Pashman Stein Walder Hayden P.C. Celebrates a Significant New Jersey Supreme Court Victory in State v. Myers
The New Jersey Supreme Court’s unanimous decision this week in State v. Myers is an important reaffirmation of the protections afforded by the conditional plea rule, and another significant appellate victory involving lawyers at Pashman Stein Walder Hayden, P.C. Remi L. Spencer and Chelsea Nkrumah represented the Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers of New Jersey (ACDL-NJ) as amicus curiae, with Spencer presenting oral arguments before the Court.
The Court held that Myers must be permitted to withdraw his felony-murder plea after prevailing on the suppression issue preserved through his conditional plea. In doing so, the Court rejected application of the more demanding Slater plea-withdrawal standard and reinforced an important principle: the protections of a conditional plea must be meaningful, and the reasonable expectations created by the parties’ plea agreement matter.
The decision also builds upon State v. Nyema (2022), the separate Supreme Court appeal that resulted in suppression of the evidence underlying Myers’s conditional plea. That successful appeal was likewise argued by lawyers at Pashman Stein Walder Hayden, P.C. Darcy Baboulis-Gyscek and CJ Griffin authored the brief, which was argued by Raymond M. Brown.
Taken together, Nyema and Myers reflect what exception appellate advocacy can accomplish over the life of a case – from identifying and preserving an issue, to successfully challenging a search, and ensuring that the consequences of that victory are fully honored. They also reflect the depth of the appellate team at Pashman Stein Walder Hayden: lawyers working across cases and over years to develop the law, protect constitutional rights, and achieve results that extend well beyond a single client.
Pashman Stein Walder Hayden P.C. is proud of the results it has achieved for clients. Of course, each legal matter is unique on many levels, and past successes are not a guarantee of results in any other pending or future matters.
To read more about the case in Law360, click here.
To read more about Spencer and her work, click here.
To read more about Nkrumah and her work, click here.
To read more about Baboulis-Gyscek and her work, click here.
To read more about Griffin and her work, click here.
To read more about Brown and his work, click here.
