State v. R.M.M., N.J. Super. App. Div. 4/3/2019)
Submitted by New Jersey Criminal Lawyer, Jeffrey Hark.
In this case the defendant appealed a denial by the PTI coordinator as well as criminal case manager and what division judge. The appellate division found this was yet another circumstance the prosecutors office abuse their discretion and not to consider any of the facts and circumstances surrounding this individual defendants adult life as a relates to the present charges. Specifically, she appealed from the denial of her application for admission into the pretrial intervention program. Defendant had been charged with third-degree resisting arrest and applied for PTI. The Criminal Division Manager, who also served as the PTI director, denied her application. Defendant appealed the denial of PTI to the trial court and the trial judge also denied her application. Defendant then pled guilty and was sentenced to probation. The CDM had cited the violent nature of the offense and defendant’s prior juvenile record as the reasons for denying PTI. Defendant appealed the denial of her application and the court concluded that reversal and a remand were appropriate because the CDM and the prosecutor failed to give consideration to defendant’s individual characteristics. The court found that neither the CDM nor the prosecutor analyzed the list of factors set forth in N.J.S.A. 2C:43-12(e), which were required to be considered in making a PTI recommendation. The court reasoned that defendant’s PTI application was rejected almost exclusively on her three prior juvenile adjudications without consideration of other relevant factors. On remand the court ordered that the CDM and prosecutor reevaluate defendant’s application and consider defendant’s individual characteristics and circumstances.
PTI is the first offenders program for adults in the state of New Jersey. Every person tries with a third or fourth-degree offenses with no prior criminal history is statutory entitled to PTI regardless of the objection of the prosecutors’ office. If you have applied for PTI and been denied please call my office immediately so I can preserve your rights, and fight to get you into the first offender PTI program immediately. We have represented defendants in PTI appeals across the state and have been successful and having the prosecutors denials overturned by judges in most counties in New Jersey.