Submitted by New Jersey DWI Lawyer, Jeffrey Hark.
In this case the sole question is whether the recent New Jersey appellate division and Supreme Court decision of state the Patel decided in August 2019 shall apply to all post conviction relief cases pending before or Municipal Court and trial court tribunals. The New Jersey Supreme Court had laid out A post conviction relief process in the matter of State v. Laurick. I have written extensively regarding regarding the Laurick decision found at 120 N.J.1 (1990). They are in the Supreme Court outlined the applicable process and standard of review for post conviction relief of prior on council DWI convictions. In August 2019 the Supreme Court revised that process due to the overwhelming difficulty of defendants proving their ability to show they were not given right to counsel because often municipal court records from the 1970s, 1980s, and even the 1990s don’t exist any longer nor where audible transcripts of the hearings saved.
A question in this case is whether the supreme court recent decision of State v. Patel should apply to cases that are pending in the Municipal Court, Law Division Courts and Appellate Division, given the Supreme Court’s recent decision. This is appellate panel determined that State v. Patel should be applied to all cases that are “in the pipeline retroactively“ based on the new rule of procedural law which affects any defendant’s rights and is an unanticipated repudiation of long-standing practice. This appellate panel found the decision in Patel substantial change the standard for those seeking post conviction relief under Laurick must comply with. The appellate panel found that is a new rule of law and as such should apply to all cases pending in the court of New Jersey.
Jeffrey S. Hark, Esq.
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