STATE OF NEW JERSEY VS. CARLOS B. GREEN A-1809-16T1

 STATE OF NEW JERSEY VS. CARLOS B. GREEN 

A-1809-16T1 

The trial court prohibited the admission of defendant's two prior drunk driving convictions, which the State sought to admit to prove defendant acted recklessly in his pending trial on the charge of first-degree vehicular homicide while intoxicated within 1000 feet of a school. On interlocutory appeal, the Appellate Division affirms due to the statutory inference of recklessness that arises when driving drunk, N.J.S.A. 2C:11-5(a), as well as the deferential review standard applied to a N.J.R.E. 404(b) decision. 

Criminal mischief

Burglary of building, house, or car

STATE OF NEW JERSEY VS. EUGENE RICHARDSON A-2023-15T2

 STATE OF NEW JERSEY VS. EUGENE RICHARDSON 

A-2023-15T2 

The court reverses defendant's drug possession conviction and holds that when the State refuses a defense attorney's diligent pre-indictment request to preserve and produce recordings, which the State or its law enforcement agencies created and are directly relevant to adjudicating an existing charge, the defendant is entitled to an adverse inference charge. In this drug case, despite the attorney's timely preservation request, the State allowed the automatic erasure of a booking room video that likely recorded the search of defendant, which allegedly uncovered the drugs he was charged with possessing. The court also holds the court erred by allowing the State to introduce evidence that defendant gave a false name during the earlier traffic stop.