State of New Jersey v. Michelle L. Elders, et al. (A-42-06)

Submitted May 31, 2007 - Decided - July 31, 2007

[07/30/07 1:12 pm] In this morning’s opinion in State v. Elders, the New
Jersey Supreme Court expanded its previous ruling in State v. Carty, 170
N.J. 632 (2002) to include disabled vehicles as well as those that are
fully operational. Five years ago in Carty, the Justices ruled that a
request by the police for the consent search of a motor vehicle must be
supported by a reasonable and articuable suspicion that contraband or
criminal evidence will be found therein. Today’s holding in Elders makes
it clear that this require of a reasonable and articuable suspicion also
applies to disabled vehicles on the roadway.
In the Elders ruling Supreme Court also rejected the Appellate
Division’s fact-finding based upon the panel’s view of a video
tape recording of the event on the turnpike. Simply put, the
Justices found that it was improper for the Appellate Division to
substitute its own judgment on the facts for that of the motion
judge, notwithstanding the video. The Supreme Court reaffirmed
that the factual findings of the motion judge are entitled to
great deference and should not be disturbed unless they are
clearly wrong and so wide of the mark as to constitute an
injustice.
Finally, the Supreme Court agreed with the motion judge’s assessment
that the transaction between the police and the defendants quickly
escalated from a purported community caretaking event to an
investigative detention. In reality, according to the motion judge,
the police did little or nothing to support the argument that their
purpose for stopping at the scene where the defendant’s disabled
vehicle had come to rest was related to any desire to provide them
aid or assistance. Instead, the police quickly began questioning the
defendant and the other passengers in an effort to either confirm or
dispel their suspicions of criminal activities. Such actions are
wholly inconsistent with community caretaking activities by the
police which should be completely divorced from gathering evidence of
criminal wrongdoing. Beyond that, the Justices agreed that the
consent that the police obtained for the search was not based upon a
reasonable suspicion but, at best, a hunch.

Click here for the complete ruling in State of New Jersey v. Michelle L. Elders, et al. (A-42-06) in PDF format.