STATE OF NEW JERSEY VS. JAIME CAMBRELEN (20-01-0031 AND 20-08-0539, ATLANTIC COUNTY AND STATEWIDE) (A-1008-20)

 STATE OF NEW JERSEY VS. JAIME CAMBRELEN (20-01-0031 AND 20-08-0539, ATLANTIC COUNTY AND STATEWIDE) (A-1008-20)

In this appeal, the court considered the propriety of a negotiated plea agreement provision, permitting the State to revoke its sentencing recommendation if the defendant is arrested on new charges that are not adjudicated prior to sentencing. Because the court concluded a no-new-arrest or no-new-charges provision violates a defendant's right to due process and is fundamentally unfair, the court vacated defendant's conviction and remanded the matter to allow the parties to negotiate a new plea agreement or permit defendant to withdraw his guilty plea. The court's decision does not affect those plea agreement provisions that limit the State's right to revoke its sentencing recommendation or recommend a harsher sentence if a defendant fails to appear at sentencing, provided the defendant is afforded a fair hearing pursuant to established case law.

State v. Abayuba Rivas (086051) (Union County & Statewide) (A-15-21

 State v. Abayuba Rivas (086051) (Union County & Statewide) (A-15-21; 086051)

Once Rivas invoked his right to counsel on March 18, however ambiguously, the detectives were required to clarify the ambiguity or cease questioning. The detectives did neither. Instead, the detectives interrogated Rivas for nearly six hours, eliciting a confession. After the improper interrogation and Rivas’s tainted confession -- a confession Rivas had reason to believe was lawful -- Rivas asked to see the detectives again. Those remarks cannot be fairly characterized as Rivas voluntarily initiating further communications with the detectives because the questioning never truly ceased. The interrogation and the request to speak again with the detectives were inextricably intertwined.

State v. Ashley D. Bailey (085342) (Camden County & Statewide) (A-60-20

 State v. Ashley D. Bailey (085342) (Camden County & Statewide) (A-60-20; 085342)

The crime-fraud exception cannot be properly applied to marital communications that preceded the Legislature’s amendment of N.J.R.E. 509. The Court finds no evidence that the Legislature intended that amendment to retroactively apply to otherwise privileged marital communications that occurred prior to that amendment. The trial court’s admission of the text messages therefore constituted error. However, that error was harmless given the extensive evidence presented by the State in support of defendant’s official misconduct convictions.

IN THE MATTER OF THE REGISTRATION OF B.B. (ML-19-01-0027, ATLANTIC COUNTY AND STATEWIDE) (RECORD IMPOUNDED) (RESUBMITTED) (A-1496-20)

 IN THE MATTER OF THE REGISTRATION OF B.B. (ML-19-01-0027, ATLANTIC COUNTY AND STATEWIDE) (RECORD IMPOUNDED) (RESUBMITTED) (A-1496-20)

The court affirmed the provisions of the trial court order designating registrant B.B. as a Tier II offender under the Registration and Community Notification Laws, N.J.S.A. 2C:7-1 to -23, commonly known as Megan's Law, and ordering notification of schools and community organizations pursuant to N.J.S.A. 2C:7-8(c)(2). However, the court: (1) concluded it was an abuse of the trial court's discretion to give a score of nine on factor six of the Risk Assessment Scale, "duration of offensive behavior," because the State did not prove by clear and convincing evidence that B.B.'s sexual offenses took place over two years and held that a score of three, applicable to sexual offenses that took place over one or two years was appropriate; and (2) vacated a provision of the trial court order excluding B.B.'s personal identifiers from the Sex Offender Internet Registry, N.J.S.A. 2C:7-12 to -18. The court found that the evidence on which the trial court relied for that determination was not expert testimony or other evidence specific to the unique aspects of B.B.'s offenses or character relevant to his risk of re-offense. The court noted, but did not decide, the question of whether Article IV, Section 7, Paragraph 12 of the State Constitution and its implementing statute, N.J.S.A. 2C:7-13(c), preclude a court from excluding the personal identifiers of a Tier II offender subject to community notification pursuant to N.J.S.A. 2C:7-8(c)(2) from the State Offender Internet Registry.

STATE OF NEW JERSEY VS. RICHARD GOMES STATE OF NEW JERSEY VS. MOATAZ M. SHEIRA STATE OF NEW JERSEY VS. JASON CHIRIBOGA STATE OF NEW JERSEY VS. MAJU D. BARRY (S-2020-1306-1225, S-2021-0016-1421, 21-08-0745,

 STATE OF NEW JERSEY VS. RICHARD GOMES STATE OF NEW JERSEY VS. MOATAZ M. SHEIRA STATE OF NEW JERSEY VS. JASON CHIRIBOGA STATE OF NEW JERSEY VS. MAJU D. BARRY (S-2020-1306-1225, S-2021-0016-1421, 21-08-0745, and 21-06-0575, MIDDLESEX AND MORRIS COUNTIES AND STATEWIDE) (RECORD IMPOUNDED) (A-3477-20/A-0198-21/A-0581-21/A-0697-21)

In these appeals, trial courts in two vicinages reached opposite conclusions regarding whether, pursuant to the enactment of the New Jersey Cannabis Regulatory, Enforcement Assistance, and Marketplace Modernization Act (CREAMMA), N.J.S.A. 24:6I-31 to -56, N.J.S.A. 54:47F-1, N.J.S.A. 40:48I-1, N.J.S.A. 18A:61F-1, N.J.S.A. 2C:35-23.1, and N.J.S.A. 2C:52-6.1,1 a defendant may be admitted into pretrial intervention (PTI) where they have a prior conditional discharge for marijuana charges. One court concluded the defendant could not be admitted into PTI, finding the Legislature did not end the PTI eligibility bar where a defendant received a conditional discharge. The other court held that while the Legislature did not amend the PTI statute, the legislative intent of CREAMMA included removing the statutory bar to PTI eligibility where a defendant obtained a conditional discharge.

After reviewing CREAMMA, the PTI statute, the expungement statute, and considering extrinsic evidence, including the legislative histories of each enactment, the court found no evidence the Legislature intended to repeal, amend, or supersede the bar to PTI eligibility following the completion of a supervisory program and granting of a condition discharge. If, in fact, the Legislature intended such a modification, the remedy should be left to it rather than the court, which declines to insert language that is unsupported by the extant legislative evidence and intent. As a result, the court reversed the trial court decisions granting three defendants' admission into PTI and upheld the trial court's ruling barring the fourth defendant PTI admission.

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1 L. 2021, c. 16.

STATE OF NEW JERSEY VS. QUINTIN D. WATSON (18-02-0234, MIDDLESEX COUNTY AND STATEWIDE) (A-0235-19)

 STATE OF NEW JERSEY VS. QUINTIN D. WATSON (18-02-0234, MIDDLESEX COUNTY AND STATEWIDE) (A-0235-19)

The court affirms defendant's jury trial conviction for second-degree robbery of a bank. The court first addresses defendant's contention that the trial judge erred by permitting the jury to hear testimony that the investigating police officer had been contacted by and "consulted" with another police department immediately before filing criminal charges. Defendant contends that such testimony violated the Confrontation Clause. After reviewing New Jersey's Confrontation Clause case law, the court concludes that the police officer's brief answer to the prosecutor's leading question concerning the consultation with the other police department violated defendant's Sixth Amendment rights because it created an inescapable inference that the other department possessed and shared incriminating evidence about the current offense that was not presented to the jury. The court nonetheless concludes that the constitutional error was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt.

The court next addresses defendant's contention that the trial judge abused his discretion by allowing a police witness to narrate surveillance video as it was being played to the jury. The court surveys the law in New Jersey explaining when a police witness may offer a lay opinion. The court also surveys cases in other jurisdictions that specifically address the admissibility of video narration testimony. The court declines to adopt a rule that would categorically prohibit such testimony, holding instead that a trial court has discretion to permit a witness to offer descriptive comments while a video is being played if the court finds that those specific comments would be helpful to the jury. To assist trial judges in making that determination, the court compiles a list of six factors to consider. In this instance, the court declines to second-guess the trial judge's rulings that sustained some objections to the video narration testimony and overruled others.

The court notes that the use of surveillance video evidence at trial is becoming more common because of the proliferation of government, commercial, and residential surveillance cameras. To improve the process by which the admissibility of police narration testimony is determined, the court recommends a new practice and procedure whereby the trial judge would conduct an in limine hearing when the prosecutor intends to present narration testimony in conjunction with playing a video to the jury. At that hearing, the court should rule upon the specific narration comments that will be permitted and those that will be foreclosed, providing clear instructions for the witness to follow. That in limine procedure would obviate the need for a series of spontaneous objections in the presence of the jury.

The court also notes that there presently is no model jury instruction pertaining to lay opinion testimony. The court recommends that the Model Jury Charge Committee consider whether it would be appropriate to draft a model instruction specifically tailored to address video narration testimony.

The court next considers defendant's contention, raised for the first time on appeal, that the trial court erred by allowing the bank teller to make an in-court identification after having selected the photograph of another person from a photo array. After reviewing the foundational principles that undergird New Jersey's eyewitness identification jurisprudence, the court rejects defendant's request to categorically ban "first-time" in-court identifications. The court declines to impose new bright-line preconditions on when an eyewitness may identify the perpetrator at trial. Rather, the court retains the rule that the decision to allow an in-court identification is made on a case-by-case basis, mindful that suppression of identification testimony is rarely warranted and that the reliability of an identification and the weight to give to it is generally for the jury to decide with the benefit of cross-examination and appropriate jury instructions.

The court also addresses defendant's contention that the trial court should have revised the model jury charge sua sponte to explain the inherent suggestiveness of the in-court identification procedure. The court concludes that the trial judge did not commit plain error by relying on the current model jury charge. The court acknowledges, however, that the time has come to reexamine that instruction. After reviewing the case law and scientific literature, the court accepts that the inherent suggestiveness of in-court identifications is comparable to the suggestiveness of one-on-one show-up identifications. And yet, the court notes, the model jury instructions pertaining to in-court identifications are less detailed and precise than the model instruction that explains the risk of misidentification in a show-up procedure. The court recommends that the Model Jury Charge Committee consider revising the model instruction pertaining to in-court identifications, for example, by incorporating language currently used to explain the suggestiveness of one-on-one show-up identifications.

State v. Rahee Lane (085726) (Essex County & Statewide) (A-17-21

 State v. Rahee Lane (085726) (Essex County & Statewide) (A-17-21; 085726)

The Court construes N.J.S.A. 2C:44-1(b)(14) to be prospective, finding in the statutory language no indication that mitigating factor fourteen applies to defendants sentenced prior to the provision’s effective date. The Court views N.J.S.A. 2C:44-1(b)(14)’s legislative history to confirm the Legislature’s intent to authorize sentencing courts to consider the new mitigating factor in imposing a sentence on or after the date of the amendment.

State v. Mykal L. Derry; State v. Malik Derry (085795) (Atlantic County & Statewide) (A-13/14-21;

 State v. Mykal L. Derry; State v. Malik Derry (085795) (Atlantic County & Statewide) (A-13/14-21; 085795)

Based on the differences between the federal and state proceedings, the trial court did not abuse its discretion in denying defendants’ motion to dismiss the indictment. Like the Appellate Division, the Court finds that Special Agent Kopp’s interpretations were expert rather than lay opinions, but that the error in admitting them as lay opinion testimony was harmless. The Court bases its finding of harmless error, however, upon the overwhelming evidence of defendants’ guilt presented at trial, rather than on the hypothetical qualifications of the agent.

State v. Bradley C. Thompson (085260) (Camden County & Statewide) (A-41-20

 State v. Bradley C. Thompson (085260) (Camden County & Statewide) (A-41-20; 085260)

A plain reading of N.J.S.A. 2C:1-6(c) reveals that the Legislature intended the statute of limitations to begin to run once the State was in possession of both the physical evidence from the crime and the suspect’s DNA. To hold otherwise would contradict the language of the statute which directs the statute of limitations to begin when the State is in possession of both items needed to generate a match. To find that the statute of limitations begins when a match is confirmed would render the second half of the provision superfluous. Here, the statute of limitations began to run in 2010, when the FBI’s updated scientific guidance rendered the Lab capable of generating a match based on the DNA samples in its possession.