Bill Would Make Interlock Device Available to All N.J. DWI Convicts
Tuesday, March 25, 2014
Bill Would Make Interlock Device Available to All N.J. DWI Convicts http://t.co/2qt7Dc2cI7
— Geoffrey D. Mueller (@GDM_Law) March 25, 2014$166M Verdict Entered Against NJ Division of Youth and Family Services (Agency For Child Protection) Cut To $102M
Wednesday, March 19, 2014
Judge Cuts Record $166M Verdict Against N.J. Child Protection Agency http://t.co/v55XfEoUJ1
http://t.co/X6HaoCsXWj
http://t.co/kyiclkglB4
— Geoffrey D. Mueller (@GDM_Law) March 19, 2014State's Failure To Produce Alcotest Data Not Cause For Suppression - State v. Macri (A-0255-13T4)
Monday, March 17, 2014
Per The NJ Law Journal:
"Although DWI defendants have the right to obtain all data about the Alcotest machines used to test them, the state's failure to provide the data due to a technical glitch is not cause to suppress machine readings, a New Jersey appeals court says.
"The loss of data caused by the failure of a machine's motherboard did not amount to a denial of due process, since there was no showing of bad faith by the state and the lost data was only potentially useful, the Appellate Division held."
***
"On Friday, Judges Joseph Yanotti and George Leone reversed in State v. Macri, finding Reddin had misapplied precedents that made data about Alcotest available to defendants in discovery.
"The state provided the 'foundational documents' required by State v. Chun, 194 N.J. 54 (2008), to show the machine was in good working order, and there was no evidence the mother board failure impacted the machine's ability to produce reliable test results, the judges said."
Full article and decision after the jump...
"Although DWI defendants have the right to obtain all data about the Alcotest machines used to test them, the state's failure to provide the data due to a technical glitch is not cause to suppress machine readings, a New Jersey appeals court says.
"The loss of data caused by the failure of a machine's motherboard did not amount to a denial of due process, since there was no showing of bad faith by the state and the lost data was only potentially useful, the Appellate Division held."
***
"On Friday, Judges Joseph Yanotti and George Leone reversed in State v. Macri, finding Reddin had misapplied precedents that made data about Alcotest available to defendants in discovery.
"The state provided the 'foundational documents' required by State v. Chun, 194 N.J. 54 (2008), to show the machine was in good working order, and there was no evidence the mother board failure impacted the machine's ability to produce reliable test results, the judges said."
Full article and decision after the jump...
N.J. Court Holds Mother Can Exclude Father From Delivery Room - Plotnick v. DeLuccia
Tuesday, March 11, 2014
Per the New Jersey Law Journal:
"A putative father has no right to be notified that the expectant mother is in labor nor to be present in the delivery room if the mother objects, a New Jersey judge says in an apparent case of first impression nationwide.
"Ruling in a dispute between estranged, unmarried parents, Superior Court Judge Sohail Mohammed held that a woman's right to privacy and to control her body during pregnancy allows her to shut the father out.
"'A finding in favor of plaintiff for both notification and forced entry into the delivery room would in fact be inconsistent with existing jurisprudence on the interests of women in the children they carry pre-birth,' he wrote in Plotnick v. DeLuccia.
"'It would create practical concerns where the father's unwelcomed presence could cause additional stress on the mother and child. Moreover, such a finding would also lead to a slippery slope where the mother's interest could be subjugated to that of the father's.'
Mohammed said in his opinion, published March 10, that according to his research, 'the issues of whether a putative father has a right to be notified when a woman enters labor, and whether a father has a right to be present at the child's birth over the mother's objection, have never been litigated in New Jersey or the United States.'"
Full article and opinion after the jump...
"A putative father has no right to be notified that the expectant mother is in labor nor to be present in the delivery room if the mother objects, a New Jersey judge says in an apparent case of first impression nationwide.
"Ruling in a dispute between estranged, unmarried parents, Superior Court Judge Sohail Mohammed held that a woman's right to privacy and to control her body during pregnancy allows her to shut the father out.
"'A finding in favor of plaintiff for both notification and forced entry into the delivery room would in fact be inconsistent with existing jurisprudence on the interests of women in the children they carry pre-birth,' he wrote in Plotnick v. DeLuccia.
"'It would create practical concerns where the father's unwelcomed presence could cause additional stress on the mother and child. Moreover, such a finding would also lead to a slippery slope where the mother's interest could be subjugated to that of the father's.'
Mohammed said in his opinion, published March 10, that according to his research, 'the issues of whether a putative father has a right to be notified when a woman enters labor, and whether a father has a right to be present at the child's birth over the mother's objection, have never been litigated in New Jersey or the United States.'"
Full article and opinion after the jump...
Condom Tamperer Loses Final Appeal of Sexual Assault Case - R. v. Hutchinson, 2014 SCC 19 (2014)
Friday, March 7, 2014
Per CBC News:
"A Nova Scotia man who admitted he tampered with his girlfriend's condoms resulting in her pregnancy lost his Supreme Court appeal and must now serve the balance of his 18-month jail sentence on a charge of sexual assault.
"Canada's top court unanimously upheld Craig Jaret Hutchinson's sexual assault conviction on Friday morning.
"In the summer of 2006, Hutchinson thought he could save his flagging relationship by getting his girlfriend pregnant. He surreptitiously poked holes in her condoms.
"She eventually became pregnant, but asked for time to think. It was during that period that Hutchinson told her in a series of text messages what he'd done. She called police and had an abortion. A publication ban protects her identity.
"In Friday's 7-0 decision, the Supreme Court ruled that Hutchinson deprived the woman of her ability to consent to sex.
"'The accused's condom sabotage constituted fraud … the result that no consent was obtained,' Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin and Justice Thomas Cromwell wrote on behalf of the court.
"'A person consents to how she will be touched, and she is entitled to decide what sexual activity she agrees to engage in for whatever reason she wishes. The fact that some of the consequences of her motives are more serious than others, such as pregnancy, does not in the slightest undermine her right to decide how the sexual activity she chooses to engage in is carried out. It is neither her partner’s business nor the state’s,' read the ruling.
"'We conclude that where a complainant has chosen not to become pregnant, deceptions that deprive her of the benefit of that choice by making her pregnant, or exposing her to an increased risk of becoming pregnant by removing effective birth control, may constitute a sufficiently serious deprivation for the purposes of fraud vitiating consent.'"
(Emphasis added.)
Full article and decision after the jump...
"A Nova Scotia man who admitted he tampered with his girlfriend's condoms resulting in her pregnancy lost his Supreme Court appeal and must now serve the balance of his 18-month jail sentence on a charge of sexual assault.
"Canada's top court unanimously upheld Craig Jaret Hutchinson's sexual assault conviction on Friday morning.
"In the summer of 2006, Hutchinson thought he could save his flagging relationship by getting his girlfriend pregnant. He surreptitiously poked holes in her condoms.
"She eventually became pregnant, but asked for time to think. It was during that period that Hutchinson told her in a series of text messages what he'd done. She called police and had an abortion. A publication ban protects her identity.
"In Friday's 7-0 decision, the Supreme Court ruled that Hutchinson deprived the woman of her ability to consent to sex.
"'The accused's condom sabotage constituted fraud … the result that no consent was obtained,' Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin and Justice Thomas Cromwell wrote on behalf of the court.
"'A person consents to how she will be touched, and she is entitled to decide what sexual activity she agrees to engage in for whatever reason she wishes. The fact that some of the consequences of her motives are more serious than others, such as pregnancy, does not in the slightest undermine her right to decide how the sexual activity she chooses to engage in is carried out. It is neither her partner’s business nor the state’s,' read the ruling.
"'We conclude that where a complainant has chosen not to become pregnant, deceptions that deprive her of the benefit of that choice by making her pregnant, or exposing her to an increased risk of becoming pregnant by removing effective birth control, may constitute a sufficiently serious deprivation for the purposes of fraud vitiating consent.'"
(Emphasis added.)
Full article and decision after the jump...
New Jersey Department of Health Issues 2013 Medicinal Marijuana Report
Tuesday, March 4, 2014
Please be advised, the Department of Health recently released its 2013 annual and biennial reports on the state’s Medical Marijuana Program. Of some note, the State reports 1,672 patient applications (all but two were approved) as well as 197 caregiver applications (all of which were approved). There are currently 250 doctors active in the State's physician registry.
The full report can be found at the link below.
The full report can be found at the link below.