In State in the Interest of E.S., decided on Nov. 22, 2022, the Supreme Court held that the Family Part did not abuse its discretion by declining to hear a motion to suppress before waiving a juvenile matter to the Law Division for treatment as an adult. But the court declined to adopt a “general preference” that motions to suppress should be heard in the Family Part before the waiver proceedings are conducted, as the Appellate Division had done. Certainly, Law Division judges have more frequent opportunity to rule upon complex motions to suppress, and as the court noted (although it is arguable whether a juvenile should be treated differently from another juvenile only because he or she has an young adult co-defendant), the pendency of a proceeding involving an adult co-defendant is an important factor in the decision, as hearing motions to suppress of co-defendants simultaneously is important for consistency. State v Gonzalez, 75 NJ 181 (1975). Justice Pierre-Louis concurred, finding no abuse of discretion in the case but noted her agreement with the Appellate Division as to the general preference.

But much of the Supreme Court precedent was written before PL 2015, c. 89, which amended the waiver statute effective in March 2016, and we believe the Supreme Court holding on the “preference” should be impacted by the statute aimed at making waivers harder and to keep more juvenile matters in the Family Part so that a delinquent can obtain the benefit of the rehabilitative disposition alternatives available to a delinquents.

This content has been archived. It is available through our partners, LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law.

To view this content, please continue to their sites.

Not a Lexis Subscriber?
Subscribe Now

Not a Bloomberg Law Subscriber?
Subscribe Now

Why am I seeing this?

LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law are third party online distributors of the broad collection of current and archived versions of ALM's legal news publications. LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law customers are able to access and use ALM's content, including content from the National Law Journal, The American Lawyer, Legaltech News, The New York Law Journal, and Corporate Counsel, as well as other sources of legal information.

For questions call 1-877-256-2472 or contact us at [email protected]