04-07-09 State v. Lenin A-6499-03T4

04-07-09 State of New Jersey v. Isaac Lenin
A-6499-03T4

Sixth Amendment right to counsel did not apply to defendant
where, some four years after murder charges against him were
dismissed following two hung juries, State used confidential
informant to surreptiously record incriminating statements from
defendant pertaining to the murder incident, which statements
led to the filing of identical charges against defendant arising
from the same incident; there were no adversarial judicial
criminal proceedings pending against defendant when he made the
statements, and there was no evidence that the State obtained
dismissal of the murder charges in a deliberate attempt to
circumvent his constitutional rights.

04-06-09 State v. Kelly A-3199-05T4

04-06-09 State v. Duane Kelly
A-3199-05T4

A jury convicted defendant of two counts of murder and two
counts of felony murder. The two victims were shot with a .38
caliber gun, which had not been recovered by the time of
defendant's trial. The jury also convicted defendant of first-
degree robbery and unlawful possession of a .40 caliber handgun;
it acquitted him of unlawful possession of a .38 caliber handgun
and possessing both the .38 caliber and the .40 caliber handguns
for an unlawful purpose.

The trial court sua sponte set aside those convictions and
ordered a new trial when a defense witness said she had
committed perjury at defendant's trial. Before the new trial
commenced, the .38 caliber gun was discovered. Defendant was
again convicted of two counts of murder, two counts of felony
murder, and first degree robbery.

We rejected defendant's argument that he could not be
convicted of these murders because the first jury found him not
guilty of possessing the murder weapon and of possessing it for
an unlawful purpose.

04-03-09 State v. Broom-Smith A-3526-07T4

04-03-09 State of New Jersey v. Jason Broom-Smith
A-3526-07T4

The trial court properly denied defendant's motion for
discovery concerning the issuance of a warrant authorizing
police to search defendant's house for possible CDS. We
concluded that the warrant was not invalid by virtue of the fact
that it was issued by a municipal judge sitting in a different
municipality than the one in which defendant's house was
located. The assignment judge had issued an order authorizing
municipal judges within the county to substitute for each other
pursuant to Rule 1:12-3(a) and N.J.S.A. 2B:12-6. Further, for
purposes of a possible Franks hearing, the trial judge did not
abuse his discretion in denying defendant's application for
discovery, which the judge concluded was either a "fishing
expedition" or an attempt to learn the identity of a
confidential informant.