STATE OF NEW JERSEY VS. JEFFREY WITCZAK
A-2735-10T2 4-12-11
We reviewed an interlocutory order d enying defendant's
motion to suppress a handgun seized from his residence. The
primary question presented is whether the community caretaker
exception enunciated in Cady v. Dombrowski1 applied to a
warrantless search in the home. Defendant contended that the
motion judge erred by applying the exception, and urged us to
follow the rationale expressed in Ray v. Township of Warren,2
which held that the exception does not extend to searches of
homes. We declined to follow Ray and continued to apply New
Jersey precedent which permitted the exception in the home
context on a case-by-case, fact-sensitive basis. We reversed,
however, because no exigencies existed for the warrantless entry
into defendant's home and the State did not demonstrate that the
search was performed for the legitimate purpose of fulfilling a
community caretaker responsibility.
