Criminal Results

2018 – Superior Court: The alleged victim reported his credit card stolen after seeing unauthorized charges on his billing statement. The Police reviewed the store’s records and found that on one of those occasions the Client used the stolen credit card and his own shopper rewards card. Based on the shopper reward card information, the police were able to identify the person using the stolen credit card as the client. He was positively identified on security camera footage leaving the store shortly after the stolen card was used. The client was arrested and after being read his Miranda Warnings, he gave a full confession. He was charged with NJSA 2C:20-7(a) Possession of Stolen Property ($500.00 to $75,000.00 value), a third degree criminal offense and NJSA 2C:21-6(h) Fraudulent Use of Credit Card, a third degree criminal offense. Each was punishable by up to five (5) years in State Prison and a fine of up to $35,000.00.

Result: We appeared at the Pre-Indictment Conference in Superior Court and were able to convince the prosecutor to downgrade the charges to Disorderly Persons offenses and remand them to Municipal Court. The charge of NJSA 2C:20-7(a) was downgraded to a value under $200.00, a disorderly persons offense and the charge of NJSA 2C:21-6h was amended to NJSA 2C:20-4, also a disorderly persons offense. We then appeared with the client in Municipal Court and were able to have the Client diverted into the Conditional Dismissal program with a guilty plea to 2C:20-7(a) Possession of Stolen Property (value under $200.00). which was dismissed after the successful completion of one (1) year of probation. The amended charge of NJSA 2C:20-4, was dismissed. The criminal charge was dismissed after the successful completion of one (1) year of probation in the Conditional Discharge program. Client paid $355.00 in fines and penalties. Six months after the successful completion of the Conditional Dismissal Program, the Client is eligible for an expungement of the record.

2018 – Municipal Court: The police responded to a 911 call that the Client had physically struck his girlfriend. The police took photographs of bruising consistent with the complaint. She declined to apply for a Temporary Restraining Order. Client was placed under arrest and criminally charged with NJSA 2C:12-1(a)(1) Simple Assault, a disorderly persons offense. A bail hearing set the conditions of release as monitoring, which included home detention except for work and weekly check-ins with a probation officer.

Result: We appeared in Municipal Court on several occasions, and the victim failed to appear. At the second hearing, we indicated that we were ready to proceed for trial and requested that the Judge mark the matter try or dismiss. This means that if the prosecutor was not able to proceed with a trial having his witnesses present at the next court date, the Court would dismiss the charges. The victim did not show up at the next Court date and upon our motion, the charges were dismissed. An automatic expungement petition was filed and granted. An automatic expungement is available in matters where the case is dismissed and must be applied for that day. All records of the arrest and charges are expunged and removed from the client’s criminal history and court and police records.

2018 – Municipal Court: Client was in a car being driven by a friend when they were stopped by the police under the pretense that part of the license plate was obscured by a license plate frame. The officer stated that he smelled marijuana and searched the car. He found drug paraphernalia and marijuana in the vehicle. The Client told officers that it belonged to her. She was charged with NJSA 2C:35-10(a)(4) Possession of Marijuana and NJSA 2C:36-2 Possession of Drug Paraphernalia. These are both disorderly persons offenses with potential penalties of six (6) months in county jail and fines not to exceed $1,000 as well as a six month to one year loss of driver’s license.

Result: The Client could not afford a guilty finding in this case as she worked for a University and would be fired if convicted of a criminal offense. We identified several issues with the State’s case. We first argued that the stop itself was invalid because the vehicle the client was in was registered in another state and it was questionable as to whether it was required to comply with New Jersey laws concerning proper display of license plates. In addition we contended that based on the ongoing efforts to legalize marijuana in New Jersey, the charge should be dismissed as a matter of Prosecutorial Discretion under the current Attorney General guidelines for the dismissal or amendment of marijuana charges.

Based upon all of this, a plea agreement was worked out with prosecutor where the charge of NJSA 2C:36-2 Possession of Drug Paraphernalia was dismissed and the charge of NJDSA 2C:35-10(a)(4) Possession of Marijuana was amended to a borough ordinance which is a non-criminal offense that would not cost the client her job. The Client paid $283.00 in fines and penalties.

*While all of these results were actually obtained by Wolf Law in the Municipal Courts and Superior Courts of the State of New Jersey, the success in these cases does not guarantee a similar success in any future case. Clients names have been removed to protect their privacy. Due to the delay in posting these cases to this web site some cases may actually have taken place in the year before their posting date as it appears above.