State vs. Rosario: Is this an arrest or a field inquiry?

March 11, 2016

Submitted by New Jersey Criminal Lawyer, Jeffrey Hark State vs. Rosario In this case the issue is whether the police’s contact and communications with the defendant was a ‘field inquiry’, a Terry stop, or a custodial interrogation?  If difference depends on whether the subject of the inquiry, the defendant here, feels their freedom to leave have been…

From Tip to Arrest: An Overview of Your Rights When Police Stop You

August 30, 2014

Submitted by New Jersey Criminal Lawyer, Jeffrey Hark. State v. Wright is an appeal of a denial of a motion to suppress evidence. This case touches on several important issues in criminal law including, de facto arrest, reasonable articulable suspicion v. probable cause, plain view doctrine, and exigent circumstances. The basic facts of the case…

State v. Salladino: Impact on New Jersey Criminal Law and Admission of Evidence

September 26, 2013

14-2-1436 State v. Salladino, App. Div. (per curiam) (13 pp.) On today’s date the New Jersey Appellate Division ruled that under the totality of the circumstances the seizure of the “hard bulge” from somewhere on defendant’s person exceeded the permissible scope of a Terry search for weapons and was thus unlawful. The appellate panel agrees…