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 ...
Due to my fifteen-year service on the Supreme Court of New Jersey Committee on Character, the date of any Supreme Court decision that implicates the Committee on Character is a significant date. On this date in 2000, the Supreme Court ...
State v. Lodzinski, 248 N.J. 451 (2021). In an extraordinary development, the Supreme Court has granted defendant’s motion for reconsideration in this long-running, closely-watched murder case. Since Chief Justice Rabner was not participating, only six Justices considered the appeal originally. ...
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 ...
August is often a busy month for the Supreme Court, as the Justices count down to the new Term by deciding most if not all of the remaining cases from the current Term. This year is no exception. So far, ...
As discussed here, Justice LaVecchia announced on March 8 that she intended to retire from the Supreme Court as of August 31 of this year. In the ordinary course, that would have allowed her successor to be nominated and confirmed ...
State v. Szemple, ___ N.J ___ (2021); J.K. v. New Jersey State Parole Bd., ___ N.J. ___ (2021). The Court decided these two criminal appeals in the last two days. Szemple, issued on Wednesday, was a 4-3 decision, while J.K., ...
Pareja v. Princeton International Properties, ___ N.J. ___ (2021). This 5-2 decision addressed the “ongoing storm rule,” which Justice Fernandez-Vina’s majority opinion defined as a doctrine “under which a landowner does not have a duty to remove snow or ice ...
Richter v. Oakland Bd. of Educ., ___ N.J. ___ (2021). Justice LaVecchia wrote the opinion in this important Law Against Discrimination (“LAD”) case for a unanimous Court. There were two questions: whether the fact that the plaintiff teacher sought and ...
State v. Lodzinski, 246 N.J. 331 (2021). As discussed here, this was a highly publicized case, in which a jury found defendant was guilty of the first-degree murder of her five-year old son. The Appellate Division affirmed the conviction in ...