STATE OF NEW JERSEY VS. VALERIE WILLIAMS (A-5163-18)
After the municipality painted white lines on a paved area, defendant painted over the lines with black paint and then painted a new white line. She claimed the paved area was a "parking bay" on her property; the municipality claimed it was a public street.
In a trial de novo, the Law Division convicted defendant of violating a municipal ordinance that prohibited a person from unnecessarily obstructing "any . . . street, or public place in the [municipality] with any kind of vehicle, boxes, lumber, wood, or any other thing[.]"
Without addressing the property-ownership issue, the court perpended the plain-language meanings of "obstruct" and considered two Law Division decisions—one by then-Judge Virginia A. Long—interpreting that term as used in the statute prohibiting obstruction of highways and other public passages, N.J.S.A. 2C:33-7. Because defendant's actions did not block or otherwise impede passage, the court concluded she did not violate the ordinance and reversed her conviction.
