A very important ruling of the Supreme Court of  New Jersey on November 13, 2018 may potentially affect up to 20,667 DWI convictions in this state.  The NJ Supreme Court dealt with an appeal of a DWI  conviction in Spring Lake Municipal court filed by Eileen Cassidy.

The Supreme Court decision is based upon Sgt. Marc Dennis, a coordinator in the NJ State Police Breath Testing Unit being criminally charged with falsely certifying he followed proper calibration procedures of the Alcotest breath testing devices used at local police Departments in Middlesex, Monmouth, Ocean, Somerset, and Union counties between 2008 and 2016.  It should be noted that Sgt. Dennis has denied any wrongdoing.

The unanimous Supreme Court found that steps omitted by Sgt. Dennis raised substantial doubts about the reliability of the Alcotest device.  The decision found that confidence in the reliability of instruments of technology used as evidence is of paramount importance, but unfortunately alleged human failings have cast doubt upon the calibration process.

The court ordered NJ state authorities to notify anyone whose cases involved results from Alcotest machines that were calibrated by Sgt. Dennis,  that they have the right to go back to court to ask to have their convictions vacated.  These 20,667 defendants tested by the affected breath testing machines between 2008 and 2016 could now seek to challenge their convictions. The NJ Attorney Generals Office stated that it will be issuing guidance shortly for county prosecutors and municipal prosecutors on how to handle these cases.

How many of the 20,667 people will actually petition the courts to have their convictions vacated?.  Some of the people affected may have  previously been found not guilty. Some of these persons will have no interest in going back to court for any reason.  Many of these persons have already served their license suspensions and may have no incentive to petition the court.   If defendants were also found guilty in court of DWI based upon the observations of the police officer then the conviction would stand even with the tainted Alcotest results thrown out.  While it is true that a conviction for a first offense based solely upon an officer's observation carries a 90 day loss of license and a conviction for a first offense based upon an Alcotest reading carries a longer license suspension of 7 to 12 months, it may not matter if the license suspension has already been served.  The old saying that you cannot place toothpaste back into the tube applies here.

However this court ruling would be beneficial to persons whose convictions were based solely on the tainted Alcotest results as the  convictions would be entirely thrown out if they petition the court. Also defendants who are currently awaiting trial on a second or third DWI offense and facing severe enhanced sentences may have added incentive to petition the court to vacate the prior conviction based upon the tainted Alcotest results as it could lessen the severe penalties of a subsequent  conviction.

It is interesting to see how this will unfold in the coming months, but it is anticipated that many persons affected by this ruling will petition the courts to vacate their convictions.

If you are one of the 20,667 persons who was affected by the tainted evidence please reach out to my office for a free consultation to determine if it makes sense for you to petition the court to vacate your DWI conviction.