Newark Criminal Defense Law Blog

Child Pornography charges range from mere possession of it, to the making of child pornography. In a recent case brought in the US District Courts, a New Jersey woman pled guilty (which means that she cut a deal to avoid an even longer prison exposure) to sexually assaulting a 5-year old girl, and then putting the video of the assault on the internet. The woman faces a sentence of 15-30 YEARS in prison when she is sentenced. During the plea, the woman agreed that a term of 30 years is the appropriate sentence, although the judge will have the authority to sentence her to any term within the 15-30 year range.

One of the aggravating sentencing factors the prosecution will argue, and that the Judge will consider when imposing the sentence, are the other alleged actions of the woman, which included at least one other sexual assault on the same child - again video recorded and disseminated to another person. The woman also admitted to having viewed other downloaded videos of child sex abuse. In cases such as these, the combination of the acts serves as a basis for the prosecution to be able to argue that this is not a one-time incident; and, to argue that the client is very likely to re-offend.

As a criminal defense lawyer in New Jersey, when I represent a client charged with these types of offenses I always recommend that my client, as early as possible, submit to a psychological evaluation by a defense expert. Having started this process as early as possible, helps the client avoid other similar conduct while the charges are pending; and, provides the defense with mitigating arguments if/when the client is sentenced on the Child Pornography charges.

Domestic Violence charges against a police officer result in the seizure of the officer's weapons, including his service handgun and his personally owned guns. This occurs in one of several different ways after the filing of a temporary restraining order (TRO). Until the final restraining order (FRO) hearing; or, until a Court issues an order permitting the police officer to possess a weapon, the officer is prohibited from having even his duty weapon. Obviously this has the ability to prevent the officer from performing their sworn duties as a police officer.

As a criminal defense lawyer in Newark, New Jersey, I have represented police officers who are charged with Domestic Violence. In all cases, I have been able to successfully obtain authorization from the Court for my client to continue to perform their duties as police officers by obtaining permission for the officer to carry his duty weapon while on-duty. Once the officer goes off-duty, the officer surrenders the weapon to his department until he goes back on-duty. This accomplishes both the statutes prohibition of a person charged with DV from having a weapon; and, at the same time, permits the officer to perform the job they are sworn to do.

Whether a officer is permitted to use his duty-weapon to perform his job while the DV charges are still pending, is a determination made by the County Prosecutor. Developing a basis to support a prosecutor's decision allowing the officer to perform his duties as a police officer; and, to carry his weapon on-duty is essential, or the officer may be denied their ability to work.

An appeal of a conviction in Superior Court must be filed within 45 days of the entry of the sentence. That does not mean that the paperwork is 'in the mail', it means that the papers are in the hands of the Appellate Division. If the paperwork is not filed within the 45-day time period, you may lose your right to file an appeal. Under very narrow circumstances, the Appellate Division may grant you an extension of 30-days, but unless you can establish a sufficient reason why the paperwork was not filed within the 45-day period, the extension does not have to be granted. In other words, if you really want to pursue this relief, get it filed within the 45-day period.

As an experienced criminal defense lawyer in New Jersey, I have handled (and currently have) several matters pending in the Appellate Division of the New Jersey Superior Court. An appeal is of the legal issues involved in your case, for example to raise an issue about the Court's decision on a Motion; the admissibility of a particular type of evidence; or, the actions of the prosecutor during your trial. If you wanted to raise an issue about your lawyer and how your lawyer handled (or mis-handled) your representation, you would file a post conviction relief (PCR) petition.

The two types of relief have different filing deadlines. You cannot pursue both types of relief at the same time. Since an appeal must be filed within 45-days it is typical to file it first and wait to see the outcome, before filing a post conviction relief petition, since it has a 5-year deadline.

Child Pornography. Few types of criminal charges have the same raw emotional impact on people. The person charged is embarrassed, the family members shocked, the neighbors alarmed. Regardless of whether you are innocent or not, the mere fact that you were arrested and charged with this type of crime has the potential to change everything in your personal and professional life. The goal of your defense at the outset should be to minimize the State's case, to stabilize your personal life, and develop source material to counter the sentencing factors if you are found guilty.

These types of offenses include downloading pornographic images depicting explicit images of minor-age children from the internet; to the manufacturing of these types of images. The mere possession or viewing of these images is a lower grade crime (4th degree) then the charge of manufacturing or distribution of child pornography (2nd degree, or 1st degree).

One of the key issues in each charge is the age of the 'child'. Under NJ State law, a child is any person under the age of 16. It is not a defense that the child looked to be over the age of 16, or that the client was mistaken (even if a reasonable mistake) that the child was older then 16. The State must however prove that the child was in fact under the age of 16 as part of the State's case.

As a criminal defense lawyer in Newark NJ, the examination of this legal issue and many others are critical to my client and I developing a proper defense of child pornography charges. In addition, I have my client start immediately with the development of factors to mitigate the State's RRAS (risk of re-offense) calculation. This type of counseling and evaluation take a significant period of time, and should be initiated as soon as possible so the defense will be able to establish this as a long-term benefit to your defense, and not some last-minute afterthought to impress a Judge.

Megan's Law imposes a registration requirement on clients convicted (after trial or by pleading guilty) of certain sex offenses. It also requires those who were serving a sentence for these types of crimes on the effective date (10/31/94) of the law to register. Being charged with these types of crimes can be devastating to a client's family life and career. Reputations and relationships built over a lifetime can be destroyed just over the filing of these types of crimes. Having a conviction of this type on your record is something any employer can discover by doing a criminal background check. Registration on the Sex Offender Registry is another type of record of the conviction, a record which can be far more public then merely having a criminal background. If you have been convicted of this type of crime, the question you need to ask is not 'why do I need to register'; the question you need to ask is 'how do I get the lowest tier assessment'.

No one wants to be convicted of a crime, no one wants a criminal record, and no one wants to have to register as a Sex Offender. If you are charged, start developing your defense strategy immediately. This is not merely filing an alibi; or filing legal Motions to attack the basis for the State case. Think long-term - if you are convicted - how do you establish you have a low risk of re-offense? The key is starting to develop a basis to challenge the RRSS (Registrant Risk Assessment Scale) of the prosecutor. This takes professional counseling by a Forensic Psychologist, with an expert opinion rendered to counter the RRAS made by the State.

As a certified criminal defense lawyer in Newark, NJ, I often see cases where the defendant waits until after the conviction has occurred to think about the impact of Megan's Law. While we have successfully gotten tier reductions for some of those cases, the process is more difficult then if you start preparing for this type of consequence when you are charged, just in case. In almost every case where we started the client early on developing this type of defense, it has resulted in the client being placed in Tier 1, the lowest tier.

Picking a lawyer is much more then a beauty contest or a comparison of which lawyer is less expensive. Some of the best criminal defense lawyers I know (and I) are neither the best looking lawyers nor the cheapest. What we do however is defend our clients boldly. We look for issues that are involved in the police investigation, in the way the client was arrested or identified and follow through with every type of attack on the prosecution's case that we think will benefit the client. We are not concerned with how long the legal research will take, or whether the prosecutor will think we are wasting their time.

In a recent wiretap case involving over a dozen defendants and their lawyers, I was standing with several of the defense lawyers and overheard two of them talking about what Motions to file in the case. One of the lawyers said he was thinking of filing a Minimization Motion (a Motion that can result in the suppression of all seized communications and all evidence that is derived from the seized communications) I was impressed that the lawyer was thinking of pursuing this type of Motion, since I know that the legal groundwork for the Motion would take him about 3-4 WEEKS of effort to develop the factual basis needed to support this Motion.

Boy was I disappointed when the attorney said that he had the Motion on his computer and could knock it out in an hour or so. Having just completed a wiretap minimization analysis in another wiretap of about the same duration, it was clear to me that the lawyer had no idea what was involved with this type of Motion. My most recent brief in support of this type of Motion was 41-pages (single-spaced) and had over 100-pages of examples establishing two different types of defects in the minimization efforts of the police.

As a certified criminal trial attorney in Newark NJ, I know that an important part of the art of criminal defense is knowing when to pursue an advantage to protect the client, and when to take a step back and let the prosecution fumble around for the ball. When picking a lawyer, interview several and ask the lawyers what types of Motions may need to be filed in the case. Ask them how long it will take them to get ready to file the Motions. Compare the answers and then pick one who will defend you 'boldly', taking the time to develop every part of the defense as fully as possible.

A criminal defense often starts with the client needing to post bail because of the charges filed against them. The Court sets the bail, typically within 'bail guidelines' established to give a common range of bail (such as $10,000-$20,000) for a particular type of criminal charge. Once the bail is set by the Court, it can be posted (paid) and the client can be released from Jail pending the disposition of the charge.

In some cases, the Prosecutors challenge the posting of the bail, asking the Court to hold a Source of Funds hearing. In NJ, this type of hearing is used by the State to challenge the source of the money used to post the bail. If the State can establish that the money does not come from a legitimate source, the State can prevent the posting of the bail. The State can also challenge the 'reliability' of the person posting the bail.

The easiest way to establish the legitimacy of the bail money is to show that it came from a bank account that was in existence before the date on which the crime was alleged to have been committed. The easiest way to establish that the person posting the bail is 'reliable' is to show the type of relationship (father-son, mother-daughter) to the defendant/client.

Obviously, in any particular case, establishing that the source of the bail funds is acceptable to the court can be much more complicated then the 'easiest' examples set forth above. In my practice as a Newark criminal defense lawyer I always make suggestions to the client's family on how to make their particular circumstances 'acceptable' before the bail funding is submitted to the Court. This often avoids an actual hearing on the source of the funds.

Megan's Law Tier Assessment is based on the evaluation of a series of risk factors to determine whether the offender is considered to be a low, moderate, or high risk of re-offense. These factors are categorized as relating to the:

1. Seriousness of the offense (assessing the degree of force used to commit the crime, the degree of physical contact the defendant had with the victim during the crime, and the age of the victim).
2. Characteristics of the Offender - high-level factors (assessing the relationship of the victim to the defendant, the number of known offenses or victims attributed to the defendant, the duration of the behavior that resulted in the charge, amount of time since the last offense, the defendants history of anti-social acts).
3. Characteristics of the Offender - mid-level factors (assessing the defendant's response to treatment, and the defendants history of substance abuse).
4. Characteristics of the Offender - low-level factors (assessing the types of therapeutic support being used by the defendant, the residence type of the defendant, the employment status of the defendant).

Each of these sub factors are rated on a low-risk, moderate risk or high-risk basis with a numeric value being calculated for each sub factor. The total of the scores is then used to determine whether the defendant is in the low, middle or high range for re-offense. This score is what determines the Tier placement for the registrant. As a criminal defense lawyer in Newark NJ, I can often identify sub factors that can be lowered by helping the client develop the best background to support the lowest score. By reducing the score to lowest possible calculation, a client can establish that they are a low-risk for re-offense as a Megan's Law registrant. Obviously, the lower the Tier placement the better it is for the client, as fewer people are notified of the client being a registrant.