The passion of this firm. We defend individuals charged with criminal offenses across the full spectrum of federal and New Jersey criminal law, from first degree indictable offenses in the Superior Court to municipal ordinance violations. The principal has worked both sides of the aisle: years at the Office of the Public Defender, and a current appointment as Municipal Prosecutor for the Township of Union. Knowing how the State builds and values a case is not a slogan. It is the daily work.
The number on the charging document is rarely the thing that matters most. What matters is the exposure behind it, the parole consequence attached to it, the mandatory minimum that may be hiding inside it, and what it does to your record, your license, your firearms eligibility, and your immigration status years after the courtroom empties. We want to vindicate you.
Have you been charged with an indictable offense? This firm defends them across New Jersey. Know first what is actually at stake: an ordinary term for a crime of the first degree runs between ten and twenty years; second degree, between five and ten; third degree, between three and five; and fourth degree, not more than eighteen months. N.J.S.A. 2C:43-6(a).
For first and second degree crimes the law begins from a presumption of imprisonment, which means the argument is not whether you go but for how long, unless that presumption is overcome. We try cases, we make the State meet its burden, and where trial is not the right outcome we negotiate from preparation rather than from hope. Call before the indictment. Time matters.
Some first and second degree charges carry a consequence that the plea sheet does not put in bold. Under the No Early Release Act, a person sentenced for any of twenty-two enumerated violent crimes, including murder, aggravated manslaughter, aggravated assault, aggravated sexual assault, robbery, carjacking, kidnapping, certain burglaries, and others, must serve eighty-five percent of the sentence before becoming parole eligible, followed by a mandatory period of parole supervision of five years for a first degree crime and three years for a second. N.J.S.A. 2C:43-7.2. A seven-year NERA sentence is, in practical terms, significantly longer than a seven-year flat sentence. Whether a count carries NERA is frequently the single most important fact in the negotiation, and it is a question to ask on day one, not at sentencing.
Firearms allegations change the arithmetic. Where a defendant uses or possesses a firearm in the course of certain offenses, the court must impose a minimum term of parole ineligibility of one-half the sentence imposed or forty-two months, whichever is greater, or eighteen months where the crime is of the fourth degree. N.J.S.A. 2C:43-6(c). A certain persons offense may follow from the same facts, and it carries its own weight: for a person previously convicted of an enumerated crime, possession of a firearm is a second degree crime with a five-year term of parole ineligibility. N.J.S.A. 2C:39-7. Cases like these involve significant technicalities that must be considered immediately, rather than at the plea cutoff. If a conviction has already cost you your firearms eligibility, see Firearms Appeals.
For a defendant without a prior record, the best available outcome is often no conviction at all. Pretrial intervention is a supervisory program that, on successful completion, ends in the charges being dismissed. N.J.S.A. 2C:43-12. Admission is not automatic: the prosecutor and the program director weigh amenability to correction and responsiveness to rehabilitation, public officers whose offense involved their office are presumptively ineligible, and there is a presumption against admission in domestic violence matters. It is also, in practice, a once-in-a-lifetime remedy. You must submit the best application you can, the first time. There may not be another opportunity.
A municipal court case is not a minor case. A disorderly persons offense carries up to six months in jail, and a petty disorderly persons offense up to thirty days. N.J.S.A. 2C:43-8. More to the point, it becomes part of your record, appears on employer background checks, triggers professional license review, and can carry immigration consequences that dwarf the fine. This firm appears in municipal courts throughout New Jersey on disorderly persons and petty disorderly persons charges and on criminal-related ordinance violations. Do not walk into court alone.
The strongest defense is often the one the State never gets to put on. We regularly file motions to suppress evidence and statements, and we have experience with motions to compel discovery, motions to disclose informants and surveillance locations, motions for independent laboratory testing of suspected controlled dangerous substances, and motions to exclude expert testimony. A motion filed early does two things at once: it can end the case, and where it does not, it fixes the State’s position on the record before anyone talks about a number.
The sentence ends. The record does not. A criminal charge can carry pretrial detention, firearms forfeiture and permanent disability, professional licensing exposure, immigration risk, and a registration obligation that lasts decades. This firm handles those proceedings as part of the same problem rather than as separate matters: see Expungement & Clemency, Firearms Appeals, and Megan’s Law. The best outcome on a criminal case is the one that accounts for what happens ten years later, not the one that closes the file fastest.
Authority: ordinary terms of imprisonment N.J.S.A. 2C:43-6(a); Graves Act mandatory minimums N.J.S.A. 2C:43-6(c); No Early Release Act N.J.S.A. 2C:43-7.2; pretrial intervention N.J.S.A. 2C:43-12; disorderly persons and petty disorderly persons terms N.J.S.A. 2C:43-8. Offenses handled include simple and aggravated assault N.J.S.A. 2C:12-1; sexual assault and aggravated sexual assault N.J.S.A. 2C:14-2; endangering the welfare of a child N.J.S.A. 2C:24-4; theft N.J.S.A. 2C:20-3; possession of CDS N.J.S.A. 2C:35-10; possession of CDS with intent to distribute N.J.S.A. 2C:35-5; burglary N.J.S.A. 2C:18-2; robbery N.J.S.A. 2C:15-1; unlawful possession of a weapon N.J.S.A. 2C:39-5; eluding N.J.S.A. 2C:29-2(b); terroristic threats N.J.S.A. 2C:12-3; harassment N.J.S.A. 2C:33-4; stalking N.J.S.A. 2C:12-10; resisting arrest N.J.S.A. 2C:29-2(a); obstructing the administration of law N.J.S.A. 2C:29-1; disorderly conduct N.J.S.A. 2C:33-2; contempt of a domestic violence restraining order N.J.S.A. 2C:29-9; criminal mischief N.J.S.A. 2C:17-3; receiving stolen property N.J.S.A. 2C:20-7; hindering apprehension N.J.S.A. 2C:29-3; forgery N.J.S.A. 2C:21-1; bias intimidation N.J.S.A. 2C:16-1; and arson and aggravated arson N.J.S.A. 2C:17-1. This summary is for general information only and is not legal advice. Consult counsel about a specific matter.