The Supreme Court announced its first group of new cases for this Term. Of the three cases, each came to the Court by a different route. A-1-21, State v. Ramirez, is before the Court on leave to appeal. The question presented, as phrased by the Supreme Court Clerk’s office, is “Is defense counsel entitled to the victim’s home address as part of discovery in this criminal prosecution?” The Law Division adopted a position that allowed defense counsel and his investigator(s) access to the victim’s address, but a three-judge panel of the Appellate Division, on leave to...

After this post about the Supreme Court’s busy August, that Court decided two more cases. Both were criminal appeals. Here are summaries: State v. Hannah, ___ N.J. ___ (2021). This was a case involving murder and other charges. Defendant was found guilty. After a lengthy procedural history, the Supreme Court voted 4-3 to grant post-conviction relief and vacate the conviction. The grounds were that defendant’s counsel rendered constitutionally deficient representation, and that, but for the deficient representation, there was a reasonable probability of a different outcome at...

It had been four weeks since the Supreme Court last took up a new case. But now a new appeal, perhaps the final one to reach the Court in the current term, has joined the docket. That case is State v. O.D.A.-C. The question presented, as phrased by the Supreme Court Clerk’s office, is “Should defendant’s statement have been suppressed because the detective’s comments while questioning defendant vitiated his rights under Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436 (1966)?” The Law Division denied defendant’s motion to suppress in this case, which involved a charge of endangering...