The last few days have seen three opinions by the Supreme Court in criminal appeals. Here are summaries of those decisions: State v. Rivas, ___ N.J. ___ (2022). This opinion by Justice Albin today, for a unanimous Court, reversed the decisions of the Law Division and the Appellate Division that had denied defendant’s motion to suppress his confession. In a fact-intensive decision, the Court applied the principle of Edwards v. Arizona, 451 U.S. 477 (1981), that if “an accused has invoked his right to have counsel present during custodial interrogation,” questioning must cease and...

Sullivan v. Max Spann Real Estate & Auction Co., ___ N.J. ___ (2022). In an opinion reported at 465 N.J. Super. 243 (App. Div. 2020), and discussed here, the Appellate Division, by a 2-1 vote, held that the three-day attorney review clause that the Supreme Court required for conventional sales of residential real estate in New Jersey State Bar Ass’n v. New Jersey Ass’n of Realtor Boards, 93 N.J. 470, modified, 94 N.J. 449 (1983), did not apply to absolute auction sales of residential real estate. That case arose when attorneys asserted that the preparation of contracts for sale of real...

Acoli v. New Jersey State Parole Bd., ___ N.J. ___ (2022). A 2-1 Appellate Division decision, discussed here, upheld the New Jersey State Parole Board’s decision to deny parole to Sundiata Acoli, who “committed a horrific crime” in “his role in the murder of State Trooper Werner Foerster and the wounding of State Trooper James Harper in 1973 (the words of Justice Albin, the author of today’s majority opinion). Acoli was part of the Black Liberation Army, and one of the others involved in the murder was Joanne Chesimard, later known as Assata Shakur, who is...