New Jersey Expungement Case Law
The following New Jersey court decisions have helped to shape expungement law in our state:
In re Application of R.W.B. Jr. for Expungement of Records decided that a conviction for conspiracy to commit a drug offense is expungeable, even if the intended drug offense that was the subject of the conspiracy was not eligible for expungement under NJ law.
In State of New Jersey v. D.L.C., the Court ruled that juvenile adjudications do not legally bar the expungement of an offense on an offender’s adult criminal record, confirming that adult offenders may be considered “one-time” offenders for purposes of allowing expungement of an offense even if the offender’s juvenile record also contains a prior adjudication for a separate offense.
Expungement Application of L.B. confirmed that expungement of a criminal conviction is not barred by an offender’s having already received a pardon for the same offense from the state governor.
In re Martin Carluccio deemed a Certificate of Rehabilitation received under the Rehabilitated Convicted Offenders Act sufficient to make a past offender eligible for public employment.
G.D. v. Kenny held that even though it is a disorderly persons offense to share information that one knows to have been expunged from an offender’s criminal record, a civil defamation lawsuit cannot be properly pursued based on such divulgence of information.
Middletown Board of Education v. Middletown Teachers Association determined that incarcerations ordered for the purpose of enforcing a court order in a civil matter cannot be expunged from the record of the person so incarcerated.
In re Petition of D.H. decided that in cases where New Jersey statutory law dictates forfeiture of an offender’s public employment as a result of a criminal offense, the Court’s order requiring the offender to forfeit such public employment survives an expungement of the underlying criminal offense that dictated such forfeiture, so that the offender remains ineligible for public employment even after a successful expungement of the underlying conviction that originally led to the forfeiture.
State of New Jersey v. K.M. confirmed that traffic offenses, as delineated under the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Code, cannot be expunged from offenders’ records.
In re Expungement Application of G.R. held that possession of a controlled substance with intent to sell cannot be expunged from an offender’s record, despite the leeway in the specific wording of N.J.S.A. 2C:52-2c that would potentially allow expungement of a conviction for possession with intent to distribute under circumstances where an offender did not actually distribute the substance and did not intend to sell the substance. For example, a conviction based on an offender’s possession of a controlled dangerous substance with the intent to give that substance as a gift may be an expungeable offense under this Court’s reading of the statute.
In James White v. Carl Thomas, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit stated that the Full Faith and Credit clause of the US Constitution does not require any state to honor an expungement ordered by another state’s Court.
New Jersey Expungement Attorneys
At The Law Offices of Jonathan F. Marshall, our seasoned and knowledgeable attorneys have filed countless expungement requests, helping past offenders to move forward with their lives without the damaging burden of an old criminal conviction. We understand that your future may hinge on the success and speed of your expungement, and we are ready to help. Call us at 1-877-450-8301 any time for a free consultation to help you better understand the expungement process.