STATE OF NEW JERSEY VS. LOUIS V. WILLIAMS (16-11-0834, MERCER COUNTY AND STATEWIDE) (A-2490-17T4)

STATE OF NEW JERSEY VS. LOUIS V. WILLIAMS (16-11-0834, MERCER COUNTY AND STATEWIDE) (A-2490-17T4)

In this appeal, we address whether a resident of a boarding house has a reasonable expectation of privacy in a common hallway accessible by other residents. The court determined that the Law Division improperly denied defendant's motion to suppress evidence seized from his bedroom after the police observed contraband while standing in a hallway in front of defendant's bedroom door. The court concluded that boarding house residents have a reasonable expectation of privacy in the hallways linking their bedrooms to areas traditionally contained within one living unit, such as a bathroom or kitchen, and the warrantless police entry into the home was not justified by the plain view doctrine because the officers did not have a lawful right to enter.

According to the court, whether the residential structure's front door was locked was not dispositive of whether defendant's reasonable expectation of privacy extended beyond his bedroom door, as the exterior door was equipped with a lock and the evidence showed only that the door was unlocked when the police made their warrantless entry, but not at any other time. In addition, drawing on a distinction recognized by courts in other states between apartment buildings and boarding or rooming houses, the court concluded that a boarding house resident's need to use a shared hallway to access his or her bathroom supports a reasonable expectation of privacy in that hallway notwithstanding an unlocked front door. Accordingly, the court held that the trial court should have granted defendant's motion to suppress because he had a reasonable expectation of privacy in the place searched, and the State did not establish the warrantless search of the home was justified by the plain view doctrine or any other exception to the warrant requirement.

Warrantless search suppressed State v. Adl

Warrantless search suppressed State v. Adl 

Defendant appealed the denial of his motion to suppress evidence found in a warrantless search of a home. Defendant pled guilty to conspiracy to distribute CDS and witness tampering in a plea agreement that reserved his right to appeal. Police went to a home to execute an arrest warrant, defendant opened the door, police said "where is he[?]," defendant moved aside and police entered and arrested their suspect. They observed a handgun and narcotics in the vicinity of their suspect, secured all the occupants of the home, applied for a search warrant and found additional contraband. Defendant testified he did not have the authority or intention to let the police enter. Trial court found officers reasonably believed defendant had the authority to consent to a search and allowed them in by moving aside. The court disagreed. Police did not testify that defendant was advised of his right to refuse consent and there was insufficient proof that he knowingly and voluntarily consented to their search. Police did not identify themselves other than by their apparel and only said "where is he[?]" when the door was opened. The totality of the circumstances would have intimidated a citizen opening the door. Additionally, the record did not establish that defendant had apparent authority to allow the officers into the home. source https://www.law.com/njlawjournal/almID/1565230468NJA553016T/

 Ken V represented a co-defendant in this case.

Police false promise of no jail and leniency required suppression of Confession State v. L.H

Police false promise of no jail and leniency required suppression of Confession State v. L.H.(A-59-17)  July 22, 2019 

ALBIN, J., writing for the Court. 

The primary issue in this appeal is whether the interrogation techniques that included false promises of leniency induced defendant L.H. to confess to two alleged sexual assaults and one alleged attempted sexual assault and overbore defendant’s will. In this context, the Court must determine whether the State proved beyond a reasonable doubt that, under the totality of the circumstances, defendant’s confession was voluntary.   

Defendant, who was suspected of committing the alleged offenses, was stopped and brought to the Bloomfield police headquarters on August 6, 2011, at about 2:30 a.m. After being held for three hours, he was brought to an interview room. For the first fifty- five minutes, Detective Lieutenant Joseph Krentz and Detective Thomas Fano secured information from defendant about his education, employment, prior residences, family, and his reason for driving in Bloomfield that evening. Almost an hour into the interrogation, Detective Fano told defendant that he had a “problem.” For the next twenty minutes, while defendant deflected questions that would have implicated him in a crime, the two detectives suggested that, if defendant cooperated and incriminated himself, he would receive counseling and help, not go to jail, and remain free to raise his child. Indeed, defendant was told that the truth would set him free. The detectives’ assurances and suggestions that defendant would receive help and counseling, stay out of jail, and be there for his daughter if he cooperated were aimed at assuaging the reluctance defendant repeatedly expressed about giving up the right to remain silent. 

For example, Detective Krentz stated, “I just need to hear your side of the story so I can find out exactly where you are as far as getting the help you need, the right help.” Defendant asked, “The help I need is not sending me to jail is it?” Detective Krentz: “Not at all. Nobody gets rehabilitated in jail.” Detective Fano: “Yeah, I agree.” The detectives, moreover, continually minimized the nature of the assaults of which defendant was suspected, telling him, “You’re not a bad guy,” and “You didn’t hurt anybody.” 

One hour and fourteen minutes into the interrogation, defendant began to make admissions about his involvement in the charged offenses. The interrogation ended at 8:51 a.m. -- more than three hours after it had begun. In his testimony at the hearing, Detective Krentz conceded that “[e]very time [defendant] expressed hesitancy, [the detectives] talked about the help he was going to get,” and that “it was clear . . . that ‘help’ meant counseling.” The trial court rejected defendant’s argument that his will was overborne by false promises and declined to suppress his confession. 

Defendant also moved for an evidentiary hearing because of the failure of the police to record, electronically or otherwise, the identification procedure that led to M.H. identifying defendant as her assailant. During the fourteen earlier identification procedures, M.H. was unable to make a positive identification of her assailant. On August 8, 2011, two days after defendant’s arrest, M.H. viewed a fifteenth photographic array. In the report from that identification, the position of each photograph is given a sequential number from one to six. Next to photo position number three -- designating defendant’s photograph -- is the word “SUSPECT.” The report does not explain why the word “SUSPECT” was used rather than the six-digit number and letter assigned to every other photograph. 

The trial court denied defendant’s motion for a hearing, and defendant entered guilty pleas to five counts in the indictment, preserving his right to appeal the denial of both his motion to suppress his confession and his motion for an evidentiary hearing. In an unpublished opinion, the Appellate Division reversed the trial court, vacating defendant’s convictions and remanding for further proceedings. The Court granted the State’s petition for certification. 233 N.J. 24 (2018). 

HELD: The State failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that, under the totality of the circumstances, defendant’s statement was voluntary. Defendant may withdraw his guilty plea. The failure to record the identification procedure as required by Delgado requires a remand to allow defendant the benefit of a hearing to inquire into the reliability of the identification and any other remedy deemed appropriate by the trial court. 

1. Due process requires that the State prove beyond a reasonable doubt that a defendant’s confession was voluntary and was not made because the defendant’s will was overborne. A confession which is the product of physical or psychological coercion must be considered to be involuntary and is inadmissible in evidence regardless of its truth or falsity. The voluntariness determination weighs the coercive psychological pressures brought to bear on an individual to speak against his power to resist confessing. Relevant factors include the suspect’s age, education and intelligence, advice concerning constitutional rights, length of detention, whether the questioning was repeated and prolonged in nature, and whether physical punishment and mental exhaustion were involved, as well as previous encounters with law enforcement. The ultimate determination of voluntariness depends on the totality of the circumstances. 

2. Because a suspect will have a natural reluctance to furnish details implicating himself, an interrogating officer may attempt to dissipate this reluctance and may even tell some lies during an interrogation. Certain lies, however, may have the capacity to overbear a suspect’s will and to render a confession involuntary. Thus, a police officer cannot directly or by implication tell a suspect that his statements will not be used against him because to do so is in clear contravention of the Miranda warnings. Other impermissible lies are false promises of leniency that, under the totality of circumstances, have the capacity to overbear a suspect’s will. A court may conclude that a defendant’s confession was involuntary if interrogating officers extended a promise so enticing as to induce that confession. 

3. The video-recorded interrogation here reveals that the detectives made (1) representations that directly conflicted with the Miranda warnings, (2) promises of leniency by offering counseling as a substitute for jail, and (3) statements that minimized the seriousness of the crimes under investigation -- all relevant factors under the totality- of-the-circumstances test. In the totality of the circumstances, given the combination of all the relevant evidence and factors, the State failed to show beyond a reasonable doubt that the interrogators’ representations to defendant did not overbear his will and induce him to confess. The detectives secured an involuntary confession. Because defendant preserved his right to appeal the denial of his motion to suppress the confession, defendant’s guilty plea must be vacated.  

STATE OF NEW JERSEY IN THE INTEREST OF T.D., A JUVENILE. (FJ-15-0476-18/FJ-15-0569-18)

STATE OF NEW JERSEY IN THE INTEREST OF T.D., A JUVENILE. (FJ-15-0476-18/FJ-15-0569-18)

Following juvenile T.D.’s admission to committing the offense of shoplifting, under N.J.S.A. 2C:20-11, the court placed T.D. on a twelve-month deferred disposition and imposed a condition that T.D. complete thirty hours of community service. In light of the plain language of N.J.S.A. 2C:20-11(c) indicating that “any person convicted of a shoplifting offense shall be sentenced to perform community service[,]” the parties expressly contemplated that the community service hours imposed in this case were mandatory.

The matter was returned to court post-disposition on probation’s recommendation, due to T.D.’s failure to complete the community service hours. The court concluded that the community service hours were not mandatory, notwithstanding the language within subsection (c) of the shoplifting statute. The court reasoned that the Legislature did not explicitly apply the mandatory penalty provisions of the shoplifting statute to juveniles, as it has done with other statutory schemes. The court further found that the imposition of mandatory community service hours for shoplifting offenses was incompatible with the imposition of a deferred disposition resulting in the dismissal of the complaint, in the absence of any specific requirement to impose such a penalty on juveniles. Upon consideration of T.D.’s representations that she and her mother were experiencing homelessness, and mindful of the rehabilitative goals of the Juvenile Code, the court vacated the imposition of the community service hours as a condition of T.D.’s deferred disposition.

STATE OF NEW JERSEY V. DANIEL MARKS. (INDICTMENT NO.17-03-00575)

STATE OF NEW JERSEY V. DANIEL MARKS. (INDICTMENT NO.17-03-00575)

Defendant was charged with third degree theft of services for the alleged violation of N.J.S.A. 2C:20-8(a). The indictment resulted from defendant’s use of EZ Pass only lanes on 220 occasions without possessing an EZ Pass transponder. Defendant moved to dismiss the indictment.

The court concluded that the evidence presented to the grand jury was sufficient to establish a prima facie case for violation of the statute. The court first found that traveling through the EZ Pass only lane was a representation that the vehicle operator possessed a valid EZ Pass. The court further held that N.J.S.A. 2C:20-2(b), the theft grading statute, permitted the aggregation of 220 bridge crossings for purposes of establishing that the crime fell within the third degree range. Finally, the court rejected defendant’s argument that the existence of civil penalties precluded criminal responsibility for the same conduct.

State v. A.T.C. (081201)(Warren County and Statewide) (A-28-18;

State v. A.T.C. (081201)(Warren County and Statewide) (A-28-18; 080753)

The JLA does not violate the separation of powers doctrine, provided that the State presents a statement of reasons explaining its decision to depart from the twenty-five year mandatory minimum sentence specified in N.J.S.A. 2C:14-2(a), and the court reviews the prosecutor’s exercise of discretion to determine whether it was arbitrary and capricious. So that the standard adopted today may be applied in this matter, the Court remands to the sentencing court for further proceedings in accordance with this opinion.

State v. Charudutt J. Patel (081069) (Middlesex County and Statewide) (A-13-18

State v. Charudutt J. Patel (081069) (Middlesex County and Statewide) (A-13-18; 080753)

To secure relief from an enhanced custodial sentence for a subsequent DWI conviction, a non-indigent defendant must establish that in the earlier uncounseled DWI proceeding, (1) he was not advised or did not know of his right to counsel and (2) had he known of his right to counsel, he would have retained a lawyer. A defendant contending he was indigent must establish that in the earlier uncounseled DWI proceeding (1) he was not advised and did not know of his right to appointed counsel, (2) he was entitled to the appointment of counsel under the applicable financial means test,R. 7:3-2(b), and (3) had he been properly informed of his rights, he would have accepted appointed counsel. Because denial of counsel is a structural defect in the proceeding, to secure relief from an enhanced custodial sentence, neither an indigent nor a non-indigent defendant must show that the outcome would have been different had he been represented. The Court removes the five-year limitation in Laurick petitions and amends Rule 7:10-2(g)(2), effective immediately, to provide the following: “(2) Time Limitations. A petition seeking relief under this Rule may be filed at any time.” Here, Patel’s unrebutted certifications established that his 1994 plea was uncounseled, and he had no obligation to establish that he would not have pled guilty or been convicted at trial had he been represented by counsel. The Court therefore reverses the judgment of the Appellate Division and remands the matter for proceedings consistent with this opinion.

State v. Keith V. Cuff (080753) (Camden County and Statewide) (A-79-17;

State v. Keith V. Cuff (080753) (Camden County and Statewide) (A-79-17; 080753)

The omission of second-degree kidnapping from the verdict sheet does not constitute plain error. The jury instruction accurately described the State’s burden of proof with respect to the elements of both first-degree and second-degree kidnapping, and directed the jury to consider second-degree kidnapping as a lesser-included offense if it did not find defendant guilty of the first-degree offense. Moreover, the evidence presented at trial did not provide a rational basis for a second-degree kidnapping conviction because the victims were not “release[d] . . . unharmed and in a safe place,” an element of the second-degree offense. N.J.S.A. 2C:13-1(c). Defendant was properly convicted of three counts of first-degree kidnapping. As to the sentence, the Court agrees with the Appellate Division that the terms imposed for most of defendant’s offenses constituted a proper exercise of the trial court’s discretion but concludes that the trial court should resentence defendant so that it may consider whether certain offenses committed within the same criminal episode warrant concurrent rather than consecutive sentences, as well as whether the decision to make the sentences consecutive rather than concurrent made the aggregate sentence imposed on defendant an abuse of discretion.

State v. William T. Liepe (080788) (Atlantic County and Statewide) (A-7-18;

State v. William T. Liepe (080788) (Atlantic County and Statewide) (A-7-18; 080788)

The trial court properly applied the factors identified in Yarbough for the imposition of consecutive sentences, and defendant’s sentence is consistent with the principles stated in Carey and does not shock the judicial conscience. The Court reverses the Appellate Division’s judgment and reinstates the sentence that the trial court imposed.

State v. James Hemenway (A-19-18) (081206) July 24, 2019

State v. James Hemenway (A-19-18) (081206) July 24, 2019 

ALBIN, J., writing for the Court. 

         The Prevention of Domestic Violence Act (Domestic Violence Act or Act), N.J.S.A. 2C: 25-17 to -35, empowers a judge to issue a temporary restraining order (TRO) to protect a victim of domestic violence and to enter an order authorizing the police to search for and seize from the defendant’s home, or any other place, weapons that may pose a threat to the victim. In this appeal, the Court considers whether the reasonable cause standard for the issuance of a domestic violence search warrant for weapons set forth in N.J.S.A. 2C: 25-28(j) and a 2002 case is incompatible with the Fourth Amendment and Article I, Paragraph 7 of the New Jersey Constitution. 

         In June 2012, D.S. filed a domestic violence complaint against defendant James Hemenway and requested a TRO barring him from having contact with her and members of her family, as well as from possessing “firearms, knives, & [a Taser].” D.S. appeared before a Family Part judge, who asked: “[Do you have a[n] awareness that he has any weapons?” When D.S. said “yes,” the court asked, “What kind of weapons do you claim he has?” D.S. replied, “Handguns, knives.” The court: “A handgun?” D.S.: “Knives, blades.” The court: “Handguns?” D.S.: “Switchblades.” D.S. stated that Hemenway kept those weapons in his three cars and his apartment. The court entered a TRO and authorized the issuance of a warrant to “search for and seize . . . handguns, knives, switchblades” from Hemenway’s home and three vehicles. The court did not articulate a reasonable cause or probable cause basis for believing that Hemenway possessed firearms or switchblades or that they would be found in the places to be searched. 

         On June 29, 2012, two Old Bridge police officers advised Hemenway outside his apartment that they possessed a TRO and a warrant to search his residence for weapons. The officers did not allow Hemenway to call his attorney, and Hemenway then refused their order to allow them entry to his apartment. Hemenway was arrested for obstructing the execution of the domestic violence warrant. Officers entered the apartment and observed what appeared to be marijuana and cocaine. Based on that discovery, a detective applied for and received a telephonic search warrant for the residence and the vehicles. The police searched and recovered drugs, bullets, and cash. No handguns or switchblades were found. Defendant was charged with four drug offenses. 

         The trial court denied Hemenway’s motion to suppress, concluding that the telephonic criminal search warrant application set forth probable cause for the issuance of a warrant to search Hemenway’s residence and that the domestic violence warrant provided an adequate and independent basis for the search of the vehicles. Hemenway appealed, challenging the validity of the domestic violence and telephonic search warrants. The Appellate Division affirmed the denial of Hemenway’s motion to suppress. 454 N.J. Super. 303, 307 (App. Div. 2018). The Court granted Hemenway’s petition for certification. 236 N.J. 42 (2018). 

       HELD:The beneficent goal of protecting domestic violence victims must be accomplished while abiding by well-established constitutional norms. Before issuing a warrant to search for weapons under the Act, a court must find that there is (1) probable cause to believe that an act of domestic violence has been committed by the defendant; (2) probable cause to believe that a search for and seizure of weapons is necessary to protect the life, health or well-being of a victim on whose behalf the relief is sought; and (3) probable cause to believe that the weapons are located in the place to be searched. Transposed into the context of a domestic violence search warrant for weapons, probable cause requires that the issuing court only have a well-grounded suspicion. 

         1. The Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution and Article I, Paragraph 7 of the New Jersey Constitution, in nearly identical language, both guarantee “[t]he right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures” and that “no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause.” Whether a government official is armed with a criminal warrant or a civil or administrative warrant, physical entry of the home is the chief evil against which the wording of the Fourth Amendment is directed. Because a warrantless search is presumptively invalid, the burden falls on the State to demonstrate that the search is justified by one of the few specifically established and well-delineated exceptions to the warrant requirement. One principal exception to the warrant requirement, as applied to the search of a home, is the exigent circumstances doctrine, which allows warrantless entry if police officers possess an objectively reasonable basis to believe that prompt action is needed to meet an imminent danger. Entry into the home must be premised on a search warrant issued on probable cause or on an exception to the warrant requirement, such as consent or exigent circumstances.  

         2. The State claims that, under the special needs doctrine, a judicial order for the seizure of weapons under the Domestic Violence Act does not have to comport with the probable cause requirement. But neither the United States Supreme Court nor the Supreme Court of New Jersey has ever sanctioned the issuance of a warrant for the search of a home on less than probable cause under the special needs doctrine, except in the case of probationers. The special needs doctrine is applied in those exceptional circumstances in which special needs, beyond the normal need for law enforcement, make the warrant and probable cause requirement impracticable. 

         3. The Domestic Violence Act provides access to both civil and criminal remedies and sanctions. One such remedy is to prevent a person judged to be a domestic violence abuser from having access to a weapon, including a firearm, which poses an imminent threat to a victim who has sought the protection of our courts. See N.J.S.A. 2C:25-28(j). The court is thus empowered to “order[] the search for and seizure of any firearm or other weapon at any location where the judge has reasonable cause to believe the weapon is located.” N.J.S.A. 2C:25-28(j) (emphasis added). 

         4. The language of the Domestic Violence Act, standing alone, lacks clear standards to guide a court in ordering a civil warrant for the seizure of weapons. Through judicial interpretation of the Act’s provisions, New Jersey courts have imposed standards to conform the Act to the Federal and State Constitutions. See State v. Johnson, 352 N.J. Super. 15, 20 (App. Div. 2002); see also State v. Dispoto, 189 N.J. 108, 120-21 (2007). In Johnson, the Appellate Division set a reasonableness standard rather than the traditional probable cause standard for its three-part test. 352 N.J. Super. at 19-20. In Dispoto, the Court disapproved of one part of the Johnson standard, holding that “before a domestic violence temporary restraining order and accompanying search warrant can be issued, the court must find probable cause to believe that an offense of domestic violence has occurred.” 189 N.J. at 120, 121 n.3 (emphasis added). The validity of the two other parts of the Johnson standard and the constitutionality of N.J.S.A. 2C:25-28(j) are now squarely before the Court. 

         5. A search warrant for weapons under N.J.S.A. 2C:25-28(j) is a civil warrant aimed not at recovering evidence of a crime, but rather at seizing weapons that may pose an imminent risk to a domestic violence victim. But the Fourth Amendment and Article I, Paragraph 7’s prohibition against unreasonable searches and seizures and their command that warrants issue upon probable cause apply not only to criminal investigations but also to searches related to civil or administrative investigations. 

         6. The important goals of the Domestic Violence Act can be achieved within our constitutional scheme of ordered liberty. The sanctity of the home can be preserved while providing thorough safeguards to domestic violence victims. The Court notes that other jurisdictions have conformed their domestic violence statutory schemes to the Fourth Amendment and that N.J.S.A. 2C:25-28(j)’s authorization of a search warrant issued on less than probable cause apparently is unique to New Jersey.  

         7. The special needs doctrine has applied almost uniformly to those exceptional circumstances involving warrantless searches and seizures. In this case, a domestic violence victim appeared before a court seeking a TRO and a warrant to seize weapons from an alleged abuser. This is not an exceptional circumstance that renders the warrant and probable cause requirement impracticable.  

         8. In Johnson and Dispoto, the courts engrafted standards onto the spare language of N.J.S.A. 2C:25-28(j) to save it from a constitutional challenge. The standards that the Court adopts today will ensure that N.J.S.A. 2C:25-28(j) conforms to the Federal and State Constitutions, while safeguarding domestic violence victims. Before issuing a search warrant for weapons as part of a TRO under the Domestic Violence Act, a court must find that there is (1) probable cause to believe that an act of domestic violence has been committed by the defendant; (2) probable cause to believe that a search for and seizure of weapons is necessary to protect the life, health or well-being of a victim on whose behalf the relief is sought; and (3) probable cause to believe that the weapons are located in the place to be searched. One long-established definition for probable cause for a criminal search warrant is a well-grounded suspicion. As with any other search warrant, hearsay may be sufficient to establish probable cause, so long as there are facts, which give the statement an appearance of trustworthiness. Courts can credit information received directly from a citizen source. Because domestic violence victims are often unrepresented, under considerable stress, in fear of their alleged abusers, and may have language barriers, courts must be patient and take the time necessary to make a complete record. The court should ask the victim questions that will elicit the victim’s basis of knowledge that the defendant possesses weapons and that the weapons will be found at a home or other location. Additionally, the court may make reasonable inferences and accredit trustworthy hearsay when establishing a victim’s basis of knowledge regarding the abuser’s ownership and location of weapons. 

         9. Applying those principles as well as the then-existing standards for issuing a domestic violence warrant, the Court finds that the search warrant issued here does not comport with the Fourth Amendment or Article I, Paragraph 7 of the State Constitution. The family court issued the search warrant for weapons based on a deficient record and without making the necessary findings to justify the warrant’s issuance. Therefore, the search of Hemenway’s home was unreasonable under the Federal and State Constitutions. All evidence derived from the search of his home, including the drugs and cash, must be suppressed based on the defective domestic violence warrant. The fruits of the unlawful search of the home were used to form the factual basis for the issuance of the criminal search warrants. Thus, the evidence secured from those searches must be suppressed as well. The Court reaches that conclusion not only based on the Fourth Amendment, but also, separately, based on Article I, Paragraph 7 of the State Constitution. Hemenway now has the option to withdraw his guilty plea in view of the order suppressing all evidence derived from the defective domestic violence warrant. 

The judgment of the Appellate Division is REVERSED and the matter is REMANDED for further proceedings. 

CHIEF JUSTICE RABNER and JUSTICES LaVECCHIA, PATTERSON, FERNANDEZ-VINA, SOLOMON, and TIMPONE join in JUSTICE ALBIN’s opinion. 

State v. Shaw (A-33/34-16) (078247) Decided May 13, 2019

State v.   Shaw (A-33/34-16) (078247) Decided May 13, 2019 

TIMPONE, J., writing for the Court. 

In this case, the Court considers whether evidence found in a motel room and vehicle and defendant Nathan Shaw’s statement to police should have been suppressed. 

Jasmine Hanson was staying at the Crystal Inn motel in Neptune City. She called the front desk to complain she had been bitten by bed bugs. The motel owner inspected Hanson’s room using his pass key. He saw a plastic bag containing what he suspected were narcotics and called the police. Officer Jason Rademacher had the motel owner lead him to Hanson’s room where, again using his pass key, the motel owner unlocked the door for the officer to enter. Inside, Rademacher saw what appeared to be drugs, as well as a measuring cup and scale. A criminal history check on Hanson revealed an outstanding traffic warrant and a recently issued traffic summons on a 2012 black Chevrolet Tahoe, and its plate number. 

Rademacher transported the evidence to the station and returned in an unmarked vehicle to wait for Hanson’s arrival. Shortly thereafter, the black Tahoe pulled into a parking space. The front passenger was Keon Bolden, Hanson was in the driver’s seat, and in the back seat were Shakera Dickerson and Shaw. Rademacher arrested Hanson. The officer asked to search the Tahoe; Hanson refused consent. A drug-detection canine was brought to perform an exterior sniff of the vehicle. The officers conducted warrant checks on the remaining passengers. Only Dickerson’s came back positive. She was arrested and placed in a second patrol car. Shaw and Bolden were patted down and seated in separate patrol cars, uncuffed. Hanson again refused to consent to a search of the vehicle. 

The handler led the canine to the Tahoe. Shaw told an officer that he had a bag of marijuana in the car, and the canine alerted to the presence of narcotics. Shaw was arrested. An officer told Hanson that Shaw admitted he had marijuana in the vehicle and, at that point, she consented to the vehicle search. She signed a consent-to-search form, but did not initial the line attesting that she gave her consent free of coercion. 

The officers found drugs in the car and within a tote bag on the back seat of the car. All four passengers were charged with multiple counts of possession and possession with intent to distribute the drugs found in both the motel room and the tote bag. 

All defendants moved to suppress the drug evidence seized from the motel room and the Tahoe. The motion court denied their suppression motion. Shaw pleaded guilty to one count of third-degree possession of CDS with intent to distribute.

The Appellate Division affirmed the denial of Shaw’s motion to suppress the contents of the tote bag, finding he lacked standing to challenge its search, but reversed the denial of his motion to suppress his statement made to police while in their custody. In response to an argument by a co-defendant, the panel also found that the warrantless search of the motel room was illegal. 

The Court granted Shaw’s petition for certification, 228 N.J. 506 (2017), and the State’s cross-petition, 228 N.J. 518 (2017). Following oral argument on November 8, 2017, the Court ordered this case remanded to the Law Division for the court “to address the application of the inevitable discovery doctrine and the independent source doctrine to the admissibility of the evidence seized in the motor vehicle.” 

On remand, the parties presented no further testimony. Relying on the record as it had been developed at the suppression hearing, the court determined the inevitable discovery and the independent source doctrines both applied and that the evidence was admissible. 

HELD:Defendant’s confession and the drug evidence must be suppressed. 

1. Under the third-party intervention doctrine, a person’s reasonable expectation of privacy is not violated by the actions or search of a private actor. See State v. Wright, 221 N.J. 456, 459 (2015). Fourth Amendment protections apply only to governmental action, and a subsequent search by law enforcement -- so long as it does not exceed the scope of the private search -- may not require a warrant if it does not infringe any constitutionally protected privacy interest that had not already been frustrated as a result of the private conduct. The doctrine traditionally applied to searches of objects either physically conveyed or reported to the police. See id. at 459, 468-69. In Wright, the Court held that the doctrine could not be applied to searches of private dwellings -- including rented apartments -- under our State Constitution. Id. at 476. Although Wright discussed apartments, its reasoning applies with equal force to motel rooms. Where a motel owner or employee finds contraband in a guest’s room, “the police can use that information to obtain a search warrant and then conduct a search.” Id. at 478-79. “In the time it takes to get the warrant, police officers can secure the [motel room] from the outside, for a reasonable period of time, if reasonably necessary to avoid any tampering with or destruction of evidence.” Id. at 478. Here, the motel search was unconstitutional and the illegal fruits of that search must be suppressed.   

2. Police must have particularized suspicion in order to conduct an investigatory stop, and the duration of an investigative stop must be limited in time and scope to the purpose that justified the stop in the first place. If the officer’s conduct is more intrusive than necessary, the investigative stop turns into a de facto arrest. Once it was determined that Shaw was 

unarmed and had no outstanding warrants, there was no particularized suspicion that Shaw was engaged in criminal activity that would justify Shaw’s further detention. Under the circumstances here, isolating Shaw in the back of a patrol car despite a negative warrant check was a de facto and an unlawful arrest.   

3. It was during that period of unlawful detention that Shaw stated there was marijuana in the bag. To decide whether to suppress a statement obtained after an unlawful arrest, courts consider three factors: the temporal proximity of the arrest and the confession, the presence of intervening circumstances, and, particularly, the purpose and flagrancy of the official misconduct. Here, Shaw’s confession was a product of his unlawful de facto arrest and must be suppressed. Shaw’s confession occurred during his unlawful detention, and the Court is not persuaded that the presence of the drug-detection canine purged the taint of the illegal arrest. Shaw was never informed of his right to remain silent and was held without individualized suspicion. Although his confession was not made in response to an interrogation, the Court is not convinced it was a product of his own free will.   

4. The Court next addresses Shaw’s standing to challenge the search of the tote bag. Whenever a defendant is charged with committing a possessory drug offense -- as in this case -- standing is automatic, unless the State can show that the property was abandoned or the accused was a trespasser. The tote bag was found in the back seat of a car that had four occupants. They were ordered out of the car. The State simply has not established that the bag was abandoned property. The trespasser exception has even less relevancy. The record is devoid of any evidence that Shaw put the drugs in the tote bag without Dickerson’s knowledge. Shaw had automatic standing to challenge the search of the bag.   

5. The Court thus considers whether the search fell within the consent-search exception to the warrant requirement. An individual’s voluntary consent to search a constitutionally protected area eliminates the need for law enforcement to obtain a warrant. When Hanson consented to the search, she had already been arrested and handcuffed. The officers asked her multiple times for consent to search the vehicle. She relented only after an officer informed her of Shaw’s unlawfully obtained confession. The warrantless search of the Tahoe was unconstitutional and the evidence seized through that search is therefore subject to suppression. Nor can the evidence come in through Shaw’s confession.  

6. The State failed to make the necessary showing under either inevitable discovery or the independent source exceptions to the exclusionary rule. Accordingly, the unconstitutionally obtained evidence remains suppressed.   

The judgment of the Appellate Division is affirmed in part and reversed in part and the matter is remanded to the trial court. 

CHIEF JUSTICE RABNER and JUSTICES LaVECCHIA, ALBIN, PATTERSON, FERNANDEZ-VINA, and SOLOMON join in JUSTICE TIMPONE’S opinion. 

STATE OF NEW JERSEY VS. R.G. (17-04-0189, SOMERSET COUNTY AND STATEWIDE) (RECORD IMPOUNDED) (A-3090-18T3)

STATE OF NEW JERSEY VS. R.G. (17-04-0189, SOMERSET COUNTY AND STATEWIDE) (RECORD IMPOUNDED) (A-3090-18T3) The court affirms an order of the trial court that denied the State's request to medicate defendant involuntarily with antipsychotic medication to restore him to competency to stand trial. The court agrees with the trial court that the State did not satisfy the test under Sell v. United States, 539 U.S. 166 (2003), because the first factor is determined by consideration of defendant's probable sentence not simply the maximum sentence exposure for the offense charged. The trial court also must consider the potential effect of the medication on defendant's right to a fair trial when applying Sell. Because the Sell test was not satisfied, we have no occasion to determine whether our State Constitution would afford a defendant greater protection of individual liberty and privacy rights.

State v. Rafael Camey (080574)(Passaic County and Statewide) (A-73-17

State v. Rafael Camey (080574)(Passaic County and Statewide) (A-73-17; 081128)

The Court affirms the suppression of DNA evidence from the first buccal swab. The trial court’s thorough and detailed reasons for denying admission of this evidence, under either of the State’s two inevitable discovery arguments, are clearly sustainable on appeal. However, the State’s application for a second buccal swab calls for a remand for further proceedings consistent with this opinion and its new test, derived in part from aspects of the independent source doctrine: To apply for a new buccal swab for DNA evidence under Rule 3:5A, the State must demonstrate probable cause for the new search. That showing may include evidence that existed before the initial invalid search, but cannot be tainted by the results of the prior search. In addition, to deter wrongdoing by the police, the State must show by clear and convincing evidence that the initial impermissible search was not the result of flagrant police misconduct.

State v. Joey J. Fowler and Jamil L. Hearns (080880) (Union County and Statewide) (A-5-18; 080880)

State v. Joey J. Fowler and Jamil L. Hearns (080880) (Union County and Statewide) (A-5-18; 080880)

Review of the alleged instructional error must be moored to the facts, and the Court concludes that the omission of the instructional charges was not error under the circumstances of this case. The Court therefore reverses and remands to the Appellate Division for consideration of defendants’ arguments that have not yet been addressed.