Posted by Jennifer L. Marshall, Esq. in News.
Tags: Fairleigh Dickinson, Newark, Rutgers, stabbings
Today a Fairleigh Dickinson student was stabbed 5 times with a box cutter after a fight that occurred outside the Iota Kappa Phi house in Newark, NJ. It appears another student was also stabbed but he drove back to the Teaneck campus.
Thankfully, neither man has suffered life threatening injuries. It appears that there is a history of student conduct code violations concerning the fraternity that cost them their recognition with Rutgers in 2009. The police say they are seeking two individuals as suspects in connection with the stabbings.
If anyone has information, we are instructed to call the Rutgers Police (973) 353-5581.
Posted by Jennifer L. Marshall, Esq. in News.
Tags: Amy Locane, manslaughter, Melrose Place
Every good television show needs drama, romance and tragedy. Well for former Melrose Place actress Amy Locane, her story is pure tragedy. On January 28, 2011, she pled not guilty to first degree aggravated manslaughter and third degree assault by auto charges in connection with a fatal car crash.
On June 28, 2010 she crashed her SUV into the passenger side of a sedan as it was turning into a driveway. Locane was intoxicated when the incident occurred. The driver, Fred Seeman ended up in critical condition, his wife died at the scene.
Locane is still in custody and plans on arguing that the manslaughter charges should be dismissed.
Posted by Jennifer L. Marshall, Esq. in Discussion, News.
Tags: endangering the welfare, Spotswood High School, Thomas Ivan
I am posting this update after many questions from friends and clients about the status of the Spotswood High School teacher charged with endangering the welfare of a child. Mr. Ivan was charged after fellow students of the 17 year old reported he was sending inappropriate text messages. Ivan was only charged with a fourth degree endangering the welfare of a child.
Right now the investigation is just getting started and court dates have not been set. Many asked me what would he get? It depends on many things. If Ivan has a criminal record that will be considered. The charge he was given is not, in my opinion, going to get him jail time. Of course, he will not be teaching anytime soon and I cannot comment on if he will lose his pension.
We all will have to wait and see how it turns out. Mr. Ivan will have to make sure he gets himself a good defense attorney. The text messages will be the evidence against and they must be analyzed, along with the extent of the relationship of there was one.
Posted by Jennifer L. Marshall, Esq. in News.
Tags: Spotswood High School, Thomas Ivan
On Friday, Thomas Ivan was charged with endangering the welfare of a child. Ivan was a math teacher at Spotswood High School. He allegedly sent explicit text messages to a 17 year old girl student. Ivan was released from custody with no bail. No further information at this time.
The Spotswood Police Department is urging anyone with information to come forward.
Posted by Jennifer L. Marshall, Esq. in News.
Tags: Anti-Bullying Bill of Rights, Garden State Equality
All of New Jersey will be watching Trenton on Monday, November 15th, to see if the Senate Education Committee and the Assembly Education Committee will vote on the proposed bipartisan Anti-Bullying Bill of Rights, on which Garden State Equality has worked for more than a year with experts from across the state and nation.
If passed the bill would give New Jersey the strongest, toughest anti-bullying bill in the United States. The bill has massive bipartisan support: 28 sponsors in the Senate, where 21 votes are needed for passage; and 46 sponsors in the Assembly, where 41 votes are needed for passage.
If you would like to show your support for the bill and stand with New Jersey’s bullied students. Join us Monday at 9:30 am at the State House for a lobbying day and anti-bullying rally. People are being asked to wear purple: A purple shirt, sweater or something else purple, as purple has become the color to remember bullied students who took their lives.
Meet 9:30 am in front of the State House Annex in Trenton, 125 West State Street in Trenton. There is a parking lot at the Trenton Marriott, 1 West Lafayette Street, walking distance to the State House. Other nearby parking lots are listed at www.trenton-downtown.com/parkdowntown.
Posted by Jennifer L. Marshall, Esq. in News.
Tags: First Baptist Church, Fugitive Safe Surrender
If you or someone you know has an active warrant for failing to appear for court and it is for a non-violent offense, this is the program for you. Fugitive Safe Surrender is open to individuals who are wanted by New Jersey law enforcement agencies on non-violent felony or municipal warrants (including family matters and child-support warrants). The program is only open to US citizens and legal residents.
This program enables individuals who are hiding from the law to turn themselves in at a neutral location for four days during the first week of November 2010. Remember this is not an amnesty program. Those who do turn themselves in will receive favorable consideration from the court, which typically results in probation or fines.
If this program seems interesting to you, come to this location on these dates and times. Many volunteer attorneys including myself, will be present to represent those that turn themselves in:
First Baptist Church of Lincoln Gardens, 771 Somerset Street, Somerset, NJ 08873
9 am to 4 pm, November 3, 4, 5 and 6th, 2010.
Posted by Jennifer L. Marshall, Esq. in News.
Tags: Dharun Ravi, Molly Wei, Rutgers, suicide, Tyler Clementi
So many of the things I write on this blog deal with crimes committed by adults against other adults, with motives to steal, rob, defraud, kill etc. Over the past week it has become a reality for most New Jersey residents that crime effects everyone and can be committed by anybody. For Rutgers University it was college students videotaping another student and posting it on the web.
Rutgers University freshman Tyler Clementi was videotaped making out with another young man in his dorm room. Dharun Ravi, another freshman and his roommate, is the one the news is saying took the footage and posted it on the internet. Molly Wei, a freshman, who is friends with Ravi, is implicated in the videotaping. The actions of Ravi were made public when Clementi committed suicide by jumping off of the George Washington Bridge on September 22, 2010.
All involved burst out on to the National Scene in news broadcasts and Facebook pages. Dharun Ravi and Molly Wei, have each been charged with two counts each of invasion of privacy for “using the camera to view and transmit a live image.” Though the two have been charged, many are demanding this be called a “hate crime”. Many gay rights activists are saying the charges are too lenient.
For Ravi and Wei, it is a world awash in gay rights issues and a campaign to end school bullying. The cards are already stacked against the duo and only time will tell if the State feels they should be charged with more.
It is never easy when crimes happen. It is even more difficult to think our children could commit them. All eyes are on New Jersey and all hearts go out to Tyler Clementi. We will all stay tuned to see what happens.
Posted by Jennifer L. Marshall, Esq. in News.
Tags: caffeine, defense, murder
Well that is what a defense attorney in Kentucky argued Monday, for a man accused of strangling his wife to death. The attorney said that excessive sodas, energy drinks and diet pills left the defendant so sleep-deprived and mentally unstable that he falsely confessed to the killing. His statements were made under high stress caused by the large amounts of caffeine and no sleep. The attorney basically said that the high amounts of caffeine rendered him temporarily insane and unable to form the intent to kill his wife. The prosecution painted a different picture of the defendant, saying he was an angry man who attacked his wife during a fight and strangled her with an extension cord.
This Kentucky defense attorney is not the first to try the caffeine defense, it has succeeded at least once before, in a case involving a man cleared in 2009 of charges of running down and injuring two people with a car in Washington state. Dr. Roland Griffiths, a professor of behavioral biology at Johns Hopkins University has noted in an unrelated study that there is a diagnosis for “caffeine intoxication,” which includes nervousness, excitement, insomnia and possibly rambling speech.
The fate of the Kentucky man is up to the men and women of the jury. They will decide of caffeine intoxication is a defense or not.
Tell me what you think. Should caffeine be a viable defense?
Posted by Jennifer L. Marshall, Esq. in News.
I just wanted to announce that I have started my own practice in Piscataway, New Jersey. I will still be handling criminal and family court matters throughout New Jersey. You can call me at (732) 377-2005. Also check out my website http://www.jlmarshallesq.com.
Posted by Jennifer L. Marshall, Esq. in News.
Tags: banned in New Jersey, hookahs, smoke-free act
Under New Jersey’s Smoke-Free Air Act, hookahs can be banned in public businesses. It does not matter if the device is used to smoke things that are tobacco-free. A local municipality sought to enforce the statute against an owner of a coffee shop that allowed its customers to smoke the hookah which had crushed fruit and incense. The Appellate Division held the statute is constitutional and prohibits the smoking of any matter that can be smoked in a hookah.
So, hookahs are out in public businesses. Do not fret New Jersey you can still smoke them in the privacy of your own homes.
New Jersey Criminal Defense 