New Jersey Criminal Attorney Blog

A man was charged with aggravated assault after allegedly trying to ram his car into a Bergen County police officer who pulled him over in Hackensack.

The officer pulled over the driver for a routine traffic stop after observing him allegedly weaving in and out of lanes. When the officer approached the car, the driver sped off allegedly forcing the officer to jump out of the way. The officer caught up with the driver and arrested him in Paterson.

In addition to being charged with aggravated assault on a police officer, the driver was faces charges of eluding arrest, being a fugitive from justice, speeding, reckless driving and failure to pull over.

An intensive effort by law enforcement throughout New Jersey to find drunk drivers resulted in police issuing hundreds of other summonses for things like speeding and seatbelt violations throughout Bergen and Passaic counties.

While the campaign resulted in 137 drunk driving arrests in Bergen County and 95 drunk driving arrests in Passaic County, it also produced 1,973 speeding tickets in Bergen county and 374 tickets for seatbelt violations in Passaic County.

The State Division of Highway Traffic Safety funded the crackdown, paying for law enforcement overtime during a two-week period ending on September 7.

A drunk driving conviction could result in fines, license suspension, and even imprisonment. While speeding tickets are a less serious offense, they could have important consequences. Depending on how fast a driver is traveling, speeding tickets can result in a penalty of between two and five points. A driver who accumulates 12 to 15 points in two years is subject to a 30 day license suspension.

In this economic downturn, jobs seekers in North Jersey may spend a lot of time adjusting their resumes or working on their interview skills. But a job applicant whose record turns up a criminal conviction -- even a minor one -- may start out at a disadvantage when competing in a tough job market.

With unemployment soaring, jobs that are hard to come by, and more companies performing background checks than ever before,many are looking to expunge their records or set aside convictions. Even those who have jobs may consider expunging past convictions now. Waiting until the next job search could mean lost time.

Depending on a person's background, the Court may expunge a conviction, erasing it from that person's record. The process involves petitioning the Court in the county where the offense took place. Several factors affect whether a person is eligible for expungment, including the nature of the crime and the length of time since the last offense.

For those who are being weighed down by mistakes in their past, expungement offers the opportunity to make a fresh start. And in a job market as competitive as this one, erasing a conviction could be a big step toward finding employment.

An opinion released Tuesday by the New Jersey Supreme Court interpreting the state's unsafe driving statute offers some good news and some bad news for drivers hoping to avoid points on their licenses.

Since the unsafe driving law went into effect in 2000, it has offered drivers in some circumstances a way to avoid having points assessed for moving violations. In some cases, drivers may have the opportunity to plead guilty to Operation of a Vehicle in an Unsafe Manner. The penalty involves payment of a fine and court fees without any points. However, the wording of the statute has been the subject of much confusion. It prohibits drivers from taking advantage of the exemption three times where each offense is within five years of the prior offense, raising questions about how the five-year limitation should be measured.

Last year, the Appellate Division took up the issue in State v. Patel. In that case, the driver had three offenses within five years of each other. On her fourth offense, she was assessed points. She argued that she should be allowed the exemption on the fourth offense because although it was within five years of her third offense, it was not within five years of her first and second offenses. Thus, she only had two offenses within the last five years. The Appellate Division disagreed and held that five years must pass from the prior offense before the exemption becomes available again.

Also in that opinion, the Court stated that points will be assessed upon a third unsafe driving offense within five years of the prior offense. After five years have passed from that offense, the driver would once again become eligible for the exemption.

The Defendant appealed that ruling to the New Jersey Supreme Court. The Supreme Court agreed with the Appellate Division's opinion that the Defendant should be assessed points because her fourth offense was within five years of her prior offense. Even though more than five years had passed from the first two offenses, each offense occurred within five years of the one prior.

However, the Court disagreed with the Appellate Division over the availability of the exemption on the third conviction. The opinion stated that the exemption applies to the third offense, no matter when the third offense takes place.

The opinion offers a mixed bag for drivers. The good news is that a driver qualifies for the exemption on a third offense no matter when it takes place. The bad news is that when a driver has three offenses each within five years of the last, he or she must wait five years after the third offense before the exemption will again be available.

New Jersey State Police will be stepping up enforcement of aggressive driving laws as part of a campaign to reduce collisions between trucks and cars expected to begin in December.

The campaign will include a public relations component with radio advertisements and educational materials encouraging car and truck drivers to be more aware of each other, but it will also include additional enforcement. Police will be on the lookout for violators who risk truck-car collisions, and could increase tickets for following too closely or weaving between lanes. .

The crackdown comes after state police launched another program to target tailgaters last month. The new program is part of a federal initiative called the Ticketing Aggressive Cars and Trucks program, and will be funded by $800,000 in federal money.

In Bergen and Passaic Counties last year, there were nine deaths and 818 injuries as the result of collisions between trucks and cars.

If you've received summonses for driving without a license, help is available.

A conviction for driving without a license could prevent you from obtaining a license in the future and subject you to fines and a possible prison sentence. An article in today's Newark Star Ledger cited the example of one man who racked up 20 traffic tickets and several summonses for driving without a license . Through a special program in Newark designed to encourage those wanted for non-violent crimes to turn themselves in, he was permitted to work out a payment schedule that would help him clear his name and obtain a driver's license.

But even where such programs are not available, municipal court judges have a range of penalties they can impose when a motorist is convicted of driving without a license. Additionally, the penalties vary depending on whether the driver did not have a current driver's license, or whether the driver never had a driver's license to begin with.

More importantly, a person cannot be convicted of driving without a license if the driver merely fails to show a valid driver's license to the officer requesting it. In some cases, the driver may at worst be guilty of refusing to exhibit a driver's license, which is punishable by a fine.

A Westwood Man allegedly tried to rob a bank on Route 17 Tuesday morning in Mahwah by passing a note to the teller, but fled after the teller activated an alarm.

As police searched for the man, schools in the area were placed on lockdown, but officers in the areas soon caught up with him. Police found the man, 33-year-old Anthony B. Dewberry, in a nearby parking garage and found the note in his car.

Dewberry was charged with robbery and bail was set at $250,000.

New Jersey and New York are among several states that have banned texting while driving. Text messaging qualifies as using an electronic communication device, which is illegal under state statute 39:4-97.3. Violators face a possible fine.

But an article the New York Times this weekend raised questions about whether there could be even greater penalties in the future. The article discussed the British legal system's response to texting while driving through the case of a 22-year-old woman who was sentenced to 21 months in prison after her texting led to a deadly accident.

Closer to home, a New York Times - CBS News poll explored attitudes toward texting while driving. When asked if texting while driving should be illegal, 97 percent answered yes. Asked how severe the punishment should be, 50 percent said it should be punished "about the same" as drunk driving.

Meanwhile, texting continues to be a hot topic with regard to motor vehicle safety. Recently, President Obama banned federal employees from texting while driving. And this summer, a study by researchers at Virginia Tech found that texting while driving increased the risk of a crash or near-crash by 23.2 times.

Given the building public attention to texting while driving, it should not be a surprise it becomes a major focus of law enforcement.

A New York man was charged with driving under the influence and hindering apprehension after New Jersey State Police responded to a 911 call from a child in the car.

A 12-year-old in the car phoned police when his mother, also a passenger, became ill. When police stopped the car on the New Jersey Turnpike in Secaucus, the driver provided them with a false name leading to a charge of hindering apprehension.

In New Jersey, hindering apprehension is a second degree crime, which carries a possible prison sentence of between five and ten years.