The New Jersey Police Chief Magazine | March 2017 Continued from previous page providing the requisite air volume.
5. No Jury trial for DWI. State v. Denelsbeck 223 NJ 103 (2016)
Third or subsequent DWI offenders are not entitled to a jury trial, and defendant’s conviction procured by a bench trial did not violate his Sixth Amendment right to a jury trial.
6. Police can stop for broken taillight. State v. Sutherland 445 NJ Super. 358 (App. Div. 2016) A police officer stopped defendant's car because one of the four taillights was not illuminated. The Law Division granted defendant's motion to suppress finding that N.J.S.A. 39:3-61(a) and -66 only required one functioning tail light on each side and the officer's mistake rendered the stop unreasonable.
The court reversed, noting the confusing state of Title 39 and concluding that the officer had reasonable and articulable suspicion of a motor vehicle violation.
7. US Supreme Court permits DWI breath tests but rejects blood test without warrant. Birchfield v. North Dakota 136 S. Ct. 2160 (2016) The Fourth Amendment permits warrantless breath tests incident to arrests for drunk driving but not warrantless blood tests.
8. Out of state DWI counts for criminal driving while suspended. State v. Luzhak 445 NJ Super. 241 (App.Div. 2016) In this case of first impression, the court interpreted N.J.S.A. 2C:40-26(b), which provides that it is a crime of the fourth degree to operate a motor vehicle during a period of license suspension if the license was suspended for a second violation of N.J.S.A. 39:4-50 or N.J.S.A. 39:4-50.4(a), as including out- of-state convictions for DWI.
The court reached its determination after consideration of analogous statutes relating to interstate recognition of motor vehicle violations and the use of equivalent out-of-state convictions as prior offenses for enhanced DWI sentencing. The court also considered the legislative policy behind the statute's enactment. (Kenneth Vercammen handled this case).
9. Prosecutor must provide videotape and audiotape plus names of officers from other towns involved in stop State v. Stein 225 NJ 582 (2016) Under Rule 7:7-7(b), the municipal prosecutor was required to provide defendant with the names of the police officers from the adjacent jurisdiction who responded to the accident scene. Because, when the prosecutor failed to provide the information, defendant did not raise this issue before the municipal court, or seek relief under the Rule, the issue has been waived. The prosecutor was also required to provide the videotapes that defendant requested, if they existed, since such information was clearly relevant to a DWI defense.
Because the Court cannot determine from the record whether any videotapes exist, the matter is remanded to the Law Division for further proceedings on this issue.
Rule 3:13-3, Rule 7:7-7(b) (7) names and addresses of any persons whom the prosecuting attorney [or you] knows to have relevant evidence or information including a designation by prosecuting attorney [or you] as to which of those persons prosecuting attorney [or you] may call as witnesses.
10. Suppression where stop based only for high beam State v. Scriven 226 NJ 20 (2016) The trial court and Appellate Division properly concluded that the motor-vehicle stop violated the Federal and State Constitutions. The language of the high-beam statute, N.J.S.A. 39:3-60, is unambiguous; drivers are required to dim their high beams only when approaching an oncoming vehicle. Neither a car parked on a perpendicular street nor an on-foot police officer count as an oncoming vehicle. The judgment of the Appellate Division upholding the trial court’s suppression of the evidence is affirmed.
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