MARIJUANA/POT LAWYER IN BERGEN, PASSAIC AND MORRIS COUNTIES: DRUG COURT REJECTION HEARINGS

Last week, the New Jersey Supreme Court heard oral arguments in two cases where  defendants were rejected from a drug court program and sought a plenary hearing to analyze the basis for the government's rejection. 

In both cases, the defendants were charged with third degree drug crimes that could require a prison term.  In one case, the defendant was rejected from the program because he told authorities that he had "kicked" his drug habit.  In the other case, the defendant was rejected because of a long record of burglaries.

When the cases found  there way to the Appellate Division, that court remanded the cases with instructions to the trial court to conduct a plenary hearing.

The first defendant's arguments before the Supreme Court was that the trial court should have further explored the defendant's comment that he had control over a $200-a-day habit.  The other defendant asserted that it is not uncommon for addicts to commit burglaries to support their drug addiction and, further that he did not have any history of violence.

The questions asked by the justices at oral argument seem to focus on whether the contentious atmosphere of a plenary hearing would upset the informal and cooperative nature of the drug court .