New Jersey divorce lawyers believe it's never too late to get out of a bad marriage- and a new divorce case is clear evidence of this truth. A 99-year-old Italian man has filed for divorce from his 96-year-old wife, making the pair probably the world's oldest divorcees.

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A New Jersey educator is facing criminal charges after he was accused of secretly videotaping students in a shower at a school. Patrick Lott, the 54-year-old assistant principal at Bernardsville Middle School in Somerville, New Jersey, was arrested last month after these accusations came to light.

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A gay couple In New Jersey has been granted full custody of their 5-year-old twin daughters after a long and complicated dispute with the children’s surrogate mother.

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Even as the overall national divorce rate has been declining over the past two decades, the divorce rate for Baby Boomers has actually been increasing.  According to research by the National Center for Family and Marriage Research at Bowling Green State University, the divorce rate for people 50 or older in the United States has doubled.

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The Pompton Lakes Police Department is currently facing a claim of false arrest and malicious prosecution by a motorist whose car was destroyed during a drug search. More claims from the insurance company that paid out the damages could also be in the pipeline.

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Evidence has now come to light suggesting that parents may have a much stronger influence on their teenagers’ drinking habits than they were aware of.  A new study has found that children of parents who drive under the influence are more likely to drive drunk themselves.

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A federal campaign to make more people aware of the existence of serious immigration scams is currently underway.  Many – including officials from the federal, state and local levels, New Jersey immigration lawyers and immigration advocates -- are supporting the new initiative to educate people about the existence of these scams, which are now becoming increasingly sophisticated.

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New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie has proposed a new rehabilitation program aimed at giving offenders the support they need to avoid criminal activity when released from prison.  The governor's program builds upon the state's current prisoner reentry rehabilitation program and would include New Jersey's current Drug Court program, among other measures.

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It wasn't the kind of ending to a glorious career that Randy Babbitt expected or even, dare we say it, deserved.  Since 2005, he has served as chief of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), and, in those years, he has steered the agency through some tumultuous times.  However, last week, Babbitt's impressive career ended on a note of ignominy when he was arrested on DUI charges in Fairfax, Virginia and subsequently resigned as a result of the charges. 

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New Jersey DUI lawyers have been noticing an alarming trend for a while now: the number of women arrested for DUI has been increasing across the country. Now, a new study indicates that the number of women arrested for DUI has risen by as much as 36 percent over the past decade. Binge drinking among young women is also on the rise.

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The year's most intensive anti-drunk driving campaign is already underway in New Jersey.  Over the next few days, additional police officers will be stationed across New Jersey, pulling motorists over and administering sobriety tests.

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Chicago Bears wide receiver Sam Hurd was recently arrested on federal drug crime charges.  Hurd was arrested after he was caught making a deal with undercover federal agents, authorities said.  The deal was set up at a restaurant in Chicago and involved supplies of 10 kg of cocaine and 1,000 pounds of marijuana a week for distribution.

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Governor Chris Christie has signed a bill that makes it more difficult for people who have violated restraining orders related to domestic violence to post bail.

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The Los Angeles Police Department is investigating a Hollywood casting assistant who was convicted of a sex crime 15 years ago.  The man, Jason James Murphy, has been working in Hollywood for the past several years as a casting assistant who hires child actors.

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The Department of Homeland Security will soon begin reviewing pending deportation cases in order to prioritize the deportation of individuals with criminal records or convictions. The agency is also implementing a training program for both immigration enforcement agents, as well as for prosecuting lawyers. 

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Just a few short years ago, it would have been difficult to imagine that Facebook would be a hot topic New Jersey divorce attorneys would be blogging about. Courts have to keep up with technology, though, and now a divorce court in Connecticut has ordered a couple to swap their Facebook logins and passwords so their lawyers can access information posted on the sites.

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New Jersey family lawyers encounter accusations of all kinds during child custody conflicts.  One issue that is increasingly arising is childhood obesity.  Parents making claims that the custodial parent is allowing the child to become obese by neglecting his or her nutrition needs. In fact, The Wall Street Journal reports that this trend is on the rise throughout the country. 

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A New Jersey appeals court has denied child custody to a couple who gave their children names inspired by the Nazi regime. 

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A jury in California has found Michael Jackson's personal physician, guilty of involuntary manslaughter arising from the death of the pop star in 2009.  The doctor, Conrad Murray, is due to be sentenced later this month.

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Police in Los Angeles are considering bringing charges against a woman who filed a paternity suit against Canadian pop star Justin Bieber.

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For a long time, a primary goal for many New Jersey divorce lawyers was to try to help their client keep the marital home.   Retaining the house was considered important because houses were good investments and likely to have increased in value over the years. Today, however, it's a different story.   The marital home is quickly becoming less of a prize and more of a burden in a divorce settlement. 

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The U.S. Supreme Court recently heard arguments related to the case of a New Jersey man subjected to a strip search in two jails after being arrested.

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Attorneys representing a woman accused of setting up a fake Facebook profile in the name of her former boyfriend are currently trying to get her case dismissed. 

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A New Jersey appeals court has ruled that a police officer who sniffed the breath of an underage drinker should have informed the young man of his Miranda rights before doing so.

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Across the country, hundreds of police departments are arming officers with tiny body-mounted police cameras to record evidence as it occurs.  These cameras are being used to record evidence of everything from pursuits to violent crimes.  However, questions of privacy and complications involving First Amendment issues have arisen as camera use has been on the rise.

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Every New Jersey DUI Lawyer knows that peer pressure is one of the biggest contributing factors in underage or teen drinking, so it comes as no surprise that a new study confirms the link.  However, according to this study, the pressure comes not from the teenager's friends or romantic partners, but from friends of their boyfriends or girlfriend.

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According to a recent US Census report, Northeastern states- and especially New Jersey- have some of the lowest divorce rates in the country.  In the Northeast, the divorce rate is about 7.2 divorces per 1000 men and 7.5 divorces per 1000 women.  In New Jersey, the divorce rate is 6.1 divorces per 1000 men, and 6 per 1000 women.  By contrast, the highest divorce rates in the United States are found in the Bible Belt.  In this southern area of the United States, the rates reach 10.2 divorces for every 1000 men, and 11.1 divorces for every 1000-women.

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In one of the most high-profile and talked about child support cases that New Jersey family lawyers have come across in the past year, Hollywood star Mel Gibson has reached a child support settlement with the mother of his child. 

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Teenagers convicted of driving after drinking any amount of alcohol in New Jersey can face a 30-to-90-day suspension of their license. This is in addition to any loss of license for a DWI conviction, which can last anywhere from seven months to one year, as well as other penalties, including mandatory alcohol education, a delayed license and 30 days of community service.

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The children of a New Jersey woman killed in August in an attack allegedly involving her husband and his mistress are now the subject of a child custody dispute. 

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A former aide to New Jersey Representative Frank LoBiondo has been sentenced to prison on charges of embezzlement. 

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Marijuana-related crimes accounted for more than half of all drug-related arrests in the United States in 2010.  That information comes from new statistics released by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

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In the year 2011, people are much more likely to get divorced because they fall out of love with each other, rather than because of infidelity on the part of one of the partners.  According to a recent survey, more people filing for divorce do so because they've growing apart or fallen out of love.

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New Jersey immigration lawyers have always been aware of illegal entities scamming immigrants under the guise of providing immigration-related services.  The New Jersey Atty. Gen.'s Office and the New Jersey division of Consumer Affairs have filed complaints against at least four allegedly fraudulent immigration services providers in the state.

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The New Jersey Supreme Court has issued a new ruling that it believes will make eyewitness identification more accurate and reliable.  Last week, the court ruled that when a defendant presents evidence that an identification was influenced, a judge must conduct a preliminary hearing to determine the admissibility of the evidence. 

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New Jersey immigration lawyers have criticized a federal program called Secure Communities that requires local law enforcement officers to share information of arrests with federal immigration agencies.  Now, several states are pushing back against what they see as violations of individual liberties.

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Under a new law that has just been signed by Gov. Christie, persons who have been arrested for certain violent crimes in New Jersey will be required to submit DNA samples.  The law expands the DNA sample requirements to those who are suspected of violent crimes, and not just those who are convicted of violent crimes.

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It’s not every day that police officers come across a person driving a motorized beer cart under the influence of alcohol.  It is even rarer have such people charged for DUI.  That was exactly what happened in Australia in June, when a man was arrested after he was found operating a motorized beer cooler under the influence of alcohol.

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Under New Jersey's current laws, persons who have been charged with felony and minor drug offenses can have the charges dropped through pretrial intervention.  However, a new bill would allow people charged in municipal courts also to have the same benefits.

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New Jersey’s laws cover several types of credit card-related offenses, including credit card theft and credit card fraud.

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Energy drinks that combine alcohol and caffeine have proved to be very popular among underage drinkers.  However, consumption of these beverages has been linked to extreme levels of intoxication and serious injuries to college students and teenagers, who form the biggest market for these drinks.

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The New Jersey Supreme Court has ruled that a mother who left her 4-year-old son at home while she went out to dinner does not need to be included in a child abuse registry.

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An appellate court panel has held that two 14-year-old boys, who admitted to a prank in 2008 in which they sat bare-bottomed on the faces of two other boys, have to register as sex offenders. 

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Manufacturers are working hard to ensure the passage of legislation that would translate into big profits for them – a federal bill that would withhold highway safety funding for states that fail to mandate ignition interlock devices in vehicles of DUI offenders.

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The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is considering whether to ban criminal background checks for restaurant employees because of concerns that these screenings are discriminatory. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has already conducted hearings on the matter.

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A Pennsylvania man who began blogging about his ex-wife after a nasty divorce is claiming that a judge violated his rights to free speech by ordering him to shut down the blog.

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New Jersey is one of several states with proposed bills that would allow criminal charges to be filed against parents who fail to report that a child is missing. 

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A New Jersey appellate court has ruled that a woman who used a GPS tracking device to keep track of her husband's whereabouts before a divorce did not invade the husband's privacy.

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It’s the second important legal decision related to the use of technology that New Jersey criminal defense attorneys have come across in just a week:  A New Jersey appeals court has ruled that police can use a cell phone signal to trace a suspect, and that such actions do not constitute a violation of the individual’s rights to privacy.

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A bill that would place severe restrictions on the hiring of undocumented workers in New Jersey is quickly gaining support.  The bill would require New Jersey employers to accurately verify that any people they hire are legal residents before these people are employed.

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It is a decision that New Jersey immigration lawyers believe will have an impact on cases involving same-sex married couples in the future:  Immigration officials last week called off deportation proceedings against a Venezuelan man who has been legally married to a New Jersey man.

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A DUI conviction in New Jersey can also mean severe restrictions on travel to Canada.  That country’s current cross-border travel rules place limitations on the entry of Americans with criminal convictions, including convictions for shoplifting, drug crimes and DUI on their record.

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A New Jersey resident, who had been depending on an earlier Supreme Court decision that held that unrepresented counsel in an earlier DUI conviction could not be used to enhance the sentence for a subsequent offense, has had his appeal rejected.

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New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie wants to wait for the Department of Justice to confirm that state workers will not be criminally charged with violating federal drug laws before marijuana reform laws are implemented.  The Department of Justice released a memo on June 30, which said that licensed medical marijuana growers would likely be prosecuted for violating federal drug laws in those states that have medical marijuana laws.

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The Supreme Court has ruled that a written lab report cannot be submitted as evidence when the technician who prepared and signed the report is not present in the courtroom to testify.

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The U.S. Sentencing Commission recently voted to allow reduced penalties for crack and cocaine offenders to be applied retroactively.  What that means for New Jersey criminal defense attorneys and people who are already in federal prisons for crack cocaine offenses is that thousands of these persons could be released. 

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Often, New Jersey family lawyers come across cases involving parents in custody disputes from other states, and these often provide examples for the kind of behavior we would advise our clients to avoid.  A woman who posed as a 17-year-old girl on Facebook to entrap her husband and prove him an unfit parent would fall in that category. 

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The U.S. Supreme Court has delivered a ruling that has strong implications for juvenile criminal defense.  The Court has ruled that police officers must take a child's age into consideration when deciding when to issue Miranda warnings.

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From Mel Gibson's racial rants targeted at a police officer during a DUI arrest, to Lindsay Lohan’s bizarre car chase while wearing an alcohol monitoring device, Hollywood isn't short of bad examples of how to behave during a DUI arrest. 

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The sexting scandal involving ex-congressman Anthony Weiner has brought up several legal questions involving sex crimes.  Those questions grew louder after law enforcement officers in Delaware recently confirmed that they had been interviewing a teenage girl who had online communications with the congressman.

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The New Jersey Supreme Court has ruled that blowing too weakly into a Breathalyzer can be grounds for a person to be convicted for refusal.

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There is no confirmation yet that Maria Shriver has begun formal divorce proceedings against her husband, but there is already speculation about whether Shriver and her estranged husband, Arnold Schwarzenegger, signed a prenuptial agreement before their 1986 marriage.  The two had been married for 25 years and recently announced a separation just before Schwarzenegger admitted that he had fathered a child with his housekeeper.

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Criminal defense lawyers for ex-IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn, who stands accused of sexual assault of a hotel housekeeper, will soon make a request for discovery materials from prosecutors in the case.  Strauss-Kahn currently faces seven charges, including those related to sexual abuse and criminal sexual acts.  He has been charged with the sexual assault of a housekeeper at the Sofitel Hotel in New York.

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A new bill seeks to prevent persons with a criminal conviction in New Jersey from serving on school boards.  The bill would also approve of criminal background checks on board members.  The bill is being sponsored by Assemblymen Herb Conaway and Jack Connors and Assembly Speaker Pro Tempore Jerry Green.  Bill A-444 was recently approved unanimously by the Assembly and the Senate.

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A piece of legislation progressing through California's legislature has one feature that criminal defense attorneys in New Jersey and around the country would find disconcerting.  The bill would allow warrantless searches of replicator plants that are believed to produce pirated music discs.

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The New Jersey Supreme Court has ruled that drivers in New Jersey who have been involved in DUI accidents can sue the drinking establishment where they were served alcohol.  In a split 5-2 ruling, the Supreme Court held that a man who sued the bar where he had drunk alcohol prior to being involved in an accident could file a lawsuit against the bar.

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Last week, President Obama delivered a speech in Texas addressing immigration reform, or the lack of it.  For New Jersey immigration lawyers and immigration groups who were hoping for the announcement of some concrete measures toward reform, the speech was a disappointment.

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Last month, the New Jersey Attorney General announced a ban on the manufacture and sale of bath salts.  These synthetic drugs have been linked to reports of health reactions across the country.

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Three houses in New York were raided over the past few months after law enforcement officers traced thousands of pages of downloaded child porn to their homes.  After the raids, the law enforcement officers found that it was not the homeowner who had downloaded the porn, but persons who had gained unauthorized access to the homeowners’ unsecured Wi-Fi networks.  New Jersey criminal defense attorney believes this should be a warning to New Jersey residents about the importance of securing their Wi-Fi networks.

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The New Jersey Supreme Court has held that evidence obtained as the result of bad information relayed by a police dispatcher will be suppressed.  In a 5-2 ruling, the New Jersey Supreme Court called police dispatchers an “integral link in the law enforcement chain“ who must also be held accountable for any wrong information supplied by the dispatcher to the officer in the field.

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In Van Brunt vs. Van Brunt, a court has held that requiring college students to provide proof of college attendance, credits and grades as a condition for child support and college contribution does not violate an individual's right to privacy.

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In an important decision, the New Jersey Supreme Court last week prohibited law enforcement officers from destroying the notes they take down at crime scenes, saying that New Jersey criminal defense attorneys should be able to review police notes.

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New Jersey has strict laws against domestic violence, which makes it all the more important that you consult with a New Jersey criminal defense attorney when you have been charged with domestic violence.

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Child support payments in New Jersey must be calculated in accordance with the New Jersey Child Support Guidelines.  Some of the factors considered in calculating child support are (unless otherwise agreed to by the parties):

 

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New Jersey laws categorize criminal offenses as indictable crimes and disorderly persons offenses.  In other states, indictable crimes are known as felonies, while disorderly persons offenses are known as misdemeanors.  Indictable crimes can include murder, assault and sex crimes, while disorderly persons charges are typically filed in the case of low-level criminal offenses.

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Prom is rite of passage for New Jersey teens, and unfortunately for some of them, it also ends with DUI charges, and maybe even a DUI conviction.  Across New Jersey, as high schoolers prepare for prom night, it is very important for these students to understand that a DUI conviction can have potentially serious results.

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Field sobriety tests in New Jersey are conducted so that officers can determine whether there is probable cause to arrest the person for DUI. In New Jersey, there are standardized tests that are used as part of field sobriety testing.

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The Supreme Court is hearing arguments about whether persons faced with prison time for failing to pay child support payments have the right to a court-appointed lawyer.

The case involves a man from South Carolina, who was held in contempt several times for failing to make child support payments.  He defaulted on thousands of dollars in child support payments, but with no money and no job, he could not afford to make the payments.  Because his financial condition did not permit him to make the payments, he served time in prison. 

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Royal watchers have been treated to most details of the wedding coming up this week, except for the one that's most interesting to New Jersey family lawyers: Is there a prenuptial agreement involved?

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How does law enforcement determine that a juvenile offender is aware of his rights under the law?  That is the question being posed before the Supreme Court, as it hears arguments about the constitutional rights of juvenile offenders.

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New Jersey recently passed a law under which teenagers convicted of sexting would have to participate in education programs that make them aware about the dangers of such practices.  However, even as the state upgrades its laws to deal with sexting teenagers, New Jersey criminal defense lawyers are finding a rising wave of crimes involving blackmail using explicit photographs transmitted via cell phones and other devices.

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A study by the U.S. Department of Justice proves what New Jersey criminal defense attorneys have always believed:  Long-term incarceration for juvenile offenders does nothing to reduce recidivism rates.  Instead of incarceration, community-based supervision and other methods can be used to reduce the risk that offenders will be processed through the criminal justice system again.

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A recent decision in a personal injury action in Pennsylvania indicates to New Jersey criminal defense attorneys that access to Facebook and other social networking site accounts may not be as restricted as users like to think they are. 

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Last week, a group of four U.S. senators  -- including New Jersey's Frank Lautenberg --wrote a letter to Google, Apple and RIM, asking them to remove DUI checkpoint apps that allow users to identify the locations of DUI checkpoints.

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Video-recorded testimony is being used increasingly in New Jersey courtrooms, and this has meant the need for rules to regulate their use.  The New Jersey Supreme Court recently laid out the first set of guidelines for video recorded testimony

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There have been plenty of studies linking a divorce in adulthood to a troubled or abused childhood.  However, a curious new study finds that happy teenagers have a higher risk of being divorced as adults.

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A new study suggests that ignition interlock devices, which aim to prevent drivers from starting their cars if their intoxication levels are over the legal limit, reduce drunk driving.

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A bill pending in the New Jersey Senate could impact the Administrative Procedures Act, providing administrative law judges with greater power to handle contested cases involving state agencies. The Assembly unanimously approved bill A2722 last month.

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A man convicted of murdering his pregnant girlfriend has the right to a new trial, an appeals court has ruled, because the trial judge failed to give complete jury instructions related to the man’s insanity defense.

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This should come as no surprise to any New Jersey criminal defense lawyer: A new report indicates that New Jersey’s tough DUI penalties, including arrests and license suspensions, have had little effect on the number of people arrested for DUI in the state.

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The New Jersey Supreme Court has just ruled that a stepmother, who slaps her teenage daughter and takes part of her wages to pay household bills, has not necessarily engaged in child abuse.

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It is a case that New Jersey criminal defense lawyers have watched closely because it attempts to answer an important question: Once a criminal record is expunged, how far should the law go to promote keeping the record “hidden,” given individuals’ right to free speech.

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As New Jersey criminal defense lawyers, we’ve noticed an overwhelming majority of teenagers don't understand that when they send or view sexually explicit images of themselves or others on their mobile devices, they could be charged under New Jersey’s child pornography laws.

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In the future, New Jersey criminal defense lawyers could look forward to automobiles that automatically detect the driver's blood alcohol level through breath and touch sensors, preventing people from driving if their levels are at or above the .08 limit.

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Being arrested can be a terrifying experience, and it’s no wonder that people panic in a situation like this. However, the minutes and hours after an arrest can be crucial to your defense. These are some mistakes people make that can jeopardize their case and diminish their chances of a successful defense:

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No matter what sort of crimes you have been charged with, criminal charges are a serious matter. Even a minor disorderly persons charge (also known as a misdemeanor), like failure to pay speeding tickets, can result in license suspensions, fines and community service. A seemingly minor criminal conviction on your record can last a lifetime, interfering with your employment prospects and minimizing educational opportunities.

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When you have been placed under arrest, one of the first things you should do is consult with an NJ Criminal Defense Attorney. However, you can also take other steps to ensure that your rights are protected.

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The term “white-collar crime” includes a number of non-violent crimes that are typically motivated by financial gain or profit. These are corporate crimes and, very often, involve all kinds of fraud. Some examples of white-collar crimes include:

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An experienced New Jersey criminal defense attorney can help persons charged with a variety of crimes, ranging from municipal matters and disorderly persons offenses (also known as misdemeanors) to crimes (also know as felonies) and federal crimes.

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New Jersey Criminal Lawyer

You need a New Jersey criminal lawyer not just when you are under arrest, but also when you are under investigation, being questioned or being put through any kind of criminal process.

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A New Jersey appeals court has ruled that leaving child pornography images on a file-sharing network constitutes distribution of pornography, even if the person did not actively distribute the images on the Internet.

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A study conducted in the UK shows a substantial link between brain injury and criminal activity among juvenile offenders.

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New Jersey drivers can expect frequent sobriety checkpoints and saturation patrols, and more numbers of law enforcement officers patrolling the roads this holiday season.

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A New Jersey appellate court has ruled that having to plead guilty to two offenses based on the same evidence does constitute a violation of a defendant’s double jeopardy protections.

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A New Jersey appeals court has upheld a ruling that dismissed a lawsuit filed by a Warren Township man, who alleged that police unlawfully broke and entered into his house and conducted a search.

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As New Jersey criminal defense attorneys, we have consistently supported and promoted drug courts as an alternative option to prison for certain kinds of drug offenders.  A new study by the New Jersey Judiciary confirms that the use of the drug court system has changed many lives, giving offenders the chance to turn their lives around.

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A New Jersey judge is the subject of an ethics complaint filed by the New Jersey Advisory Committee on Judicial Conduct.  The complaint relates to an incident in which the judge engaged in a non-permissible conversation with a prosecutor during a DUI trial.

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Two proposed bills that are expected to come up early next year for approval could significantly change the process by which sex offenders are released back into the community.  Both of these Megan’s Law-related bills have to do with a process called tiering, or determining the offender’s risk of re-offense. 

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Crimes involving child pornography often come with almost draconian sentences. Now, more and more federal judges are pushing back against such harsh child porn sentencing guidelines, rejecting these sentences outright.

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Expungement of criminal convictions can allow some convicts to have their records removed or expunged, in certain situations.  Not all persons with a criminal conviction will be eligible for expungement.  However, in the case of minor crimes, like drug possession, a New Jersey criminal defense lawyer may be able to have your record expunged.

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Sexual assault convictions involving minors in New Jersey can have a devastating impact on a person’s professional and personal life.  A person who is convicted of sexual assault against minors can expect prison time, probation and mandatory registration as a sex offender. He can also expect to deal with overwhelming social stigma during the rest of his life.  A conviction can have an impact on his personal life, his housing options and future employment prospects.

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A package of bills that includes a measure that would impose tougher bail conditions in restraining order-violation cases has advanced in the New Jersey Assembly.

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There might have been nothing to attract particular attention to the case of a New Jersey man sentenced on charges of viewing child pornography.  However, in this particular case, the accused was a former New Jersey lawmaker who has spent much of his political career championing laws against child pornography. Former Assemblyman Neil Cohen has been sentenced to five years in prison on charges of viewing nude images of underage girls.

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The Jersey City Police and Fire Departments are both engaged in a heated debate over the former having taken over arson investigation duties in the city.  The Jersey City Police Department has now taken over most of the responsibility of investigating fires, and the fire chief has already spoken out against it.  In January, Mayor Jeremiah Healy tried to fix a budget deficit by slashing the number of Fire Department arson investigators dramatically.  Earlier, there were 13 investigators in the Fire Department.  Those numbers were slashed to 3.

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There are hundreds of child custody hearings that take place in New Jersey every day, but one hearing that took place 25 years ago has now captured nationwide attention.  That particular hearing involved Nancy Dunsavage, who left the courthouse after the child custody hearing with her 6-year-old daughter.

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For single-parent families in New Jersey, child support payments can mean the difference between being able to make ends meet and being forced to apply for public assistance.  It's not just the families in this case who suffer, but also the state’s already stressed financial resources.  New legislation being promoted by New Jersey Senator Robert Menendez and Iowa Republican Senator Chuck Grassley could help track down parents who are absconding on child support payments and have moved across state lines.

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Sixteen years after the passing of Megan’s Law, which required convicted sex offenders to register their whereabouts with the police, the first batch of offenders who are eligible to have their name off the registry are being freed from monitoring.

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In spite of their service to the country, noncitizen servicemen and women face the prospect of being deported back to their country of origin under a law that expands the list of crimes for which immigrants can be deported.  Last week, the Associated Press reported on several noncitizens who have served in the U.S. Armed Forces, yet have found that their service was not worthy of consideration when it came time to enforcing deportation laws.

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A provision in New Jersey's drug court laws allows violators to be incarcerated for a short period of time, instead of having their special probation permanently revoked.  However, this provision is not being used as often as it could.  Now, New Jersey Senator Raymond J. Lesniak is calling on drug court judges to exercise this little used option to give these offenders a chance to rehabilitate themselves.

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DWI or Driving While Intoxicated is a serious offense in New Jersey.  There is a range of fines and suspensions that will apply, and you may even receive a permanent record of conviction.  In some cases, there may be mandatory jail time, while in other cases, a court may require that an ignition interlock device be installed in your vehicle.  From license suspensions and community service to jail time, New Jersey courts have a number of ways to punish DWI offenders.  As is clear from this, a DWI charge in New Jersey can carry major consequences.

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New Jersey's junior senator Robert Menendez has introduced an immigration reform bill that is aimed at giving thousands of undocumented workers in the United States a clear-cut path to permanent residency.

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For the third time in a row, fugitives in New Jersey will have the opportunity to surrender themselves, with a chance to possibly clear their warrants and start afresh.  The safe surrender program will be held next month in the Somerset section of Franklin Township.  Between November 3 and November 6, people in New Jersey with outstanding warrants, for everything from motor vehicle fines to delayed child custody payments, will be able to surrender at the First Baptist Church of Lincoln Gardens. 

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Prosecutors are considering adding hate crime charges to charges of invasion of privacy that have already been filed against Dharun Ravi and Molly Wei, the two Rutger University students linked to a gay teenager’s suicide last month. 

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Last week, a congressional hearing probed a subject that New Jersey criminal defense lawyers are concerned about - the over criminalization of our country.  The hearing was sponsored by the Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism and Homeland Security, and participants included Jim Levine, the president of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, representatives of the Heritage Foundation, and the former head of the Enron Task Force, among others.  The most poignant testimony came from persons who have had their lives shattered by a criminal justice system that often seems to ruin innocent lives.

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New Jersey lawmakers are promoting a piece of legislation that would set strict standards on where sex offenders can live in the state.  Currently, there are no standards that apply to all municipalities.  In recent months, local towns have attempted to impose their own standards for setting boundaries for sex offenders, but these local attempts have been struck down by courts.

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A New Jersey appeals court this week held that there was nothing wrong with prosecutors using satellite photos via Google Earth to show the proximity of an accused to the crime scene.  The ruling which involves State in the Interest of JB, a Minor could lay the foundation for more widespread use of images sourced from Google Earth in criminal trials.

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In 2003, two economists at the UCLA and the University of Rochester identified a gap between divorce rates among parents of girls, versus parents of boys.  They found that parents of daughters were 5% more likely to divorce.  What's more, the likelihood of divorce increased with the number of daughters in the family.  Parents with three or more daughters were 10% more likely to get divorced, compared to those who had three sons.   Unmarried couples who expected a son were also much more likely to walk up the aisle, than those expecting a daughter.

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It’s one of the most interesting cases that New Jersey child support lawyers have come across this year.  A court in Los Angeles, California this week rejected a $134 million claim by the children of a billionaire real estate tycoon for retroactive child support payments.  The lawsuit had been brought by David and Christie Bren, the children of Donald Bren and a woman he had a 13-year long relationship with.

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Opponents of any move to repeal birthright citizenship in the US have new ammo.   A study shows that a move like this would simply increase the numbers of undocumented workers in the US.

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Children of undocumented workers, who have attended college in the United States or have served in the Armed Forces, would have been eligible for citizenship under the Dream Act.  Those hopes of citizenship were dashed last week, when Republican lawmakers in the Senate blocked the measure.

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A group of immigrants, who have been denied Medicaid health insurance because of their immigrant status, have filed a class-action lawsuit against the state of New Jersey.

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The New Jersey Supreme Court will soon decide whether someone who publicizes an expunged conviction, has committed libel.

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A New Jersey court has overturned a decision made by a federal judge in Camden ruling that strip searches of defendants accused of misdemeanors, without reasonable suspicion, were unconstitutional.

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While there is much brouhaha over anti-immigration crackdowns, you rarely find space dedicated to assault against immigration detainees while they are in detention facilities.  Human Rights Watch has just released a report that describes incidents of sexual abuse involving detainees in US detention facilities.

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Divorce attorneys representing Michael Douglas and his ex-wife Diandra are feuding over whether Diandra has the right to earnings from Douglas's upcoming Wall Street sequel.  The movie in question is a sequel to the hit 1980s flick starring Douglas.  In 2000, Douglass divorced Diandra, and as part of the divorce settlement, agreed to pay her 50% of his earnings from the original movie, which was released in 1987.

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Earlier this month, a New York judge ruled that a custodial parent relocating outside the state with her child, provide the noncustodial parent a chance to keep in contact with the child through Skype.  The woman in this case was relocating to Florida with her child because of a home foreclosure.  The judge permitted the move, under the condition that the woman provide the father access to the child via Skype, several times a week.

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US immigration authorities have stepped up enforcement activities in New Jersey.  13 employers were fined a total of nearly $640,000 last month for employing undocumented workers.  That's a dramatic increase from the fines levied in 2009.  Last year, four employers in New Jersey were fined approximately $44,000 for hiring undocumented employees.

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As New Jersey immigration lawyers, we strongly resist and oppose any proposed change in the 14^th amendment of the U.S. Constitution.  The 14^th amendment automatically grants citizenship to any child born inside the United States. 

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A New Jersey state appeals court has overturned a restraining order, ruling that a one-time threat to publish the nude pictures of a person on the Internet, did not constitute harassment under New Jersey’s domestic violence laws.

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A new bill that would require testing for DWI, including a breathalyzer test or a blood-alcohol test, after every fatal or deadly accident, has New Jersey DWI defense lawyers very concerned. 

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Most New Jersey residents assume a DUI offense involves driving under the influence of alcohol.   It’s very likely that most New Jerseyans aren't aware that they could be charged with a DUI offense if found driving under the influence of perfectly legal prescription medication. 

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In 2009, 389,834 illegal immigrants were deported from the United States.  That was an increase of 20,000 deportations since 2008.  The Obama administration has accelerated the process of deportation, and there have been more numbers of deportations under this administration than under the Bush White House.  However, there is one group of illegal immigrants that has been relatively unaffected by this spike in deportations.  Children of illegal immigrants, who have spent most of their lives here, and studied in the United States, seem to be more successful at petitioning deportations.

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A New Jersey Supreme Court ruling this week could significantly affect not just law enforcement officers in the state, but also all public employees.  The court this week ruled that a police officer who had been convicted of a sex crime - in this case, groping a woman- could return to police work.

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As New Jersey criminal defense lawyers, we have always believed that reducing prison populations is not about dumping out extra inmates like so much garbage ,as so many states are doing at present.  Instead, a combination of efforts aimed at reducing recidivism and offering prisoners viable alternatives to jail, can help reduce crime rates and at the same time, keep prison populations down.

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With 6,002 winners, the African nation of Ghana once again had the highest number of winners in the Diversity Visa lottery issued by the US State Department for 2010.  In second place was Nigeria, with 6000 winners.

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For the second year in a row, there has been a poor response to the US H1B visa program.  In the category of individuals with advanced degrees, US Citizenship and Immigration Services only received approximately 10,600 applications compared to a congressional cap of 20,000 for this category.  In the regular Visa category, there were 24,800 applicants as against the cap of 65,000.  Those figures are true as of 30 July 2010.

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Edison, NJ has been at the center of an international immigration storm this past week. The Indian immigrant community here - and in fact, immigrants across the country - has been outraged at a supposed satire piece in Time magazine, poking fun at Edison's huge Indian immigrant population.

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It’s been hard for Arizonians to explain some of the stuff that's been happening in their state since April, when Gov. Jan Brewer decided to pass legislation that would brand all illegal immigrants as state criminals. A few days later however, the Governor delivered another shocker, alleging that all illegal immigrants were drug mules.

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If you are a New Jersey parent in the middle of a divorce or are considering one, then the results of a new study conducted at the Montclair University of New Jersey might offer some comfort. The study finds that children of divorced families do not necessarily turn into emotional wrecks, as many have believed for several years.

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When the earthquake hit the Caribbean nation of Haiti earlier this year, thousands of- Haiti nationals were in the US. These persons were then unable to return to Haiti because of the devastation of the quake. Soon after the quake, Homeland Security Sec. Janet Napolitano designated a Temporary Protected Status for Haiti nationals beginning from January 21, 2010. The status however only applies to those Haiti nationals who had been residing in the US since before the quake, and does not apply to those who entered the US after the quake.

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A New Jersey appeals court has ruled that the mere smell of marijuana in a tractor-trailer did not give a trooper the authority to conduct a warrantless search.

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Forget about the detective in a trench coat snooping on your ex-wife, trying to dig up dirt about her personal life for your divorce attorney to use as ammo. These days, your New Jersey divorce lawyer is much more likely to find all the ammo he needs on the Internet, and more specifically, Facebook.

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For a generation of naturalized Americans, it's hard to look back at a  period in time when there was more intense scrutiny over immigration issues, than there is right now. Immigration has always been a sketchy political issue, but in a bad economy, has become a volatile one. The tendency has always been to blame immigrants for all kinds of real and imagined problems in society, and during a recession, these tendencies have simply skyrocketed. In a situation like this, it's very important that immigrants, whatever their status, be well aware of their civil rights.

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More states are working to enact legislation that would prevent discrimination against ex-prisoners. Last month, Connecticut enacted its own version of the “ban the box” legislation. The law includes provisions that would prevent job applicants from having to check or uncheck a box on the application, asking if they have ever been convicted of a crime. Connecticut's new law will ban state government employers from probing an applicant’s criminal background, until he has been deemed qualified for the job.

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It seems Lady Justice is quite the connoisseur of beauty, underneath that blindfold. A new study confirms what New Jersey criminal defense attorneys have known for long - juries tend to be swayed by good looks.

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Thousands of Hispanics are leaving the state of Arizona in anticipation of a draconian new immigration law that will be implemented several weeks from now. The immigration law that has sparked nationwide outrage, seems to have caused panic not just among non-legal immigrants in the state, but also among legal immigrants.

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There's no better time than summer for the perfect wedding, and so, no better time than now to alert New Jerseyans headed to the altar, about the need for a prenuptial agreement.

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In 2007, New Jersey added “electronic communication” to its existing anti-bullying laws for schools. New Jersey's laws require school districts to establish strong anti-bullying procedures, and encourage reporting of such incidences. However, a new law that has been passed in Louisiana, goes much further than that.

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It's probably not the kind of assault case that New Jersey criminal defense lawyers come across every day. A New Jersey man this week pleaded guilty to charges of vomiting on spectators at the Philadelphia Phillies game in April.

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It's good to see more states in the country moving quickly to clearly define laws that govern sexting by teenagers.

The need for such laws became clear last year when an overenthusiastic District Atty. in Pennsylvania threatened a group of high school girls who had sent nude images of themselves on their cell phones to male schoolmates, with criminal action. That case received wide national and international attention, and clearly stressed the need for strong laws that would prevent minors who engage in sexting, from being branded as criminals.

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Immigration lawyers in New Jersey, and throughout the United States, will welcome the redesign of the Permanent Resident Card, also known as the Green Card, into a smarter and more secure form. Early this month, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services announced that it would redesign the Green Card to prevent counterfeiting. The new card design will minimize the possibilities of card tampering, and will be easier to authenticate. This will reduce errors, and lead to greater convenience for card holders. The USCIF has already begun issuing cards in the smart new format.

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At Helmer, Paul, Conley and Kasselman, PA, we pride ourselves on the quality of legal service that we provide to our clients. We live our values –  energetically, compassionately and ethically assisting our clients to exercise their legal rights. The members of the firm are consumed by a passion for excellence. They treat each other with mutual respect and accountability, an approach that translates into benefits for our clients.

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