STATE VS. STEPHANIE HAND

 STATE  VS. STEPHANIE HAND A-2580-22

• At issue is whether the holding in State v. Jackson, 243 N.J. 52 (2020), that the Sixth Amendment requires a defendant be permitted to cross-examine a cooperating codefendant with respect to their maximum sentencing exposure prior to their entry into a plea agreement, should be given full retroactive application.  The court concludes that Jackson does not apply to convictions for which direct appellate review was complete when the opinion in Jackson was issued. As a result, the court affirmed the denial of post-conviction relief to defendant, whose direct appeal of her convictions for three offenses arising out of a mortgage fraud scheme was completed approximately a month before the Supreme Court issued its opinion in Jackson.

STATE OF NEW JERSEY VS. STEVEN W. ITALIAN A-4009-22

 STATE OF NEW JERSEY VS. STEVEN W. ITALIAN

A-4009-22

• The court was asked to consider whether a defendant, serving sequentially several consecutive periods of driver's license suspensions imposed for various convictions including driving while under the influence (DWI) offenses, can be charged with violating N.J.S.A. 2C:40-26(b) for driving during the suspension period for a non-DWI-related offense while awaiting commencement of a court-imposed DWI license suspension.  The court determined because the effective date of defendant's most recent DWI-related conviction was delayed only due to other consecutively imposed accumulated sentences, defendant violated N.J.S.A. 2C:40-26(b) when he operated his vehicle prior to the conclusion of the suspension for his DWI offense.

  The court distinguished State v. Perry, 439 N.J. Super. 514 (App. Div. 2015).  It noted the Perry court determined N.J.S.A. 2C:40-26(b) "punishes those who drive while suspended for violations of the DWI . . . law . . . when they drive during the court-imposed period of suspension," and it was not intended to criminalize "driving during a period of administrative suspension" when driving privileges could have been restored but for the defendant's failure to complete the process for administrative restoration.  Id. at 531-32.  

  The court observed defendant was not driving during a period of administrative suspension after having completed his court-ordered suspension.  Rather, he had not yet completed his suspension term for the most recent of his four DWIs.  The court concluded it would be illogical for defendant to avoid a conviction for violating N.J.S.A. 2C:40-26(b), in light of defendant's four prior DWIs, merely because the suspension for his latest DWI had not yet commenced because he incurred multiple other intervening license suspensions.

           The court adopted the rationale of State v. Cuccurullo, 228 N.J. Super. 517, 520 (App. Div. 1998), holding in the context of applying the enhanced penalties under N.J.S.A. 39:3-40 for driving while suspended for DWI, that "[a] person is 'under suspension' from the time that the suspension is imposed even though the period of suspension may not begin until later."  Ibid.