As I set forth in detail in a prior blog post, the criminal charge of “Official Misconduct” in New Jersey has serious consequences ranging from 3-10 years, depending on the allegations (or the degree of the Official Misconduct charge). In addition, unlike most other non-violent crimes, a conviction for Official Misconduct carries a period of parole ineligibility – meaning that you will be in State Prison without the possibility of parole for a lengthy period of time.
The New Jersey Appellate Division decided, and in the process “saved,” a very important piece of legislation in New Jersey – the bias intimidation statute. In State v. Pomianek, decided on January 31, 2013, the defendant David Pomianek, a public employee, was convicted by a jury of harassment by communication, N.J.S.A. 2C:33-4(a), and harassment by alarming conduct, N.J.S.A. 2C:33-4(c) for his conduct towards an African-American co-worker. Based on those two predicate offenses, the jury convicted defendant of bias intimidation pursuant to N.J.S.A. 2C:16-1(a)(3).
For those of you that thought charges of “Official Misconduct” applied to police officers and elected officials “on the take”, think again.
As a backdrop, it is important to understand that under N.J.S.A. 2C:25-28(j) (a section of the Domestic Violence Law) a court may order “the search for and seizure of any such weapon at any location [it] has reasonable cause to believe the weapon is located.”
