The Most Important Blog You’ll Read if You Drive In New Jersey

Submitted by New Jersey Criminal Lawyer, Jeffrey Hark. This is the third blog in a series of blogs about the recent N.J. Supreme Court decision in State v. Witt—one of the most controversial cases in recent memory. The last two blogs discussed the facts of the case, and the history of case law in New…

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State v. Witt Part II: The Confusion of Exigency

 Submitted by New Jersey Criminal Lawyer, Jeffrey Hark. A previous blog presented the facts of State v. Witt and explained that up until now Pena-Flores was the governing case in New Jersey when it came to warrantless vehicle searches. Under that case a police officer must meet three requirements to search a vehicle without a…

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If You’ve Ever Been Pulled Over You Must Read This Blog: Part I

Submitted by New Jersey Criminal Lawyer, Jeffrey Hark. On September 24 the N.J. Supreme Court issued an opinion in State v. Witt that may be one of the most important in recent memory for people facing criminal charges arising out of traffic stops. With a dissent, the total length of the written opinion is 95…

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Dropped 9-1-1 Call Not An Emergency By Itself But May Support Application of Emergency Aid Doctrine to Police entry of Home

Submitted by New Jersey Criminal Lawyer, Jeffrey Hark. This blog has discussed exceptions to Fourth Amendment protections on numerous occasions, and the discussion often circles back to exigency. Exigent circumstances sometimes provide a legitimate basis for police to intrude, and at other times unfortunately are used as an excuse to circumvent your rights. It all…

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Exigent Circumstances Required to Draw Blood without Consent or Warrant

On today’s date the New Jersey Supreme Court decided to apply the case of Missouri vs.  McNeely retroactively to all cases in their decision of State v. Adkins. If you recall Missouri vs McNeely is the US  Supreme Court case we wrote about 18 months ago. The issue was whether the police were required a…

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