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Saturday, April 30, 2011

STATE OF NEW JERSEY VS. JEFFREY WITCZAK A-2735-10T2

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.