Legal Question in Criminal Law in New Jersey

obligation to appear personally in court

Lately, following a trip in the U.S., I was arrested in the Newark int. airport, while I was boarding a flight to Israel, where I live, while carying a pipe with traces of marijuana on it (it was found in my bag during the security check) I was arrested and chrged with possesion of marijuana and possesion of drug paraphenelia. problem is, since I live in Israel, I will not be able to appear personally in court. is there any other way to resolve this problem? what are the possible penalties?


Asked on 2/15/03, 4:20 pm

3 Answers from Attorneys
Savyon Grant Law Office of Savy Grant

Re: obligation to appear personally in court

You have to appear in court in criminal matters. I really do not understand why they would charge you with possesion? Did you have drugs or just traces? You should hire a lawyer to obtain the discovery. See if there is a lab report. If the discovery is lacking a lawyer may get the whole situation dismissed.

Savyon

PS you can e-mail any questions you have.

email: [email protected]

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Answered on 2/17/03, 3:58 pm
Gary Moore Gary Moore Attorney At Law

Re: obligation to appear personally in court

A personal appearance is normally required on a criminal matter. You appear to have been charged with disorderly persons offenses, not crimes, and there will be no effort to extradite you but there will be a warrant for your arrest, eventually, when you fail to appear for a scheduled court appearance. You will be subject to arrest should you enter the country using the state where your arrest occurred.

You sound like a first offender under the drug laws and if you are you are eligible to apply for first offender treatment and have your charges dismissed after a period of supervision which might not require you to be supervised in this country, but to achieve this status you will have to appear in court here at least once.

It is possible that an attorney could convince the prosecutor to waive your appearance given your place of residence, but this is not a normal procedure. I would be glad to assist you in this regard. You can visit my website by clicking on www.garymooreattorneyatlaw.abn1.net/home.asp. You can pay me by credit card.

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Answered on 2/15/03, 5:41 pm
Zvi Feferberg, Adv. Feferberg & Co. - Law Offices

Re: obligation to appear personally in court

This is a question for a NJ attorney to answer since it regards the local criminal law (i.e.: the place of the offense - NJ) and not the laws of the offender residence (Israel).

I can only refer you to consult with a NJ attorney.

Good luck.

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Answered on 2/16/03, 3:14 am


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