The first Supreme Court grant of review is on a motion for leave to appeal in State v. Chambers. The question presented, as phrased by the Supreme Court Clerk’s office, is “Under the circumstances presented, can the State be compelled to obtain and produce an alleged sexual assault victim’s mental health records for an in camera review by the trial court?” The Law Division, Essex County, required the State to provide the records for in camera review. Now the Supreme Court will consider the...

To date, 2022 has not been kind to this blog. Down for a period of time due to malware, and then only partially restored, the blog is now fully ready for the new year. But the New Jersey appellate law world did not stop during that time. Here are some summaries of developments, decisional and otherwise, since January 1: The legislative term expired, and with it Governor Murphy’s nomination of Rachel Wainer Apter to fill Justice LaVecchia’s seat on the Supreme Court. After the new legislative term began, the Governor announced that he would renominate her for the seat. There is...

State v. Lodzinski, ___ N.J. ___ (2021). Today, the Supreme Court voted 4-3 to reverse the murder conviction of Michelle Lodzinski. Previously, as discussed here, the Court had split 3-3 (Chief Justice Rabner did not participate), with the result that the Appellate Division’s affirmance of the conviction was upheld. The Court then voted to grant reconsideration and to bring up Judge Fuentes, the senior judge of the Appellate Division, to provide a seventh vote, as discussed here. The lineup of the Justices today was the same as in those previous appearances of this case before the...