STATE OF NEW JERSEY VS. KASSEY BENJAMIN
A-1569-13T3
In this Graves Act case the court reversed and remanded for
further proceedings. The court held that defendant should be
given the opportunity to pursue an Alvarez motion; i.e. whether
the State's decision to not consent to a waiver was arbitrary
and discriminatory. The court was persuaded defendant was
denied a full and fair opportunity to pursue the Alvarez motion
because the State claimed it did not maintain, and thus could
not produce, other case files involving waiver decisions despite
the Attorney General's Directive requiring the retention of all
such files.
The court held that hereafter the State shall be required to provide, in writing, the reasons for a denial of a waiver similar to the requirement for PTI decision in order to promote procedural fairness and to ensure meaningful judicial review.
