STATE OF NEW JERSEY VS. RICHARD JONES, JR. Â (07-15, CUMBERLAND COUNTY AND STATEWIDE), A-4002-15T3

Background

Defendant Richard Jones pled guilty (conditional) to driving with BAC ≥ .08% after reserving right to appeal denial of motion to exclude Alcotest-generated Alcohol Influence Report (AIR).
Trooper Michael Katz conducted the breath test on Alcotest # ARWC-0054; the AIR showed BAC .20%.
Defendant challenged admission of calibration documents for the Alcotest (calibration record, Part I control tests, Part II linearity tests) as unauthenticated and not admissible as business records.
Calibration documents were signed/certified by Sergeant Michelle Goncalves (Alcotest coordinator); Trooper Katz could not identify her signature and had no personal knowledge of her work.
Municipal court admitted the calibration documents relying on State v. Chun; Law Division affirmed, concluding the documents were self-authenticating (N.J.R.E. 902(a)), admissible as duplicates (N.J.R.E.1003), and qualify as business records (N.J.R.E. 803(c)(6)).
Defendant raised additional challenges to municipal-court structure, judicial impartiality/recusal, and municipal prosecutors’ incentives; the court rejected these as unpreserved or without merit.

Issues

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Admissibility of Alcotest calibration documents/AIR	Calibration documents are foundational under Chun, self-authenticating under N.J.R.E. 902(a), admissible as duplicates and business records	Documents unauthenticated; Trooper lacked personal knowledge of coordinator; copies needed further certification	Affirmed: documents self-authenticating, duplicates admissible, qualify as business records under Chun and rules cited
Requirement that coordinator testify	Chun requires operator (Trooper) be available to testify but not coordinator	Coordinator's testimony required to authenticate/calibrate device	Chun permits admission without coordinator testimony where documents are certified; no error in admission
Preservation and scope of appeal after conditional plea	Guilty plea reserved only Chun-related pretrial motion; broader constitutional/structural claims unpreserved	Raised broader claims (judicial independence, municipal-court structure, prosecutor incentives)	Broader claims largely unpreserved or meritless; addressed limited claims implicating post-plea proceedings and rejected them
Recusal / appearance of judicial partiality and prosecutor incentive to convict	No evidence of actual bias; municipal judge appointments/statutory framework lawful; prosecutor remuneration not tied to fines	Statutory appointment and revenue sources create appearance of bias and incentive to convict; recusal required	Denied: statutes and remuneration structure do not create inherent disqualifying bias; no showing municipal prosecutor pays costs as claimed

Key Cases Cited

State v. Chun, 194 N.J. 54 (N.J. 2008) (establishes foundation and documents required for Alcotest evidence)
State v. Crawley, 149 N.J. 310 (N.J. 1997) (guilty pleas generally waive pre-plea constitutional claims)
State v. Knight, 183 N.J. 449 (N.J. 2005) (quoting Crawley on plea-waiver principles)
Tollett v. Henderson, 411 U.S. 258 (U.S. 1973) (guilty plea waives antecedent constitutional claims)
State v. Tischio, 107 N.J. 504 (N.J. 1987) (discussion of DUI law developments; cited by defendant)
In re Collester, 126 N.J. 468 (N.J. 1992) (discusses collateral consequences and judicial conduct)
State v. Timmendequas, 161 N.J. 515 (N.J. 1999) (prosecutor's duty to serve interest of justice)