Submitted by New Jersey Criminal Lawyer, Jeffrey Hark The statute explicitly confers upon defendants a right to appeal an order of pretrial detention “pursuant to the Rules of Court” N.J.S.A. 2A:162-18(c) and “shall be heard in an expedited manner.” An appellate court “may find an abuse of discretion when a decision ‘rest[s] on an impermissible…
Submitted by New Jersey Criminal Lawyer, Jeffrey Hark The new Bail Reform Act (the “Act”), which has been in effect since January 1, 2017, is now being analyzed by New Jersey Courts. Part of the Act is the new automated risk-assessment process in deciding whether pretrial detention is appropriate. The automated process gathers information about…
Submitted by New Jersey Criminal Lawyer, Jeffrey Hark The new system in the Bail Reform Act favors pretrial release and monitoring as the presumptive approach and limits preventive detention to defendants who actually warrant it. Nonetheless, the trial court remains authorized, upon motion of a prosecutor, to order pretrial detention of a particular defendant when…
14-2-2812 State v. C.W., N.J. Super. App. Div. (Sabatino, P.J.A.D.) (50pp) Submitted by New Jersey Criminal Lawyer, Jeffrey Hark A case was recently decided by New Jersey Appellate Division in which several issues under the new Bail Reform Act (the “Act”) were reviewed for the first time. Factual Circumstances In the case, a nineteen year…
Submitted by New Jersey Criminal Lawyer, Jeffrey Hark A defendant’s juvenile record is not considered as part of the new automated risk-assessment as part of the Bail Reform Act (the “Act”). However, Section 20 of the Act broadly authorizes the trial court to consider a defendant’s “past conduct” as one of the many permissible factors…
14-2-2814 State v. Gathers, N.J. Super. App. Div. (Fisher, P.J.A.D.) (13pp) Submitted by New Jersey Criminal Lawyer, Jeffrey Hark. A case was recently decided by New Jersey Appellate Division in which the Court ruled a buccal (mouth) swab, taken from a defendant while he awaited trial, was unreasonable. In this case, the defendant was charged with second-degree…
Submitted by New Jersey Criminal Lawyer, Jeffrey Hark. A Lincoln Town Car fled the scene of a three-vehicle accident Sunday night on Route 80 in Mount Arlington, according to a New Jersey State Police report. No details were available Monday afternoon regarding the circumstances of the accident, which also involved a Nissan Sentra and a…
I want to get into PTI (Pretrial Intervention) because my criminal charge is for a 3rd or 4th degree offense. Why is the prosecutor objecting and not letting me in? What can I do? Submitted by New Jersey Criminal Lawyer, Jeffrey Hark. In this case a government employee, defendant Morgan who was a school district…
Submitted by New Jersey Criminal Lawyer, Jeffrey Hark. VERONA, New Jersey (WABC) — A New Jersey man is facing charges after a crash at a bus stop that killed a woman and injured her brother. The Essex County Prosecutor’s Office charged Anthony Casale Jr., 25, of Belleville, with first degree death by auto in connection…
Submitted by New Jersey Criminal Lawyer, Jeffrey Hark. State v Hamlett A-4399-14T2 In this case the defendant plead guilty to three different indictments for three different criminal cases pending against him. On appeal he raised an argument that the police were not allowed to search his rental car and specifically the center console of the…
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New Jersey Survivors Justice Act: Sentencing Reform for Abuse Victims
Submitted by New Jersey Criminal Lawyer, Jeffrey Hark In January 2026, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy signed into law a pair of bills known as the Survivors Justice Act (S-4870/A-5968 and S-4871/A-5969). This landmark legislation, championed by Senator Angela V. McKnight, Senator M. Teresa Ruiz, and other lawmakers, amends the state’s criminal code to allow courts…