Category Archives: Criminal Law
What Happens if You Host a Gathering While in Quarantine?
Along with the serious health risks associated with coronavirus, Americans are burdened by quarantine orders and similar directives that forbid them from seeing their loved ones, even for major events such as holidays and birthdays. It can be tempting to try to break the rules, especially for people who believe that they don’t fall into… Read More »
New Jersey’s Most Violent Cities and Towns
A violent crime can occur anywhere, but 2016 statistics show that some New Jersey locations have a much higher incidence of homicides, rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults than other regions in the state. In each region, there are places where the number of serious offenses per 1,000 residents far exceeds the state average. Radio station… Read More »
Statistics Show a Decline in New Jersey Crime During 2017
Data from the New Jersey State Police show an encouraging drop in crime this year. The statewide rate for violent crimes is more than 12 percent lower than last year’s, and rates for several of the most serious specific charges reflect an even steeper decline. For the first nine months of 2017, the New Jersey… Read More »
Creepy Clown Epidemic: Crime Wave or Hoax?
Since the end of August, there have been reports of creepy clowns stalking, threatening, chasing and assaulting people throughout multiple states, including New Jersey. The New York Times recently reported that 12 people in different areas of the country face charges related to these events. However, there is still no clear answer as to whether… Read More »
Missing CT Man Found in NJ and Arrested for Pizza Shop Arson
A missing Connecticut man, determined to burn down a Waterbury pizzeria, has been found and arrested in Fort Lee, New Jersey. Police stopped 23-year-old Scott Basile after observing suspicious behavior and arrested him after he gave flippant responses to their questions. A search of his fingerprints through a national crime database revealed that he was… Read More »
Another PA Gun Owner Faces Possession Charges in New Jersey
Yet another licensed Pennsylvania gun owner is in trouble with New Jersey authorities for illegally transporting a firearm within the Garden State. Twenty-four-year-old Corey Schrier of Bensalem, PA, was stopped at the Holland Tunnel Plaza in Jersey City by a Port Authority police officer who noticed a box of ammunition on the back seat of… Read More »
Newport Mall Easter Bunny Arrested for Aggravated Assault
If you didn’t get any chocolate or colored eggs for Easter this year, you might blame authorities in Jersey City, who arrested the holiday hare a week prior to the big event. On March 20, police arrested Kassim Charles, 22, hired to play the Newport Centre Mall’s Easter Bunny, on charges of aggravated assault and… Read More »
NJ Case Illustrates Fine Line Between Harassment and Protected Speech
A New Jersey Appeals court recently ruled that speech taken by one person to be harassing and menacing was actually constitutionally protected. The case arose from a personal feud between two New Jersey corrections officers that escalated to the point where one officer created derogatory fliers that were distributed in the garage and the locker… Read More »
Torched Trump Sign Could Bring Charges of Criminal Mischief
In the political season, many New Jersey residents exercise their First Amendment rights by placing signs on their lawns and bumper stickers on their cars. But if you’re thinking about making a statement by defacing those signs or scraping off those bumper stickers, you could be inviting criminal charges. Take, for example, the case in… Read More »
Hoboken’s Leprecon Pub Crawl Marred by Aggravated Assault
Hoboken’s annual St. Patrick’s Day ritual known as Leprecon concluded early Sunday morning, March 6, as a former college football player was charged with assaulting two police officers. Christopher Smallwood, 24, a former running back at Delaware Valley State University, was fleeing the scene of a fight that had broken out at a McDonald’s on… Read More »