Criminal Defense Law Blog

Driving While High – There May Soon be a Breathalyzer for Pot

With the legalization of marijuana for recreational and medicinal uses across the country, police and legislators are scrambling for accurate devices that can detect a person’s impairment for driving under the influence of marijuana. Most law enforcement agencies rely on observation and specific cognitive and field balance tests by certified drug recognition experts (DRE). However, none are scientifically accurate to detect the level of impairment.

By Robert G. Stahl, Esq.|2024-08-20T09:59:23-04:00August 6th, 2018|Categories: Criminal Investigation, Drug Crimes/Trafficking|0 Comments

Is the NJ Attorney General’s moratorium on marijuana prosecutions a “move toward decriminalization?” Probably not.

When New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir Grewal issued a memorandum yesterday ordering local prosecutors to temporarily halt marijuana prosecutions in municipal courts until September, news outlets, including the New York Times, called it a possible "step toward decriminalization." Amol Sinha, American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey executive director, praised the move, stating that "[b]y directing prosecutors to pause adjudication of marijuana cases, this letter starts that [decriminalization] process." Marijuana trade magazines were even more effusive.

By Andrew Olesnycky, Esq.|2024-08-16T11:23:22-04:00July 25th, 2018|Categories: Drug Crimes/Trafficking|0 Comments

Much Needed Reform Coming Soon (Hopefully) to New Jersey’s Municipal Courts

New Jersey, a small but densely populated State, has 21 counties and 565 municipalities. Right now there are 515 Municipal Courts - 316 have individual, stand-alone courts, 173 municipalities share services, while the remaining 76 municipalities have agreed to form 24 separate joint Municipal Courts. Each have their own judges, prosecutors, public defenders, court administrators and staff. Municipal courts handle approximately 6 million cases a year -- motor vehicle summonses, violations of municipal ordinances and minor criminal matters.

By Robert G. Stahl, Esq.|2024-08-18T13:23:17-04:00July 25th, 2018|Categories: NJ Municipal Court, NJ Superior Courts|0 Comments

Why There Are So Few Federal Criminal Trials

After more than two years of careful research and deliberation, the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL) released The Trial Penalty: The Sixth Amendment Right to Trial on the Verge of Extinction and How to Save It. The “trial penalty” refers to the substantial difference between the sentence offered prior to trial versus the sentence a defendant receives after a conviction at trial. This penalty is now so severe and pervasive that it has virtually eliminated the constitutional right to a trial. The report notes that to avoid the trial penalty, defendants must surrender fundamental rights which are essential to a fair justice system. The release of this report has garnered support from leading criminal justice reform entities, all of which agree that the incursion on the right to a trial poses a clear threat to justice.

By Robert G. Stahl, Esq.|2024-08-15T14:45:44-04:00July 11th, 2018|Categories: Criminal Trial, Federal Courts, Federal Plea & Sentencing Mitigation|Tags: Federal Crimes|0 Comments

The U.S. Supreme Court Slowly Enters the 21st Century

Last week’s decision in Carpenter v. United States, a 5-4 decision that the government must obtain a court-authorized warrant for cell site location information (CSLI), is a small step toward recognizing privacy rights in an age of ever-expanding technology. Most people do not realize that their cell phones are capable of tracking their every movement - 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. As we move about, our cell phones ping off of the nearest cell tower. Several times a minute our cell phones contact the nearest cell tower. Our cell providers collect and store that information. Examining that information can reveal a person’s daily movements with a fair degree of accuracy, usually within hundreds of feet to a few miles. Each tower has time-stamped records for every cell phone that pinged off of it, and more specifically, which direction on the tower’s multiple receivers.

By Robert G. Stahl, Esq.|2024-08-16T17:00:52-04:00June 28th, 2018|Categories: Criminal Investigation|Tags: Criminal Defense, Supreme Court|0 Comments

Fox News Quotes Criminal Defense Attorney Robert Stahl on Withdrawing Guilty Pleas

In Fox News coverage of the one-year anniversary of Special Prosecutor Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election, In Kaitlyn Schallhorn's May 17, 2018 coverage of Michael Flynn's legal options, Ms.Schallhorn quotes Mr. Stahl: Robert Stahl, a white-collar criminal defense attorney in New York and New Jersey, told Fox News withdrawing a guilty plea “is extremely rare and very difficult.”

By Robert G. Stahl, Esq.|2024-08-19T18:58:42-04:00May 29th, 2018|Categories: Criminal Defense Law Firm News|0 Comments

Use of Informants or “Spies” in Criminal Investigations

Headlines and tweets coming out of Washington have put a spotlight on law enforcement’s use of informants, now known in federal parlance as “confidential human sources” or CHS. Putting aside the political theater and self-serving spin of the “criminal deep state” and the planting of spies, how are informants used in every day investigations?

Using human sources (informants) to collect information is common throughout municipal, state and federal investigations. Informants are either individuals who have been charged with their own crimes and have agreed to cooperate in the hopes for reduced charges or sentence based upon that cooperation, or are people who are paid for their information and access to criminal groups or activities. The use of confidential human sources is expressly encouraged by the guidelines that cover the FBI’s behavior.

By Robert G. Stahl, Esq.|2024-08-12T12:02:52-04:00May 25th, 2018|Categories: Criminal Investigation, Search Warrants|Tags: Criminal Investigation|0 Comments

What To Do If Your Teenager is Stopped With Drugs in the Car?

While most people consider themselves unlikely to become the subject of a police investigation, there is one common situation in which ordinary citizens fall under police scrutiny: the traffic stop. Police officers are trained to search for evidence of illegal activity every time they pull over a driver, whatever the reason for the stop. While the consequences for speeding, failure to maintain lane, careless driving or Driving Under the Influence (DUI) can be bad enough – carrying the possibility of loss of driving privileges, assessment of motor vehicle points and higher insurance rates – things become far more serious if the police search for and find illegal drugs in a car. Teenagers and young adults – who are presumed by police to be more likely to be in possession of illegal recreational drugs – are often the targets of such searches late at night, while driving to and from wherever it is that teenagers actually disappear to when they leave the house to “hang out with friends.”

By Andrew Olesnycky, Esq.|2024-08-12T12:09:01-04:00May 15th, 2018|Categories: Criminal Investigation, Drug Crimes/Trafficking|Tags: Criminal Investigation|0 Comments

Why Defendants Cooperate or “Flip”

President Trump tweeted that Michael Cohen, his former lawyer and “fixer”, won’t flip on him. Putting aside for the moment why the President would say this if Cohen didn’t have incriminating evidence against him - because one could only “flip” on someone if they did - let’s examine why people charged with crimes cooperate with law enforcement.

By Robert G. Stahl, Esq.|2024-08-20T18:08:29-04:00April 24th, 2018|Categories: Criminal Investigation, Plea Bargaining|Tags: Criminal Investigation|0 Comments

Attorney-Client Privilege is Alive and Well – Despite Trump’s Tweets

In recent days we have witnessed the President and various pundits scream (or tweet) that the attorney-client privilege is dead or under serious attack. What they are referring to, of course, is the judicially authorized search of Michael Cohen’s home, office and hotel room by the FBI. Cohen is said to be one of the President’s long-time attorneys.

By Robert G. Stahl, Esq.|2024-08-16T11:28:40-04:00April 17th, 2018|Categories: Attorney-Client Privilege, Fifth Amendment|0 Comments