New Jersey Criminal Defense Attorney Blog

Asbury Park City Municipal Court

Location: One Municipal Plaza
Asbury Park, New Jersey 07712

Phone: (732) 775-1765
Fax: (732) 988-6935

The judge in Asbury Park court is the Honorable Mark T. Apostolou, J.M.C. The Court Administrator is Patricia Green. Asbury Park Police make a large amount of arrests for drug possession, robbery, burglary, assault and DWI. A fair share of traffic and speeding tickets are also issued in Asbury Park.

It is well-settled that statements made during custodial interrogation are inadmissible unless preceded by Miranda warnings. See Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436 (1966). "Interrogation" in this context had been defined as express questioning or its functional equivalent. Rhode Island v. Innis, 446 U.S. 291, 3011980). The test to determine whether a defendant has been the subject of the functional equivalent of interrogation is whether the police knew, or should have known, that their conduct was reasonably likely to elicit an incriminating response from the person. An "incriminating response" is any response - whether inculpatory or exculpatory - that the prosecution may seek to introduce at trial. State v. Ward, 240 N.J. Super. 412, 418 (App. Div. 1990).

However, If a criminal defendant has not been interrogated, and instead makes a spontaneous and voluntary statement, the statement is admissible against the defendant. Id. at 419. This is true provided that the statement was not the product of enticement, encouragement, solicitation or the non-verbal investigative techniques designed to elicit a response. Id. at 417.

Sergeant Steven Pelligra, a veteran of the NJ State Police, was arrested last week and charged with DWI-DUI, Refusal to Submit to a Breath Test, and related offenses. His arrest followed a two-vehicle accident that occurred in Hackettstown. He has been suspended from duty without pay.

At the time of the crash, Pelligra was off duty and traveling north in his Nissan Frontier when his truck hit the driver's side of a 1999 Pontiac Grand Prix going south. Pelligra fled from the scene after the accident. He later refused to give a breath sample.

A New Jersey woman recently picked up her son from school with a blood alcohol level (BAC) three times the legal limit, investigators said.

Jeanne Champagne, a 45-year-old Rockaway resident arrived at around 7:00 p.m. on November 20 to pick up her 12-year old boy from an after-school activity.
After picking up her son, Champagne hit a parked vehicle. Police soon arrived to investigate and detected the smell of alcohol on the defendant's breath.

The mother admitted to having drank alcohol and subsequent breath testing indicated that her BAC was .24, triple the legal limit of .08. She was charged with driving while intoxicated, driving while intoxicated with a minor, careless driving, reckless driving and endangering the welfare of a child.

Mercer County Superior Court
Mailing Address:
PO Box 8068
Trenton, NJ 08608
Street Address:
209 S Broad Street
Trenton, NJ 08608

East Windsor Municipal Court
Mailing Address:
80 One Mile Road, East
Windsor, NJ 08520
Phone Number: (609) 448-3228

Ewing Township Municipal Court
Mailing Address:
2 Jake Garzio Drive
Ewing, NJ
Phone Number: (609) 883-2900

Hamilton Township
Municipal Court
Mailing Address:
1270 Whitehorse Ave Cn00150
Hamilton, NJ
Phone Number: (609) 581-4071

Hightstown Municipal Court
Mailing Address:
148 N Main Street
Hightstown, NJ
Phone Number: (609) 490-5105

Hopewell Borough Municipal Court
Mailing Address:
PO Box 343
Hopewell, NJ
Phone Number: (609) 466-0968

Hopewell Township Municipal Court
Mailing Address:
201 Washington Crossing
Pennington Road Titusville, NJ
Phone Number: (609) 737-1035

Lawrence Township Municipal Court
Mailing Address:
Municipal Square P.O. Box 6006 Lawrenceville, NJ
Phone Number: (609) 844-7159

Pennington Borough Municipal Court
Mailing Address:
30 North Main Street
Pennington, NJ
Phone Number: (609) 737-1016

Princeton Borough Municipal Court
Mailing Address:
PO Box 390 1 Monument Dr
Princeton, NJ
Phone Number: (609) 497-7600

Princeton Township Municipal Court
Mailing Address:
400 Witherspoon St.
Princeton Township, NJ
Phone Number: (609) 924-5042

Trenton Municipal Court
Mailing Address:
225 N Clinton Ave
PO Box 1360 Trenton, NJ
Phone Number: (609) 989-3700

Washington Township Municipal Court
Mailing Address:
1117 Route 130
Robbinsville, NJ
Phone Number: (609) 259-7085

West Windsor Municipal Court
Mailing Address:
20 Municipal Drive PO Box 38 Princeton Junction, NJ
Phone Number: (609) 799-0915

In this NJ criminal defense appeal victory, the defense attorney successfully argued that flight from an unconstitutional stop does not automatically justify the admission of evidence obtained during a subsequent search at trial. Summary by Mark Friedman.

State v. Robert E. Williams, ? N.J. Super. ?, 2009 N.J. Super. LEXIS ? (November 23, 2009) - Conviction reversed, suppression ordered. "The primary issue presented by this appeal is whether flight from an unconstitutional investigatory stop that could justify an arrest for obstruction automatically justifies the admission of any evidence revealed during the course of that flight.

We conclude that such evidence is admissible only if there is a significant attenuation between the unconstitutional stop and the seizure of evidence and that commission of the offense of obstruction is insufficient by itself to establish significant attenuation....

[T]he trial court correctly concluded that Officer Delaprida and his partner did not have a reasonable suspicion that defendant was engaged or about to engage in criminal activity. These police officers had been dispatched to the housing complex based on a report of a possible retaliatory shooting in the area....

[T]he officers admittedly did not have any prior contact with defendant and thus had no reason to believe he might be involved in the possible retaliatory shooting or other criminal activity....

Moreover, defendant's conduct after he saw the officers enter the courtyard did not provide an objectively reasonable basis for suspecting that he had engaged in or was about to engage in criminal activity. Defendant simply started quickly pedaling away from the officers and put his hand in his pocket.

We question whether this conduct should even be considered flight because the officers did not initially indicate to defendant that he should stop. Defendant could have believed that he should simply get out of the officers' way....

Defendant argues that his failure to immediately stop his bicycle in response to Officer Delaprida's command could not be found to constitute obstruction within the intent of N.J.S.A. 2C:29-1(a) as interpreted in Crawley [187 N.J. 440 (2006)]. We have no need to address this argument because we conclude that even if defendant's failure to obey Officer Delaprida's command to stop would have provided an adequate basis to arrest him for obstruction, the evidence obtained when Officer Delaprida and his partner grabbed defendant was not 'sufficiently attenuated' from the taint of the unconstitutional stop to justify its admission into evidence....

In New Jersey, the three-factor test reaffirmed in Williams [192 N.J. 1 (2007)] delineates the circumstances in which the attenuation exception may be properly applied. Under those factors, the State failed to establish a 'significant attenuation' between the unconstitutional stop of defendant and the seizure of the drugs he discarded following that stop." (Alyssa Aiello, A.D.P.D.)

http://www.judiciary.state.nj.us/opinions/a4530-07.pdf

This recent appeal was decided pertaining to a Post-Conviction Relief (PCR) denial of a juvenile defendant whose mother was prevented from being present while her son was interrogated by police, during which he confessed to murder.

State v. Lawrence Bell, unpublished opinion, App. Div. Docket No. A-4895-05T4 (November 17, 2009) - Denial of PCR affirmed in part, reversed in part, remanded for evidentiary hearing.

"Defendant's second petition for PCR was based on the
absence of defendant's mother or stepmother from the interrogation following his arrest during which he admitted his participation in the kidnapping, sexual assault and murder of a young mother. Defendant argues that his mother's attendance was required and that she was barred from the interrogation room. He contends he was entitled to an evidentiary hearing to determine the credibility of his stepmother's recently submitted statement and her recollection of the events and their relevance to the voluntariness of his oral and written statements.

He further argues that his attorney was ineffective because he did not raise the issue of the stepmother's absence from the interrogation and the voluntariness of defendant's statements.... In this letter, defendant's stepmother relates that she brought defendant to the police station, they entered a room and a detective handcuffed defendant. In her letter, she states she left the room to use the bathroom.

When she returned, defendant was in an interview room being questioned. A detective would not let her enter the room. When she protested, she was shown a note from defendant that stated that he did not want her to be with him. When she insisted that she wanted to see defendant, a detective opened the door. She described his skin as 'a fire red in color' and that he looked scared. Deborah Carter Tobin did not testify at the April 1992 Miranda hearing....

The presence or absence of a parent or guardian is one of several factors that must be considered in the assessment of the voluntary nature of an inculpatory statement by a juvenile. Although defendant's interrogation could proceed in the absence of his stepmother, police were required to conduct the interrogation 'with utmost fairness and in accordance with the highest standards of due process and fundamental fairness.'...

If defendant's stepmother was excluded by detectives and defendant was not informed that she was nearby, these circumstances might suggest that the interrogation was not conducted with care and that the juvenile's will was overborne.... [T]he record of the facts and circumstances surrounding defendant's stepmother's absence is now disputed. The contradictions created by the stepmother's letter cannot be resolved by simply comparing the facts related in her letter and the transcript of the April 1992 Miranda hearing." (David A. Gies, Designated Counsel)
http://www.judiciary.state.nj.us/opinions/a4895-05.pdf

Frequently in New Jersey, when a DWI/DUI suspect is taken into custody, a different officer then the one making the arrest gives the Alcotest (breathalyzer) breath test. Sometimes the arresting officer has other duties to attend to or is not a qualified operator of the machine. This is generally permissible.

However, there are other situations where one officer observers the suspect for the required 20 minutes prior to the administration of the breath test (previously covered on this blog) and then a different officer actually gives the breath test. These so-called "hand-off" cases should be fought aggressively. That is why is is vital to retain an experienced criminal defense/DWI attorney.

Simply put, the same officer that administers the Alcotest must also personally observe the test subject for 20 minutes prior to the administration of that test. State v. Nucifora, December 30, 2008 (Law Div.). State v. Chun, 194 N.J. 54, 79 (2008). It should be noted that Nucifora is an unreported case with no real precedential value.

Continue reading "NJ DUI/DWI Law - When a Different Police Officer Administers the Breath Test" »

The Law Office of Anthony J. Vecchio, LLC focuses on criminal defense, appeals, DWI/DUI, traffic and juvenile matters in central New Jersey. The courts we most commonly appear in include:

Ocean County:

Ocean County Superior Court
Ocean County Courthouse
118 Washington Street
Toms River, NJ 08754
(732) 244-2121

Continue reading "NJ Superior and Municipal Court Locations (Ocean County)" »

The Law Office of Anthony J. Vecchio, LLC focuses on criminal defense, appeals, DWI/DUI, traffic and juvenile matters in central New Jersey. The courts we most commonly appear in include:

Monmouth County Courts:

Monmouth County Superior Court
Monmouth County Court House
71 Monument Park
Freehold, NJ 07728-1266
(732) 677-4300

Monmouth County Municipal Courts:

Continue reading "NJ Superior and Municipal Court Locations (Monmouth County)" »

New Jersey drunk driving defendants were given something of a break when the State Legislature enacted N.J.S.A. 39:4-50(a)(3). The so-called ten-year step-down provision of that statute allows a subsequent (second or third) DWI - DUI offense to be treated as a prior offense for sentencing purposes when more than ten years have elapsed between the two offenses. This was done to mitigate the otherwise harsh and draconian DWI - DUI sentencing guidelines.

In other words, if Anthony is charged with his first drunk driving offense in New Jersey on April 1, 2000 and later convicted, he will be treated as a first offender and lose his license for either 3 or7 months depending on his blood alcohol content (BAC). Nine years later, on April 1, 2009, if Anthony is caught drunk driving again, he will be treated as a second offender and lose his license for 2 years.

However, if Anthony had instead been caught on April 2, 2010 for drunk driving rather than on April 1, 2009, he would have been treated again as a first offender under the 10-year step-down rule. Similarly, if he had been caught in 2000, 2009 and then not until April 2, 2019, Anthony would be sentenced as a second offender rather than as a third.

Continue reading "NJ DWI - DUI Sentencing and the 10-year Step-Down Rule" »

One way to possibly beat a drunk driving (DUI-DWI) charge in New Jersey municipal courts or on appeal is to show that the police did not continuously observe the suspect for 20 minutes prior to the administration of the breath test (alcotest/breathalyzer).

In such situations, a defense attorney may file a motion to suppress the results of the breath test. If this motion is successful, the results of the breath test may be thrown out, leaving the state to prove its case only on the observations of the arresting officer.

Our Supreme Court has found that, subject to certain modifications, the Alcotest device "is generally sufficiently reliable . . . to permit its results to be admissible or to allow it to be utilized to prove a per se violation of the [driving-under-the-influence] statute." State v. Chun, 194 N.J. 54, 65 (2008). The Court dictated some modifications to address technical shortcomings of the device and imposed other pre-conditions to admissibility to preserve defendants' confrontational rights. Ibid. These included the requirement that an Alcotest operator observe a defendant for twenty minutes before administering the test. Id. at 79.

Continue reading "NJ DUI (DWI) Law and the 20-Minute Observation Rule" »

Robert McLaughlin, 76, of Lakewood, will stand trial in Ocean County Superior Court in Toms River for allegedly fleecing a South African man out of $75,000 in a fake gold deal. The defendant declined to enter into a plea agreement with prosecutor and will instead take his chances at trial before Superior Court Judge Wendel Daniels.

McLaughlin was indicted for theft and money laundering and is exposed to fifteen years in state prison. He would be required to serve nearly eight years before becoming eligible for parole. The plea bargain would have had the defendant plead guilty to theft if the state would recommend a 7-year term in state prison and restitution.

The defendant allegedly accepted over $70k from a gold broker and spent the money on himself rather than the gold he had promised to deliver. After the gold was never delivered, the broker contacted the police, who arrested McLaughlin in June. The defendant did not make bail, and is lodged in the Ocean County Jail.

Thomas Roselli, a 44-year-old Matawan resident, was arrested recently for allegedly breaking into a Manalapan Township home on October 19. The burglary occurred on Belair Ln, off of Taylors Mills Rd.

Police say Roselli knocked on the front door of the home, then broke in through the sliding door in the back of the house after no one answered. The daughter of the homeowners was inside the house when the burglar first knocked, then locked herself inside a bathroom and called police.

The girl also called her mother, who alerted a neighbor. The neighbor then went to the front door to investigate. The burglar then ran out the back to a car he had waiting nearby. The suspect was chased by the neighbor, who was able to note the car's license plate.

The license plate led Manalapan police, assisted by Matawan police to Roselli. Roselli was taken into custody in Old Bridge Township and was housed in the Monmouth County Jail in Freehold Township.

If you have been charged, arrested or convicted of Burglary, contact a Monmouth County criminal defense attorney for an evaluation of your case.

Joseph Ambrosio, 41 of Wall Twp, Monmouth County was arrested this week for allegedly sending sexually graphic emails to undercover investigators acting as underage girls. The emails were allegedly sent from his work computer in Jersey City, where he worked as an assistant controller.

Ambrosio has been charged with attempted sexual assault, attempted criminal sexual contact, and child endangerment. Ambrosio's arrest resulted from the work of a joint-investigation conducted by the Monmouth, Passaic and Morris County Prosecutor's Offices and the Passaic County Sheriff's Department.

Prosecutors say the emails and chats started early this year when undercover detectives posed as 12-year-old girls in Yahoo chat rooms. Ambrosio allegedly used the screen name NNNJGUY1971. He would enter the chat rooms in the afternoon, when young girls are likely to be online. The defendant was even allegedly seen by an undercover agent in his office sending such emails.

Continue reading "Wall Township Man Charged in Internet Sex Sting" »