STATE OF NEW JERSEY VS. NICHOLAS F. GARREFFI (15-08-1952, ATLANTIC COUNTY AND STATEWIDE)

New Jersey Superior Court Appellate Division·Decided January 13, 2020·No. A-1535-17T4·Unpublished

Opinion

NOT FOR PUBLICATION WITHOUT THE APPROVAL OF THE APPELLATE DIVISION This opinion shall not "constitute precedent or be binding upon any court."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-1535-17T4

STATE OF NEW JERSEY, Plaintiff-Respondent,

v. NICHOLAS F. GARREFFI,

Defendant-Appellant.

Argued November 13, 2019 – Decided January 13, 2020 Before Judges Yannotti, Hoffman and Currier.

On appeal from the Superior Court of New Jersey, Law Division, Atlantic County, Indictment No. 15-08-1952.

Molly O'Donnell Meng, Assistant Deputy Public Defender, argued the cause for appellant (Joseph E.

Krakora, Public Defender, attorney; Molly O'Donnell Meng, of counsel and on the briefs).

Regina M. Oberholzer, Deputy Attorney General, argued the cause for respondent (Gurbir S. Grewal, Attorney General, attorney; Regina M. Oberholzer, of counsel and on the brief).

PER CURIAM

Defendant was found guilty of vehicular homicide and other offenses that arose out of a multiple-vehicle collision, in which one person suffered fatal injuries and three other persons sustained serious bodily injuries. Defendant appeals from the judgment of conviction dated October 17, 2017. We affirm.

I.

On August 5, 2015, an Atlantic County grand jury charged defendant with second-degree vehicular homicide (count one), N.J.S.A. 2C:11-5(b); and three counts of fourth-degree assault by auto while under the influence of an intoxicating narcotic, N.J.S.A. 2C:12-1(c)(2) (counts two, three, and four). Thereafter, the trial court denied defendant's motion to suppress the results of a sample taken of defendant's blood after the accident. Defendant was then tried before a jury.

At the trial, the State presented evidence which showed that on August 30, 2014, at approximately 8:30 a.m., defendant was driving his pick-up truck east on Route 40 in Hamilton, New Jersey on his way to work. Defendant's truck veered out of its lane, across the median, and onto the westbound side of the highway. The truck nearly missed one car before it clipped a box truck and then

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hit the rear driver's side of a Volkswagen Jetta, which was being driven by M.W.1 The Jetta spun 360 degrees and stopped in the front yard of a house approximately 100 yards down the road. All of the airbags in the Jetta deployed and several windows shattered. The driver's door was bent and would not open, and the grass beneath the car was visible when the door was closed. After the collision with the Jetta, defendant's truck crashed into the woods and caught fire.

James Hollander was driving two cars ahead of the Jetta. He testified that he saw defendant's truck veer across the median and had to "swerve[] out of the way toward the shoulder" to avoid a collision. Thereafter, Hollander saw defendant "clip[]" a box truck and "hit [the car carrying the victims] head -on."

Darrell Jacobs was driving the box truck. He testified that he observed defendant's truck cross the median and enter his lane with enough time to correct itself. Jacobs told one of the responding officers that defendant was sitting straight up with his hands on the wheel and "appeared to be dazed . . . as the vehicle swerved towards him."

Jacobs testified that he felt the impact when defendant's truck struck "towards the rear" of the box truck. He saw defendant exit his truck and say ,

1 We use initials to identify the driver and others to protect their privacy.

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"my tools, my tools are gone." Jacobs approached defendant and cursed him because he seemed concerned only about his tools while people had been injured in the crash.

All of the occupants of the Jetta sustained injuries. M.W. had a chest contusion and abrasions to her eye, arm, and face. G.S. sustained a concussion and a chest-wall injury, bruising, and pain in her right hip and leg. K.B. suffered injuries to her chest, back, upper thigh, and abdomen. She said she suffered from "really bad headaches" for months after the accident. S.W. had a laceration on her head. A.C. died from the injuries sustained in the collision.

Defendant was transported to a hospital, where a sample of his blood was taken. Analysis of the sample revealed the presence of alprazolam, a prescription medication commonly known as Xanax, at a concentration of thirty- five nanograms per milliliter. Defendant did not have a prescription for alprazolam.

Defendant presented several witnesses in his defense. The emergency medical technician who assisted defendant at the scene, and the emergency room doctor who evaluated defendant at the hospital, testified that he did not seem impaired. Defendant's sister-in-law stated that defendant did not seem impaired when she spoke with him for several minutes several hours before the collision.

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Defendant's father, a retired police officer, testified that when he arrived on the scene, defendant "absolutely" did not seem impaired. In addition, defendant presented testimony from a forensic psychiatrist regarding the effect of alprazolam.

The jury found defendant guilty on all counts. Defendant was sentenced on October 17, 2017. He appeals and raises the following arguments:

POINT I

THE TRIAL COURT ERRED IN DENYING DEFENDANT’S MOTION TO SUPPRESS THE BLOOD DRAW BECAUSE HIS CONSENT WAS TAINTED BY HIS UNLAWFUL ARREST AND WAS NOT FREELY AND VOLUNTARILY GIVEN.

[A.] Defendant's Consent Was Tainted By His Unlawful Arrest.

[B.] Defendant's Consent Was Not Freely and Voluntarily Given.

POINT II

THE TRIAL COURT ERRED IN A) PERMITTING THE STATE TO INTRODUCE SCIENTIFICALLY UNRELIABLE RETROGRADE EXTRAPOLATION TESTIMONY AND B) PERMITTING DR. BRICK TO TESTIFY ABOUT THE ULTIMATE CAUSE OF THE ACCIDENT. (Not raised below).

[A.] The Trial Court Erred In Permitting the State to Introduce Admittedly Unreliable Retrograde Extrapolation Evidence.

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[B.] The Trial Court Further Erred By Permitting Dr.

Brick To Offer Impermissible Lay Opinion Testimony As To The Cause Of The Accident.

POINT III

IN THE ALTERNATIVE, THE MATTER MUST BE REMANDED FOR RESENTENCING.

DEFENDANT’S SENTENCE IS EXCESSIVE BECAUSE THE TRIAL COURT ERRONEOUSLY FAILED TO FIND MITIGATING FACTORS 9 AND 11, IMPROPERLY FOUND AGGRAVATING FACTOR 9, AND FAILED TO ADEQUATELY WEIGH THE AGGRAVATING AND MITIGATING FACTORS.

POINT IV

DEFENDANT'S TWENTY-YEAR LICENSE SUSPENSION IS MANIFESTLY EXCESSIVE.

II.

We first consider defendant's argument that the trial court erred by denying his motion to suppress the results of the blood draw. Defendant argues that his consent to the blood draw was not freely and voluntarily given. He also argues that his consent was tainted by an allegedly illegal arrest.

A. Legal Principles Governing Consent to Search.

The Constitution of the United States and the New Jersey Constitution protect individuals from unreasonable searches and seizures. U.S. Const. amend. IV; N.J. Const. art. I, ¶ 7. The compelled intrusion into the body for the purpose of drawing blood to determine its alcohol content is a search under the A-1535-17T4

Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution. Schmerber v. California, 384 U.S. 757, 768 (1966).

"Warrantless searches are 'prohibited unless they fall within a recognized exception to the warrant requirement.'" State v. Adkins, 221 N.J. 300, 310 (2015) (quoting State v. Pena-Flores, 198 N.J. 6, 18 (2009)). Consent to search is, however, an established exception to the warrant requirement. State v. Coles, 218 N.J. 322, 337 (2014). Consent must be given voluntarily and knowingly; in New Jersey, the State has the burden to prove the consenting individual knew he or she had the right to refuse. State v. Domicz, 188 N.J. 285, 308 (2006).

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STATE OF NEW JERSEY VS. NICHOLAS F. GARREFFI (15-08-1952, ATLANTIC COUNTY AND STATEWIDE), (N.J. Ct. App. 2020).

STATE OF NEW JERSEY VS. NICHOLAS F. GARREFFI (15-08-1952, ATLANTIC COUNTY AND STATEWIDE) (STATE OF NEW JERSEY VS. NICHOLAS F. GARREFFI (15-08-1952, ATLANTIC COUNTY AND STATEWIDE)) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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