DWI Legislation Would Replace Drunken Driving Suspensions with Ignition Locks

January 4, 2014 |

RECORD FILE PHOTO Hasbrouck Heights police conducting a sobriety check in 2002. Penalties for DWI could be changed this year. Most convicted drunken drivers in New Jersey could avoid mandatory license suspensions under a new bill making its way through the Legislature — a proposal that constitutes a major shift in how the state deals…

Search Warrants for DWI Blood Sampling – New Jersey Appellate Court Rejects US Supreme Court Decision

December 29, 2013 |

Submitted by New Jersey DWI Attorney, Jeffrey Hark 1st New Jersey Appellate Court Rejects the retroactive application of the US Supreme Court’s recent decision of Missouri v. McNeely, 133 S.Ct. 152 which requires a Search Warrants for DWI Blood Sampling In April of 2013 the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Missouri v. McNeely, 133 S.Ct.…

New Jersey DWI Case: Invalid Investigatory Stop – State v Bennet

December 20, 2013 |

State v Bennet (UnPub App 2013) Today the New Jersey Appellate Division affirmed the municipal court’s determination that a police officer did not have any objective lawful basis to walk up to a car in a gas station at or near a college campus and open the door and immediately investigate a DWI offense. In…

Credibility in Criminal and Civil Law

December 14, 2013 |

Plaintiff in the Federal Court case of Perri v. Resorts International Hotel, Inc., Dist. Ct., filed a motion for a new trial in this matter after a jury returned a small verdict only reflecting the past medical bills that were incurred as a result of an alleged claim for damages for injuries allegedly sustained when…

Drug Arrest & Conviction Issues: Proper Search and Seizure | State v. Sanchez

December 6, 2013 |

State vs Sanchez In this appeal the Courts were requested to look at several issues. IN this blog we will discuss the right of the police to enter an accessible, open, unlocked, multi-story apartment building that has public hallways and stairs as well as private locked areas accessible only to the tenants. The court found…

New Jersey DWI Case – ALCOTEST Results, Physical Condition and Officer Testimony: Honesty and Officer Credibility

November 23, 2013 |

  State v. Kuropchack: On March 18, 2013 the New Jersey Appellate Division issued its opinion in this case. Defendant Julie Kuropchak was convicted in the Garfield Municipal Court of driving while intoxicated (DWI), N.J.S.A. 39:4-50. Following a trial de novo in the Law Division, she was again found guilty. As a third time offender, defendant was…

Telephonic Requests for Search Warrants for Blood Tests in Driving While Intoxicated (DWI) Cases

November 21, 2013 |

On April 17, 2013 I wrote about the recent US Supreme Court’s Opinion in McNeeley vs. Missouri where the Court found that dissipation of blood alcohol no longer constituted exigent circumstances as a means to bypass the ‘warrant requirement ‘ prior to a blood draw at a hospital.  The Court further ruled that each case…

Admission of Expert Opinion Regarding "Non-Economic Damages" "Value of Life" Damages

November 17, 2013 |

Case summary provided by New Jersey attorney, Jeffrey Hark Johnson vs. Redd, Trial Court Hudson County NJ, L-855-11 In this trial court decision, the court reviews the ability of a party to submit evidence to the jury regarding the pain and suffering value of life based on several different methods of calculations.  The trial court…

Slip and Fall – Plaintiff's Responsibility to Produce Evidence of the Actual Location

November 16, 2013 |

Trompeter v. Hilton Parsippany, Dist. Ct. In a recent line of cases the New Jersey Appellate has reiterated and reaffirmed the plaintiff’s responsibility to produce evidence of the actual location where s/he has called and the nature of the defect that has called them to call.  In addition, if expert testimony is required to prove the causal relationship between the defective condition, the defendant’s…

NJ Criminal Law – Illegal Search of Vehicle and Producing Driver's Credentials

October 31, 2013 |

14-2-1787 State of New Jersey v Duran C. Keaton, App. Div. Unlawful Search and Seizure at Accident Scene In this Unpublished appeal the court ruled that the police are required, when there is no exigency, and the driver is able to obtain his identification materials, to allow a defendant to produce his driving credentials on his/her own without…