Doe v. Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, ___ N.J. Super. ___ (App. Div. 2021). Today, the Appellate Division, speaking through Judge Sumners, issued a decision under the Open Public Records Act, N.J.S.A. 47:1A-1 et seq. (“OPRA”). Plaintiff, formerly a student at the university’s Graduate School of Business, made several OPRA requests. The first of those requests included, but went well beyond, plaintiff’s own student records. A second request sought copies of specific Rutgers administrators’ and faculty members’ disclosable employment records....

State v. Gerena, ___ N.J. Super. ___ (App. Div. 2021). Defendant was convicted of fourth degree lewdness. A statutory grading element of that offense is that one or more of the children whom witnesses testified were near defendant were under the age of thirteen. To address the age issue, the State offered testimony of witnesses who provided lay opinion as to what they perceived as the children’s ages and heights. Defendant appealed his conviction, primarily on the ground that it was error to admit that lay opinion testimony. In State v. Koettgen, 89 N.J.L. 678 (E. & A. 1916), a...

State v. Smith, ___ N.J. Super. ___ (App. Div. 2020). Perhaps fittingly, the final published Appellate Division of 2020, written by Judge Fasciale and issued today, centered on the COVID-19 pandemic. This case involved a trial of murder and other charges against two defendants. That trial began on February 12, 2020. By March 15, when the Supreme Court suspended all jury trials, the State was still presenting its case, having offered 29 witnesses, with three or four more witnesses still to come. After the Supreme Court authorized the resumption of suspended jury trials “consistent with...