It is common in New
Jersey that when someone is indicted by a grand jury that in the caption of the
indictment will be listed some or all of the defendant’s known names or
aliases.
It is essential that
prior to trial that defense counsel file a motion or request without a motion
that any reference to aliases be stricken from the indictment so that a jury
will not learn that the defendant may or may not have gone under other
names. It is extremely prejudicial to
the defendant when a jury hears that a defendant had nicknames or aliases
because it gives the impression to the jury that this person had different
names or went by other names for a nefarious purpose. Although it is not illegal per se to have aliases, some people
who do, have these different names to evade the law or to defraud someone. In all cases you want the jury to decide the
case based on the evidence that the state or government has on the case in
which they will decide, and not on other factors or evidence which has no
bearing on the case at hand.
There is a case now
before the New Jersey Supreme Court which will directly decide this issue, State
v. Parker. In that case the jury
learned that Mr. Parker when arrested had given another name. Mr. Parker is seeking a new trial contending
that such references denied him a fair trial.
In State v.
Salaam, 225 N.J. Super. 66 (App.
Div. 1988) the appellate division held that references to the defendant’s
alleged aliases should be automatically excluded unless there is clear
relevancy to the alias and the pending charges, i.e., fraud case in which the
defendant used other names to defraud alleged victims.
This prohibition in
the use of aliases is also found in N.J. Evidence Rule 608 which holds that a
“trait of character cannot be proved by specific instances of conduct.” In any event, the criminal defense attorney
who is faced with such a case must move to strike the aliases to help insure that
the defendant receives a fair trial.
Law Office of
Vincent J. Sanzone, Jr., Esq.
P.O. Box 261
277 North Broad
Street
Elizabeth, N.J.
07207
Office: (908) 354-7006
Cell: (201) 240-5716
“If you want peace
work for justice.” Pope John Paul, I
No comments:
Post a Comment