Legal Question in Criminal Law in New Jersey

charges as Juvenile will not necessarily disqualify you from PTI. question is will the prosecutor offer PTI. Since you are not questioning the search, I am guessing that you feel the stop as well as the search were constitutional. I would need to see the discovery to assess if that is even the case. You should definately get a lawyer. The question is not whether you should choose hiring a private attorney over a public Defender. The initial question is can you afford to hire a private attorney and if not, do you qualify for a Public Defender. Regardless of whether you are in the Municipal Court or the Superior Court, you need to be classified as indigent to qualify fo a PD. This means that based on the Courts own economic guide lines, the Judge will assess if you are unable to afford a lawyer and if you qualify as indigent, a Court appointed attorney would be assigned. This will depend on your job, assets, Do you own a home and other factors that the Court uses to asess your economic status, if you do not qualify as indigent, meaning that you have or make too much money, then you would need to hire your own lawyer. The Court will want to resolve this issue at an early stage. feel free to call with any other questions (201)-894-9498

The juvenile conviction will not neccessarily disqualify you for PTI as an adult, but will be taken into consideration if you apply for PTI. You can apply for the public defender, but whether you will be granted a public defender depends upon your income. As a private attorney I would likely review all the evidence in your case to see if there is any way to actually win the case before having you apply for PTI.

Sincerely yours, -Ronald Aronds, Esq.- 908-272-0111

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