STATE OF NEW JERSEY VS. ANGELIQUE STUBBS ET AL.
AND STATE VS. JULES L. STUBBS ET AL.
A-1199-10T2/A-2942-10T2(CONSOLIDATED)
Husband and wife, Jules and Angelique Stubbs, were
convicted of various CDS-related offenses. As to the wife,
we remand for a hearing as to the admissibility of the form
United States Currency Seizure Report, which she signed,
pertaining to $4831 in cash seized from defendants' home
along with a substantial quantity of drugs. The State
argued that the wife, by signing the form, claimed
ownership of the cash, which demonstrated she joined in her
husband's drug-related activities. We conclude the form
must be viewed as an adoptive admission under N.J.R.E.
803(b)(2); and, since the form was a statement of a
criminal defendant, N.J.R.E. 803(b), the State as proponent
was required to show, in a preliminary hearing pursuant to
N.J.R.E. 104(c), that the statement was admissible. To do
so, the State must show the wife was aware of and
understood the contents of the allegedly adopted statement,
and she unambiguously assented to it. We order a new trial
for the wife only if the trial court determines on remand
that the form was not properly admitted as an adoptive
admission. 11-07-13
AND STATE VS. JULES L. STUBBS ET AL.
A-1199-10T2/A-2942-10T2(CONSOLIDATED)
Husband and wife, Jules and Angelique Stubbs, were
convicted of various CDS-related offenses. As to the wife,
we remand for a hearing as to the admissibility of the form
United States Currency Seizure Report, which she signed,
pertaining to $4831 in cash seized from defendants' home
along with a substantial quantity of drugs. The State
argued that the wife, by signing the form, claimed
ownership of the cash, which demonstrated she joined in her
husband's drug-related activities. We conclude the form
must be viewed as an adoptive admission under N.J.R.E.
803(b)(2); and, since the form was a statement of a
criminal defendant, N.J.R.E. 803(b), the State as proponent
was required to show, in a preliminary hearing pursuant to
N.J.R.E. 104(c), that the statement was admissible. To do
so, the State must show the wife was aware of and
understood the contents of the allegedly adopted statement,
and she unambiguously assented to it. We order a new trial
for the wife only if the trial court determines on remand
that the form was not properly admitted as an adoptive
admission. 11-07-13
