Newsletter NJ Laws by Kenneth Vercammen, Esq.: E676 VercammenLaw News

E676 VercammenLaw News

1. Hearing on reliability of new DWI Alcotest Machine 9510 & stay on use at trial

2. Suppression granted when police searched car without permission for registration

3. Hire a Trial Attorney Certified by NJ Supreme Court if charged with a criminal offense

4. August free outdoor concerts 2023, Bon Jovi tribute

5.Edison Mayor Sam Joshi at Edison Elks 50th anniversary

1. Hearing on reliability of new DWI Alcotest Machine 9510 & stay on use at trial

The Supreme Court granted direct certification in State v. Cunningham, (A-38-22) to address the use of the new Alcotest 9510, which the State represents is being used as a replacement for the Alcotest 7110 in driving while intoxicated (DWI) cases due to the manufacturer’s discontinuation of the 7110 device.

The Court imposed a limited stay of affected DWI matters, and appointed Judge Richard J. Geiger, J.A.D., to serve as a Special Master to develop a record, conduct hearings, and make findings and conclusions regarding the scientific reliability of the Alcotest 9510. This appointment is in addition to Judge Geiger’s regular Appellate Division assignment and responsibilities.

The Special Master shall determine the extent of participation of any person or entity in addition to the State and defendant. All such motions for participation in the remand must be served and filed with the Special Master on or before June 20, 2023.

The State having opened this matter with the Court to address the use of the new Alcotest 9510, which the State represents is being used as a replacement for the 7110 due to the manufacturer’s discontinuation of the 7110 device and the unavailability of certain replacement parts that are necessary for the 7110’s operation, and

ORDERED that the matter is remanded to the Special Master to develop a record, conduct hearings, and make findings and conclusions regarding the scientific reliability of the Alcotest 9510, which proceedings shall be scheduled on an accelerated basis; and it is further

ORDERED that the Special Master shall provide to the Court a written update on the remand proceeding every ninety (90) days until the remand proceedings have concluded; and it is further

ORDERED that the Special Master shall determine the extent of participation of any person or entity in addition to the State and defendant,

ORDERED that, during the pendency of the remand proceedings and pending further order of this Court, a limited stay as imposed by this Order shall apply to all DWI matters involving the use of Alcotest 9510 machines in Municipal Courts and appeals in the Law Division and Appellate Division of Superior Court; and it is further

ORDERED that DWI prosecutions and appeals based exclusively on the use of an Alcotest 9510 device (i.e., without other clinical or objective observational evidence), are stayed unless otherwise provided by this Order

2. Suppression granted when police searched car without permission for registration State v Johnson

The court reverses the trial judge's denial of defendant's motion to suppress drugs police found following a motor vehicle stop based on observed traffic violations. This case presents a novel question concerning the vehicle registration search exception to the warrant requirement. That exception authorizes police to enter a lawfully stopped vehicle to conduct a pinpointed search for a registration certificate if the motorist is unable or unwilling to produce that document after having been provided a meaningful opportunity to comply with the police request for it. State v. Terry, 232 N.J. 218, 222 (2018). In this case, defendant parked and exited the vehicle before police could effectuate the stop. The court addresses whether police may initiate a search under this "very narrow" exception when the detained motorist is outside the vehicle when police request the registration certificate, and the officer determines it would be unsafe to allow the motorist to reenter the vehicle to retrieve it.

The court concludes that providing a detained motorist a meaningful opportunity to produce the registration certificate is an indispensable prerequisite to conducting a registration search—one that can only be excused when the motorist is unable or unwilling to comply with the police request for the vehicle credentials. The court holds a motorist is not "unable" to produce a registration certificate within the meaning of the exception when the sole reason for such inability is a police officer's discretionary decision to prevent reentry. The court reasons that any contrary interpretation of the registration search exception would undermine, if not eviscerate, the protection of privacy rights afforded by the meaningful-opportunity element by leaving its application to the mercy of unreviewable police discretion. The court declines to create a categorical exemption to the meaningful-opportunity requirement when police determine, in the exercise of their discretion, the motorist should not be allowed to reenter the stopped vehicle for reasons of officer safety.

Although the police in this case

were permitted for their own safety to place defendant in the police car and prevent him from reentering the detained vehicle throughout the investigative detention, that decision had the effect of foreclosing a warrantless registration search. The court notes that strict enforcement of the meaningful-opportunity prerequisite in these circumstances would not deprive police the ability to investigate whether a car was stolen since they can obtain the information contained in the paper registration certificate by conducting a Motor Vehicle Commission database look-up.

The court also addresses significant recent revisions to N.J.S.A. 39:3-29—the statute that prescribes a motorist's duty to possess and exhibit a registration certificate to police during a motor vehicle stop and that undergirds the registration search exception to the warrant requirement. Under the revised statutory framework, motorists are no longer required to possess a paper copy of the vehicle registration

certificate. Rather, they are now permitted to keep and exhibit the

registration certificate in either paper or electronic form.

To avoid the futility and needless

privacy intrusion of a physical search for a paper document that may not even exist, and that need not be kept in the vehicle in any event, the court holds, prospectively, that police may not enter a detained vehicle under the authority of the registration search exception to search for a paper document without first asking the motorist whether the registration is kept in paper rather electronic form. A-2035-21

3. Hire a Trial Attorney Certified by NJ Supreme Court if charged with a criminal offense

You are not the criminal you’ve been accused of. Your future does not have to get all screwed up just because you’ve been arrested. If are faced with a criminal charge, hire someone experienced. Prevent things from going from bad to worse-much, much worse.

Vercammen Law 732-572-0600

4. August free outdoor concerts 2023, Bon Jovi Tribute

Tribute Tuesdays at Woodbridge High School

Aug. 22: Beatlemania Again, The Beatles tribute

Aug. 29: The ELO Tribute, Electric Light Orchestra tribute

Sept. 5: Wanted DOA, Bon Jovi tributed

Sept. 12: The BStreet Band, Bruce Springsteen tribute http://woodbridgeartsnj.org/tribute-tuesdays.html

Long Branch 2023 summer THURSDAYS 7-8:30 PM PIER VILLAGE

https://www.longbranch.org/departments/ProgramsEvents

8/10 EDDIE TESTA BAND

8/24 PAT RODDY BAND

8/31 BRIAN KIRK & THE JIRKS (with Fireworks)