Attorney Vincent J. Sanzone, Jr., seeks Pretrial Intervention Program For Client Alleged to Have Impersonated her Ex-Boy Friend a Parsippany New Jersey Police Detective using Facebook.

February 14, 2012

In the high profile prosecution by the Morris County Prosecutor’s Office, Dana Thornton is accused of using Facebook to impersonate her ex-boyfriend.  As set forth in the Grand Jury Indictment, Ms. Thornton is being charged with the crime of fourth degree identity theft, when it was alleged that she opened an account under the detective’s name and posted a number of postings, which according to the papers submitted by the Morris County Prosecutor’s Office, were injurious to his personal and professional repudiation as a police detective.   Today, Superior Court Judge David Ironson gave both Attorney Sanzone and the prosecutor thirty days to workout a plan as to whether Ms. Thornton would again be permitted to enter the Pretrial Intervention Program.

This case appears to be the first case in New Jersey were the identity fraud statute is being used to prosecute someone in the use of a social media website such as Facebook, under false pretenses.  There is dispute among legal commentators as to whether the New Jersey statute as enacted would cover such conduct as alleged by the State.  Many States have amended their statutes to cover such conduct, which has not yet occurred in New Jersey.  Although Judge Ironson had ruled in this case on a previous occasion that the statute does apply, no appellate decision has made a ruling on this issue.

Today’s full story from the Star-Ledger can be found at: http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2012/02/belleville_woman_accused_of_cr.html

Law Office of Vincent J. Sanzone, Jr.

Criminal Defense Lawyer, NJ, New Jersey Criminal Defense Lawyer, NJ Criminal Defense Attorneys, New Jersey Best Criminal Defense Attorneys, NJ Criminal Trial Lawyers, Newark Criminal Lawyers, Elizabeth Criminal Attorneys.

CriminalDefenseNJ.com

(908) 354-7006

Roger Clemens’s Perjury Trial Ends in Mistrial By Blunder By Federal Prosecutors

Federal District Court Judge Reggie Walton declares mistrial in baseball great, Roger Clemens perjury trial as to whether he lied to the Congressional Subcommittee investigating the use of steroids in major legal baseball.

Judge Walton declared that the mistake in the prosecutor’s opening statement was so egregious that even a “first year law student” would not have made it.

In the opening statement federal prosecutor’s played a audio visual tape to the jury of statement of a witness that the judge had previously ruled would be double hearsay, and hence, not admissible. 

Although Judge Walton could have simply gave the jury instructions not to consider the evidence, he took the draconian step and declaring a mistrial stating that the trial was now tainted with extremely prejudicial evidence.

This case demonstrates the need for defense counsel to be extremely vigilant in insuring that prosecutors, negligently or intentionally, do not attempt to introduce into evidence hearsay testimony which can be extremely harmful to a defendant since defense counsel has no way of testing the credibility of such statements.

Law Office of Vincent J. Sanzone, Jr.

CriminalDefenseNJ.com

Elizabeth, New Jersey

(908) 354-7006

NJ criminal attorneys, NJ criminal lawyers, NJ criminal defense lawyers, NJ criminal defense attorneys, Newark criminal lawyers, Elizabeth nj criminal attorneys, Elizabeth criminal defense lawyers.  Union county nj criminal lawyers.