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…

Read More

Large Gap Between Reasonable Suspicion and Probable Cause

Submitted by New Jersey Drug Crime Lawyer, Jeffrey Hark State v. Lewis, decided by the Appellate Division, on June 25th, is an appeal of a conviction partially based on a motion to suppress evidence that defendant argues was improperly denied by the trial court. The relevant facts are that the defendant was spotted by an…

Read More

Emergency Circumstacnes: Exigency in State v. Eckel,

Submitted by New Jersey DWI Lawyer, Jeffrey Hark Our court has outlined exigency in See State v. Eckel, 185 N.J. 523. Exigency has been defined as circumstances which provide the officer with the heightened concern for his safety or the destruction of evidence. Id. at 534. The U.S Supreme Court’s 2013 decision in Missouri v.…

Read More

Cell Phones: Password Protected And Now Warrant Protected

Major Privacy Ruling – Cell Phones and Unreasonable Search Submitted by New Jersey Criminal Lawyer, Jeffrey Hark. News Flash:—— United States v. Wurie and Riley v. California. The U.S. Supreme Court decided two landmark cases on June 25, 2014 for anyone who gets arrested with a cell phone on them. One case arose out of…

Read More

Exigency and Warrantless Search | State of New Jersey vs. Witt

Submitted by New Jersey Criminal Lawyer, Jeffrey Hark One of the requirements for conducting a warrantless search is exigency, or to use another word, urgency. The leading case concerning exigency is State v. Pena-Flores in which the Jersey Supreme Court claimed that it was just reaffirming three decades of New Jersey common law which all…

Read More

State of New Jersey vs Michael Cushing | Consent and Warrantless Search

Download the PDF here or visit the New Jersey Courts website RECORD IMPOUNDED NOT FOR PUBLICATION WITHOUT THE APPROVAL OF THE APPELLATE DIVISION SUPERIOR COURT OF NEW JERSEY APPELLATE DIVISION DOCKET NO. A-0856-12T1 STATE OF NEW JERSEY, Plaintiff-Respondent, v. MICHAEL CUSHING, Defendant-Appellant. ____________________________________________________ Argued October 8, 2013 – Decided Before Judges Messano, Hayden and Rothstadt.…

Read More