State of New Jersey v. Enright | DWI conviction and Laurick
October 16, 2010 /
In this morning’s Appellate Division decision in State v. Enright, the Court held that the Law Division is not bound by an improperly granted order under State v. Laurick, 120 N.J. 1 (1990). The order in question provided that the defendant’s previous municipal court DWI conviction could not be used for sentence enhancement purposes. However, the Law Division declined to follow the order based upon the fact that underlying relief should never have been granted in municipal court as the defendant was legally ineligible for relief under Laurick.The Appellate Division’s ruling affirms this decision by the Law Division.
HOWEVER, IT MUST BE NOTED THAT THIS DECISION FOUND THAT THE ‘Laurick‘ orders must be based upon the lack of counsel. It is significant to note, however, that the Court went on to consider ineffective assistance of counsel as a the functional equivalent of lack of counsel for Laurick purposes.
Posted in DWI Law
