Holland v. Rosen

277 F. Supp. 3d 707
CourtDistrict Court, D. New Jersey
DecidedSeptember 21, 2017
DocketCivil Action No. 17-4317 (JBS-KMW)
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 277 F. Supp. 3d 707 (Holland v. Rosen) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. New Jersey primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Holland v. Rosen, 277 F. Supp. 3d 707 (D.N.J. 2017).

Opinion

OPINION

JEROME B. SIMANDLE, U.S. District Judge

Table of Contents

I. INTRODUCTION... 713

II. BACKGROUND...714

A. Historical Perspective on Bail in New Jersey.. .714

B. The Criminal Justice Reform Act.. .716

1. The Pretrial Release Decision.. .716

2. The Risk Assessment Instrument. . .718

3. The Pretrial Detention Hearing. . .720

C. Effect of the CJRA on New Jersey’s Criminal Justice System... 721

D. Plaintiff Holland... 721

E. Plaintiff Lexington... 723

F. The State Defendants... 723

G. Procedural History.. .724

III. STANDARD OF REVIEW... 724

IV. DISCUSSION...726

A. Preliminary Issues... 726

1. Standing.. .726

2. Younger Abstention... 732

3. Habeas v.s 1983... 737

4. Summary of Preliminary Issues ...739

B. Likelihood of Success on the Merits... 739

1. Eighth Amendment... 739

2. Fourteenth Amendment.. .743

3. Fourth Amendment.. .746

4.Summary of Likelihood of Success Prong...747

C. Probability of Irreparable Harm,.. 748

D. Balance of Harms... 748

E. Considerations of the Public Interest. . .749

F. Summary of Preliminary Injunction Factors... 749

I. INTRODUCTION

This dispute centers on the constitutionality of New Jersey’s recently-enacted Criminal Justice Reform Act (“CJRA”). The matter is presently before the Court upon the motion of Plaintiffs Brittan B. Holland (“Holland”) and Lexington National Insurance Corporation (“Lexington”) for a preliminary injunction enjoining Defendants Kelly Rosen, the Team Leader for Pretrial Services in the Criminal Division of the Superior Court of New Jersey; Mary E. Colalillo, the Camden County Prosecutor; and Christopher S. Porrino, the Attorney General of New Jersey, (collectively, “the State Defendants” or “Defendants”), as well as their agents, “from taking any actions to enforce statutory provisions [of the CJRA] ... that allow imposition of severe restrictions on the pre-trial liberty of presumptively innocent criminal defendants without offering the option of monetary bail.” (PI. Proposed Order.)

Holland is presently on pretrial release from the Superior Court of New Jersey on conditions including home confinement (except for employment) and electronic monitoring, but not cash bail, as he faces charges for second-degree aggravated assault. Lexington is a bail bond provider that alleges its business in New Jersey has essentially dried up since the CJRA took effect on January 1, 2017, although it does not allege it has a bonding relationship with Holland or any other person processed under the CJRA.

The primary issue before the Court is whether Plaintiffs have a “reasonable probability of eventual success” on their claims that the CJRA violates Holland’s Fourth, ■ Eighth, and/or Fourteenth Amendment .rights under the U.S. Constitution. This inquiry necessarily requires the Court to also consider jurisdictional issues, such as whether Plaintiffs have standing to bring their constitutional claims and whether the Court must abstain under Younger v. Harris, 401 U.S. 37, 91 S.Ct. 746, 27 L.Ed.2d 669 (1971), in light of Holland’s ongoing state prosecution.

The Court heard oral argument at a Preliminary Injunction Hearing held on August 22, 2017 [Docket Item 42], and no testimony was offered beyond various affidavits and attached documents. After careful consideration, Plaintiffs’ Motion for a Preliminary Injunction will be denied for the reasons explained below. The following constitute the Court’s findings of fact and conclusions of law upon Plaintiffs’ Motion for a Preliminary Injunction, pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 62(a).

II. BACKGROUND
A. Historical Perspective on Bail in New Jersey

As under, the Eighth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, the New Jersey State Constitution (“State Constitution”) provides; “[e]xcessive bail shall not be required.” N.J. Const, art. 1, ¶ 12. For more than a century, the State Constitution additionally required: “[a]ll persons. shall, before conviction, be bailable by sufficient sureties, except for capital offenses when the proof is evident or presumption great.” N.J. Const, of 1844, art. I,’ ¶ 10; see also N.J. Const, of 1947, art. I, ¶11 (2016) (retaining same language from 1844 Constitution).1 Thus, New Jersey has long considered the right of an individual to bail before trial to be “a fundamental one.” State v. Johnson, 61 N.J. 351, 355, 294 A.2d 246 (1972).

The constitutional guarantee that a criminal defendant be “bailable by sufficient sureties” produced tension in New Jersey’s criminal justice system. On one hand, “any defendants—even those who posed a substantial risk of flight or danger to the community—could be released if they had access to untainted funds to post as bail.” State v. Robinson, 229 N.J. 44, 52-53, 160 A.3d 1 (2017). On the other hand, “poorer defendants accused of less serious crimes, who presented .minimal risk, were held in custody if they could not post even modest amounts of bail.” Id. at 53, 160 A.3d 1.

For example, a 2013 Report revealed that on a particular day in 2012, a total of 13,003 inmates were housed in 20 of New Jersey’s 22 county jails. Marie VanNost-rand, Ph.D., Luminosity & the Drug Policy Alliance, New Jersey Jail Population Analysis 8 (Mar. 2013), https://university, pretrial.org/viewdocument/new-jersey-jail-popu) [hereinafter, “VanNostrand Report”]. About 9,500. inmates (or 73% of the sampled jail population) were confined because they were awaiting trial or sentencing in either Superior or Municipal Court. Id. at ll.2 Most importantly, more than 5,000 inmates (or 38.5% of the sampled jail population) were in custody simply because they could not afford bail. Id. at 13.3 A total of 1,547 of those inmates (or 12% of the sampled jail population) were in pretrial custody because they could not afford $2,500 or less, including about 800 inmates who could have secured their release for $500 or less. Id.

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Bluebook (online)
277 F. Supp. 3d 707, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/holland-v-rosen-njd-2017.