With hearings scheduled next month on an evidentiary dispute that could undermine 20,000 drunken driving cases in New Jersey, several pending cases are being placed on hold.

Pending cases with breath tests obtained from Alcotest machines serviced by Sgt. Marc Dennis of the New Jersey State Police will be stayed pending the outcome of an inquiry by a court-appointed special master, the judiciary said Wednesday in a notice to the bar. In addition, the notice directs judges to grant requests to stay proceedings in cases involving allegations of drunken driving, refusal to submit to a breath test, or driving while suspended in which a prior drunken driving conviction from an Alcotest serviced by Dennis could serve as support for an enhanced sentence.

The provisions follow the discovery in 2015 that Dennis, who was responsible for testing and calibrating Alcotest machines in police departments around the state, was skipping a step in the calibration process dictated by the state Supreme Court in State v. Chun, a 2008 decision finding the machine scientifically reliable. Dennis was not using a thermometer certified by the National Institute of Standards and Technology to check the temperature of solutions used to calibrate the machines, contrary to the dictates spelled out in Chun, according to a 2016 indictment charging him with records tampering. State officials have said 22,000 people were prosecuted based on Alcotest readings from machines calibrated by Dennis from 2008 to 2015.

On Jan. 3, a special master appointed by the Supreme Court will hold the first in a series of hearings on whether the thermometer procedure is necessary or should be discontinued, as the state requests. In the case of Eileen Cassidy, Judge Joseph Lisa Jr., a former presiding Appellate Division judge, will hear testimony from five experts for the state and three experts for the defense.

Lisa is expected to submit his findings to the Supreme Court on whether the thermometer procedure can be cut from the Alcotest calibration, and the court will have final say on the issue.

Michael Hobbie, Cassidy's attorney, disputes the state's claim that the thermometer calibration is unnecessary. “I feel confident that when all the facts are heard, that it will be found that the step that was allegedly skipped was necessary for the results to be scientifically reliable,” said Hobbie, of Hobbie Corrigan & Bertucio in Eatontown.

The stays announced in this week's notice could create caseload management problems for the state's municipal courts, said Samuel Sachs, an East Windsor defense attorney who is participating in the case as a friend of the court. Sachs, who was part of the defense team in Chun, said Supreme Court guidelines dictate that drunken driving cases should be moved in 60 days, but the stays might make that goal unreachable.

Wednesday's notice also stated prosecutors in each drunken driving case are obligated to determine if evidence in the case came from an Alcotest device handled by Dennis, or if the defendant has a prior conviction from a machine tested by Dennis. Prosecutors also must provide documentation of such a connection to the court and the defense.

It's unclear how many cases are impacted by the stay announced this week, but when the Supreme Court resolves the thermometer issue, municipal courts will have to clear out a logjam of cases, Sachs said.

“Once the decision is made, courts are going to get clogged up as they try to adjudicate these cases,” Sachs said.

The logjam could be particularly acute if the court denies the state's request to waive the thermometer requirement, because some of the 20.000 cases that have been adjudicated may seek reconsideration of their convictions, Sachs said.

With hearings scheduled next month on an evidentiary dispute that could undermine 20,000 drunken driving cases in New Jersey, several pending cases are being placed on hold.

Pending cases with breath tests obtained from Alcotest machines serviced by Sgt. Marc Dennis of the New Jersey State Police will be stayed pending the outcome of an inquiry by a court-appointed special master, the judiciary said Wednesday in a notice to the bar. In addition, the notice directs judges to grant requests to stay proceedings in cases involving allegations of drunken driving, refusal to submit to a breath test, or driving while suspended in which a prior drunken driving conviction from an Alcotest serviced by Dennis could serve as support for an enhanced sentence.

The provisions follow the discovery in 2015 that Dennis, who was responsible for testing and calibrating Alcotest machines in police departments around the state, was skipping a step in the calibration process dictated by the state Supreme Court in State v. Chun, a 2008 decision finding the machine scientifically reliable. Dennis was not using a thermometer certified by the National Institute of Standards and Technology to check the temperature of solutions used to calibrate the machines, contrary to the dictates spelled out in Chun, according to a 2016 indictment charging him with records tampering. State officials have said 22,000 people were prosecuted based on Alcotest readings from machines calibrated by Dennis from 2008 to 2015.

On Jan. 3, a special master appointed by the Supreme Court will hold the first in a series of hearings on whether the thermometer procedure is necessary or should be discontinued, as the state requests. In the case of Eileen Cassidy, Judge Joseph Lisa Jr., a former presiding Appellate Division judge, will hear testimony from five experts for the state and three experts for the defense.

Lisa is expected to submit his findings to the Supreme Court on whether the thermometer procedure can be cut from the Alcotest calibration, and the court will have final say on the issue.

Michael Hobbie, Cassidy's attorney, disputes the state's claim that the thermometer calibration is unnecessary. “I feel confident that when all the facts are heard, that it will be found that the step that was allegedly skipped was necessary for the results to be scientifically reliable,” said Hobbie, of Hobbie Corrigan & Bertucio in Eatontown.

The stays announced in this week's notice could create caseload management problems for the state's municipal courts, said Samuel Sachs, an East Windsor defense attorney who is participating in the case as a friend of the court. Sachs, who was part of the defense team in Chun, said Supreme Court guidelines dictate that drunken driving cases should be moved in 60 days, but the stays might make that goal unreachable.

Wednesday's notice also stated prosecutors in each drunken driving case are obligated to determine if evidence in the case came from an Alcotest device handled by Dennis, or if the defendant has a prior conviction from a machine tested by Dennis. Prosecutors also must provide documentation of such a connection to the court and the defense.

It's unclear how many cases are impacted by the stay announced this week, but when the Supreme Court resolves the thermometer issue, municipal courts will have to clear out a logjam of cases, Sachs said.

“Once the decision is made, courts are going to get clogged up as they try to adjudicate these cases,” Sachs said.

The logjam could be particularly acute if the court denies the state's request to waive the thermometer requirement, because some of the 20.000 cases that have been adjudicated may seek reconsideration of their convictions, Sachs said.