Recent Arguments Before the Supreme Court

If the determination of whether defendant was a persistent offender subject to an extended term sentence under N.J.S.A. 2C:44-3 was made by a judge, instead of by a jury, see Erlinger v. United States, 602 U.S. 821 (2024), does harmless error analysis apply, and does the statutory language of N.J.S.A. 2C:44-3 require that a judge, not a jury, determine if a defendant is a persistent offender?

On this record of plaintiff’s criminal history and his twenty-one infractions while incarcerated, was the Parole Board’s imposition of a 200-month future eligibility term arbitrary, capricious, and unreasonable?

Was decedent, a public school teacher, an essential employee under N.J.S.A. 34:15-31.11 during the relevant time period and therefore entitled to a rebuttable presumption under N.J.S.A. 34:15-31.12 that decedent’s contraction of COVID-19 was work-related and fully compensable for purposes of workers’ compensation benefits?