IN THE MATTER OF THE INVESTIGATION OF BURGLARY AND THEFT (15-020585, OCEAN COUNTY AND STATEWIDE) (RECORD IMPOUNDED)

New Jersey Superior Court Appellate Division·Decided November 28, 2018·No. A-0228-18T1·Unpublished

Opinion

RECORD IMPOUNDED

NOT FOR PUBLICATION WITHOUT THE APPROVAL OF THE APPELLATE DIVISION This opinion shall not "constitute precedent or be binding upon any court ." Although it is posted on the internet, this opinion is binding only on the parties in the case and its use in other cases is limited . R. 1:36-3.

SUPERIOR COURT OF NEW JERSEY APPELLATE DIVISION

DOCKET NO. A-0228-18T1

IN THE MATTER OF THE INVESTIGATION OF BURGLARY AND THEFT.

Argued November 5, 2018 – Decided November 28, 2018 Before Judges Sabatino, Haas and Mitterhoff.

On appeal from Superior Court of New Jersey, Law Division, Ocean County, Docket No. 15-020585.

Shiraz I. Deen, Assistant Prosecutor, argued the cause for appellant State of New Jersey (Bradley D.

Billhimer, Ocean County Prosecutor, attorney; Samuel J. Marzarella, Chief Appellate Attorney, of counsel;

Shiraz I. Deen, on the briefs).

Brian P. Keenan, Assistant Deputy Public Defender, argued the cause for respondent J.P. (Joseph E.

Krakora, Public Defender, attorney; Brian P. Keenan, of counsel and on the brief).

Lila B. Leonard, Deputy Attorney General, argued the cause for amicus curiae Attorney General of New Jersey (Gurbir A. Grewal, Attorney General, attorney;

Lila B. Leonard, of counsel and on the brief).

PER CURIAM On leave granted, the State appeals the trial court's August 1, 2018 order denying its motion under Rule 3:5A-4 to authorize the investigative detention of J.P., an individual who is suspected of committing burglary and theft. The State sought the court's permission to detain J.P. for the purposes of obtaining a DNA sample from him through a buccal swab. 1 The State contends it needs the DNA sample from J.P. because the DNA sample or samples for him already on file in the DNA database may not be admissible at an eventual trial due to chain- of-custody concerns.

The trial court concluded in a written opinion that the State had failed to make a sufficient showing to detain J.P. and obtain his sample. Specifically, the trial court found the State did not satisfy Rule 3:5A-4(d), which requires the State to demonstrate "the physical characteristics sought [from the person] cannot otherwise practicably be obtained."

1 "[A] buccal cell collection involves wiping a small piece of filler paper or cotton swab similar to a Q-tip against the cheek of an individual to collect some skin cells. The procedure is quick and painless. The swab touches inside an arrestee's mouth, but it requires no 'surgical intrusio[n] beneath the skin,' and it poses no 'threa[t] to the health or safety' of arrestees." Maryland v. King, 569 U.S. 435, 444 (2013) (quoting Winston v. Lee, 470 U.S. 753, 760 (1985)).

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For the reasons that follow, we affirm the trial court's order. However, we do so without prejudice to the State's right to file a new application in the trial court to obtain a sample from J.P., who is presently in the State's custody and who will not be released until 2020, if and when it charges him with these offenses.

I.

The State's factual contentions are derived from an affidavit by Sergeant Chase Messer of the Lakewood Township Police Department. We set forth the contentions most pertinent to our analysis.

On March 20, 2015, at approximately 12:34 a.m., Lakewood Township police officers were dispatched to a building on Madison Avenue after an alarm was activated. When the police officers arrived, they spoke with a woman. She informed the officers that she heard a window smash and observed a man approximately 5'8" tall with a thin build and hooded sweatshirt running through her yard and towards Main Street. The woman informed the officers she had observed the man throw a pair of light blue gloves into a trash can in front of her house.

The officers searched the immediate area, but were unable to locate the suspect. Upon a search of the building, the officers noticed a broken window

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next to the rear door and some dollar bills located on the ground by the steps. An officer located the light blue gloves inside the trash can.

The Ocean County Sherriff's Department Crime Scene Investigations ("CSI") Unit responded to the scene. The CSI unit processed the gloves for DNA, and submitted a DNA sample to the New Jersey State Police ("NJSP") Office of Forensic Sciences.

Sergeant Messer thereafter received a notification letter from the NJSP Office of Forensic Sciences (known as the Combined DNA Index System "'CODIS' lab") informing him of a possible investigative lead on the DNA sample retrieved from the blue gloves. The letter from the CODIS lab reported an "investigative hit" for J.P., and requested that a buccal swab "reference sample" from J.P. be submitted for comparison.

On June 13, 2018, the State moved for an investigative detention of J.P., seeking to have a buccal swab recovered from him and sent to the CODIS lab for analysis. Sergeant Messer averred in his affidavit that he has "probable cause to believe and does believe that the DNA samples of [J.P.] will constitute evidence or tend to show violations of the penal laws of New Jersey." The sergeant added that a "buccal swab of the accused can be used by the [NJSP] to develop genetic profiles to compare to the evidence previously seized, which

A-0228-18T1

were potentially used by the accused, [and] worn by the accused in the commission of the above referenced offenses." The affidavit requested a court order authorizing the Ocean County Sheriff's Department "Criminalistics Unit" to obtain a fresh buccal swab from J.P.

Relying on the sergeant's affidavit, the State moved under Rule 3:5A-4 and requested J.P.'s investigative detention in order to obtain a DNA sample from him. Represented by counsel, J.P. opposed the State's request, arguing that the State did not satisfy the four-part test set forth in Rule 3:5A-4(a) to (d).

After a hearing, Presiding Criminal Judge Wendel E. Daniels denied the State's motion in a written decision. The judge noted that Rule 3:5A-4 sets forth the requirements for issuing an order for investigative detention. The Rule closely tracks the standards prescribed by the New Jersey Supreme Court in State v. Hall, 93 N.J. 552 (1983).

Rule 3:5A-4 provides:

An order for investigative detention shall be issued only if the judge concludes from the application that:

(a) a crime has been committed and is under active investigation, and

(b) there is a reasonable and well-grounded basis from which to believe that the person sought may have committed the crime, and

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(c) the results of the physical characteristics obtained during the detention will significantly advance the investigation and determine whether or not the individual probably committed the crime, and

(d) the physical characteristics sought cannot otherwise practicably be obtained.

[(Emphasis added).]

Judge Daniels concluded the first prong of the Rule was met, based on the information contained in the sergeant's affidavit and the ongoing active investigation by the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office. The judge also found the second prong of the Rule was met, based on the sergeant's affidavit, the general description of the suspect provided by one of the victims, and the initial "hit" notification from the CODIS lab identifying J.P. as a potential lead. Next, the judge found the third prong of the Rule was satisfied because the gloves located near the scene of the offenses contained DNA that could be compared with a DNA sample from J.P., a process that would help to confirm that the gloves used in the burglary and theft belonged to or had been used by J.P.

However, the judge found that the fourth prong of Rule 3:5A-4 was not satisfied. As part of his analysis of that prong, the judge discussed the implications of a recent New Jersey Supreme Court case, State v. Gathers, 234

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N.J. 208 (2018), which concerned the New Jersey DNA Database and Databank Act of 1994, N.J.S.A. 53:1-20.17 to -20.26 ("the DNA Act").

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IN THE MATTER OF THE INVESTIGATION OF BURGLARY AND THEFT (15-020585, OCEAN COUNTY AND STATEWIDE) (RECORD IMPOUNDED), (N.J. Ct. App. 2018).

IN THE MATTER OF THE INVESTIGATION OF BURGLARY AND THEFT (15-020585, OCEAN COUNTY AND STATEWIDE) (RECORD IMPOUNDED) (IN THE MATTER OF THE INVESTIGATION OF BURGLARY AND THEFT (15-020585, OCEAN COUNTY AND STATEWIDE) (RECORD IMPOUNDED)) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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