations terminated, and our success record speaks for itself. As we have discussed in other blog posts, the requirements for relief from these obligations are, generally speaking, fairly straight forward.  As to Megan’s, the registrant c ..read more

Our firm regularly represents clients seeking to be relieved of their Megan’s Law registration and Community Supervision for Life (CSL) or Parole Supervision for Life (PSL) obligations.  We therefore track the latest developments in this area of law, and report regularly on them to individuals who want to terminate these onerous and burdensome obligations. The statutory requirements for relief are fairly straight forward.  Generally speaking, as to both registration and supervision, the client must have gone 15 years from the date of their sentence or date of their release from State ..read more

Criminal attorneys who practice in both federal and state court regularly experience the differences between the two systems.  In the federal system, hearings are scheduled by specific date and time.  In other words, the attorneys receive dates and times from the court staff telling them when they are to appear for their hearing.  Typically, nobody else is present in the courtroom.  The hearing is held, the judge either issues a decision or further instructions, and everyone moves on from there. The state system is very different.  Criminal judges have lists of matters ..read more

Justice Clarence Thomas is in the news again.  I don’t know if there has ever been a United States Supreme Court justice that has had so much media focus.  And, as is usually the case with Justice Thomas, it’s negative. Harlan Crow is a Texas real estate billionaire.  He likes to travel to exotic destinations such as Indonesia and Bohemian Grove, an exclusive retreat in Northern California.  He also owns a 105-acre lakeside retreat in the Adirondack mountains.  Mr. Crow is also very active in conservative politics, making donations to all kinds of conservative causes ..read more

Recent media have contained numerous stories about Tyre Nichols, who was savagely beaten to death by Memphis police officers.  Over the last several years, police misconduct has received considerable media attention, as it should.  However, while police misconduct obviously continues to be a significant criminal justice problem, recent events in a New York State courtroom highlight another problem that negatively affects the integrity of our criminal justice system. Joseph Franco, a former New York City narcotics detective, was charged in 2019 with perjury and other crimes stemming f ..read more

A recent decision of the Superior Court’s Appellate Division discussed the grading of shoplifting offenses.  This is important for anyone who has been charged with shoplifting, which is one of the more common offenses heard in New Jersey’s municipal courts.  As shoplifting lawyers in New Jersey, we closely track decisions concerning this offense. Under our criminal code as currently written, shoplifting will be considered a third degree offense “if the full retail value of the merchandise exceeds $500.00 but is less than $75,000.00”.  Shoplifting is a fourth degree offense “if t ..read more