Mr. Porreca recently represented a defendant in the Randolph Township Municipal Court who had what should have been considered a third New Jersey DWI under N.J.S.A. 39:4-50.

During the plea for the client’s first New Jersey DWI, he told the court that he had a prior from the State of Vermont. As a result, (and in my opinion, mistakenly) the Judge sentenced this client as a second offender.

When the client came to Mr. Porreca for his third offense, he was successful in arguing to the prosecutor that his first New Jersey offense should have been treated as an actual first because the Vermont statute was not “substantially similar” to the New Jersey statute. As a result, the client was sentenced as a second offender for what was arguably a third offense.

Mr. Porreca represented a client in Bergen County Superior Court who was charged with Contempt for violating the terms of a Temporary Restraining Order under N.J.S.A. 2C:29-9. This client had a friend email the protected party under the Temporary Restraining Order. This is prohibited.

After negotiating with the prosecutor, this client was allowed to obtain therapy and upon proof of treatment, the case was dismissed. Finally, Mr. Porreca obtained expungement for this client.

Mr. Porreca represented a client in a Passaic County Superior Court matter who was charged with Possession with Intent to Distribute under N.J.S.A. 2C:35-5 as well as Possession of a Paraphernalia under N.J.S.A. 2C:36-10. This client was in possession of large quantities of THC cartridges, gummies, mushroom gummies, and THC liquid.

Mr. Porreca contacted the Passaic County Prosecutor’s Office and was able to convince them to “remand” the case back to the Little Falls Municipal Court. Once the case was there, Mr. Porreca had the matter dismissed due to the State’s failure to provide lab results in this matter. This client was granted an immediate expungement.

Mr. Porreca represented a client in the Randolph Township Municipal Court charged with Simple Assault under N.J.S.A. 2C:12-1(a). The client was involved in a domestic altercation with her husband.

After discussing the weaknesses of the State’s case with the prosecutor, the State agreed to an “administrative carry.” Essentially, the case is postponed for a set period of time and so long as there are no further incidents between the parties, the case will be dismissed.

Mr. Porreca represented a client in the Somerset County Superior Court charged with two counts of Contempt for violating the terms of a Final Restraining Order under N.J.S.A. 2C:29-9(b)(2). This client was alleged to be harassing the victim in spite of the fact that the victim invited this client to his house.

Based upon the victim’s persistent contact with the client, Mr. Porreca filed a Motion to Dissolve the Final Restraining Order under the famous case of Carfagno v. Carfagno. This Motion was granted by the court and as a result, the prosecutor agreed to dismiss both contempt charges.

Mr. Porreca represented a defendant with extremely serious drug and firearms charges in the Morris County Superior Court. The client was charged with Possession with Intent to Distribute Marijuana under N.J.S.A. 2C:35-5(b)(10); another count of Possession with Intent to Distribute Marijuana under N.J.S.A. 2C:35-5(b)(11); “Guns and Drugs” under N.J.S.A. 2C:39-4.1(a); Possession of Hollow Point Bullets under N.J.S.A. 2C:39-3(f)(1); three counts of Possession of CDS under N.J.S.A. 2C:35-10(a)(3); and possession of Drug Paraphernalia with Intent to Distribute under N.J.S.A. 2C:36-3.

Given the serious prison exposure in this matter, this client agreed to cooperate with law enforcement and become a confidential witness. After delivering on his promises to the State, Mr. Porreca was able to have this client “re-plead to only a fourth-degree Possession of Drug Paraphernalia with Intent to Distribute and receive only a non-custodial probationary sentence.

Mr. Porreca represented a client in the Parsippany Troy-Hills Municipal Court who was charged with Driving While Intoxicated under N.J.S.A. 39:5-40 and Reckless Driving under N.J.S.A. 39:4-96.

After retaining an expert witness, several issues in the case became apparent. There was a “gap issue” with the Alcotest readings. This means that the police did not properly adhere to the legal requirements to observe a defendant for 20 “continuous and uninterrupted minutes” before beginning the breath testing sequence. Additionally, there were issues with the Standardized Field Sobriety Tests in that the police failed to give all instructions to this defendant.

This client wanted to proceed to trial on this matter, but once the parties arrived at the courthouse, the prosecutor capitulated and completely dismissed the DWI charges.

Mr. Porreca represented a defendant in the Morris County Superior Court who was charged with Second Degree Aggravated Assault under N.J.S.A. 2C:12-1B(13); Third Degree Terroristic Threats under N.J.S.A. 2C:12-3(A) and Simple Assault under N.J.S.A. 2C:12-1A(1). In a second case, this defendant was charged with Second Degree Aggravated Assault under N.J.S.A. 2C:12-1B(13).

Mr. Porreca applied this defendant to the Pre-Trial Intervention Program. The client was rejected because of the violent nature of the charges and because he had a prior diversion in Massachusetts.

Mr. Porreca researched this “prior diversion” and found that because it was essentially a true sentence imposed by a judge, it should not qualify as a diversionary program. His research was sent to the prosecutor who ultimately agreed and allowed the defendant into the Pre-Trial Intervention Program.