Defendant Was Not Seized Prior To Detective Witnessing the Gun, As Defendant Was Still Manipulating the Gun in His Waistband

State of New Jersey v. Anthony Ford                                                                   Docket No. A-2262-19                                                                                                                Decided September 9, 2022 Submitted by New Jersey Criminal Lawyer, Jeffrey Hark In a recent unpublished opinion, the Appellate Court of New Jersey affirmed the trial court’s ruling and also held that the Defendant was not seized prior to Detective Jimenez witnessing the…

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Whether an informant’s confidential tip can be the basis for a traffic stop.

Submitted by New Jersey New Jersey Criminal Lawyer, Jeffrey Hark In the Mesadieu case, the Appellate Division held that Mesadieu’s detention was lawful.  The New Jersey Supreme Court has established under State v. Davis, 104, N.J. 490, 504 (1986) that a court must evaluate the totality of the circumstances surrounding the police-citizen encounter to determine the…

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Suppression of Evidence from a police “Terry Stop” due to a violation of a municipal ordinance (Curfew Violation)

State v. Welch New Jersey Appellate Division (Unreported Decision November 7, 2018) Submitted by New Jersey Criminal Lawyer, Jeffrey Hark. In this case the police approach a defendant who is alleged to have violated a curfew issued from Hurricane Sandy.  The facts are as follows: 1) Officer Calleja testified that in the bright moonlight, aided by the patrol vehicle’s…

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How can you attack the police’s probable cause or ‘Terry stop’ when there is an informant providing information to the police undercover?

As the informant’s information independently confirmed by the officers at the scene??? State of New Jersey v. Jeffrey Thomas Submitted by New Jersey Criminal Lawyer, Jeffrey Hark On May 14, 2015, Sergeant Ricardo Diaz was assigned to the Trenton Crime Suppression Central Unit. This unit was established to help suppress violent crimes in the most…

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