NJ & CT News

Parenting Coordinator Pilot Program Discontinued

New Jersey's Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC) has discontinued its five-year-old Parenting Coordinator Pilot Program, concluding that it was unsuccessful. “We couldn't find any level of satisfaction” with the program, said the AOC's assistant director of family services, Harry Cassidy. According to Cassidy, the parents who needed a parenting coordinator's assistance were generally unwilling to accept that help. “In order for the program to be successful, both parties must be willing to engage with each other and engage with the parenting coordinator. We were not finding that,” he said. While the standardized forms approved for the program are now no longer in use, and the list of approved parent coordinators is being removed from official websites, courts will continue to have discretion to appoint a parenting coordinator on motion, or when both parents consent.

High Court Considers Limits on Jury's Private Viewing of Taped Testimony

New Jersey's Supreme Court is currently considering whether a judge's decision to allow jury members to view videotaped testimony outside the presence of the judge and counsel was error. The defendant in the case, State v. A.R., A-63-11, had his conviction for sexually abusing his wife's nine-year-old niece overturned based on unsupervised jury viewing of videotaped testimony. The state is asking the court to reinstate the conviction.

CONNECTICUT

Lawyers Working for Domestic Assault Defendant Want Out

The Moynahan Law Firm of Waterbury, CT, has twice been rebuffed in its effort to receive judicial approval to discontinue representing John Michael Farren, but they have not given up. Farren, a former Bush administration lawyer, is accused of assaulting and seriously injuring his wife, Mary Margaret Farren, allegedly because he was angered when she served him with divorce papers. Mrs. Farren has filed a civil lawsuit against her husband and is seeking $30 million in damages. In connection with that suit, $4.1 million in Farren's assets have been attached, leaving him without funds to pay his legal representatives, according to his attorney. “As a result of the divorce, he gets 25% of the house,” said Timothy C. Moynahan, of the Moynahan Law Firm. “If he could liquidate that, that would be $750,000 to $800,000, but the prejudgment remedy in civil court has removed that from his access.” Moynahan argues that because his client does not have access to money to pay for his criminal defense, he is constitutionally entitled to receive the services of a public defender.

NEW JERSEY

Three-Week 'Legal Holiday'-Like Filing Deadline Extension Declared

In response to Hurricane Sandy's devastating impact on New Jersey, the state Supreme Court issued a tolling order allowing more time for State litigants to meet filing deadlines. On Nov. 9, 2012, Chief Justice Stuart Rabner issued an order that said the span from Oct. 29 ' the day the storm hit ' through Nov. 16 “shall be deemed the same as legal holidays.” Rabner's order “consolidates, extends and supersedes” three orders the high court had issued on Nov. 1, 2 and 5, 2012, that had pushed back filing deadlines only to the date of issuance and only in those counties most affected by the storm.

Parenting Coordinator Pilot Program Discontinued

New Jersey's Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC) has discontinued its five-year-old Parenting Coordinator Pilot Program, concluding that it was unsuccessful. “We couldn't find any level of satisfaction” with the program, said the AOC's assistant director of family services, Harry Cassidy. According to Cassidy, the parents who needed a parenting coordinator's assistance were generally unwilling to accept that help. “In order for the program to be successful, both parties must be willing to engage with each other and engage with the parenting coordinator. We were not finding that,” he said. While the standardized forms approved for the program are now no longer in use, and the list of approved parent coordinators is being removed from official websites, courts will continue to have discretion to appoint a parenting coordinator on motion, or when both parents consent.

High Court Considers Limits on Jury's Private Viewing of Taped Testimony

New Jersey's Supreme Court is currently considering whether a judge's decision to allow jury members to view videotaped testimony outside the presence of the judge and counsel was error. The defendant in the case, State v. A.R., A-63-11, had his conviction for sexually abusing his wife's nine-year-old niece overturned based on unsupervised jury viewing of videotaped testimony. The state is asking the court to reinstate the conviction.

CONNECTICUT

Lawyers Working for Domestic Assault Defendant Want Out

The Moynahan Law Firm of Waterbury, CT, has twice been rebuffed in its effort to receive judicial approval to discontinue representing John Michael Farren, but they have not given up. Farren, a former Bush administration lawyer, is accused of assaulting and seriously injuring his wife, Mary Margaret Farren, allegedly because he was angered when she served him with divorce papers. Mrs. Farren has filed a civil lawsuit against her husband and is seeking $30 million in damages. In connection with that suit, $4.1 million in Farren's assets have been attached, leaving him without funds to pay his legal representatives, according to his attorney. “As a result of the divorce, he gets 25% of the house,” said Timothy C. Moynahan, of the Moynahan Law Firm. “If he could liquidate that, that would be $750,000 to $800,000, but the prejudgment remedy in civil court has removed that from his access.” Moynahan argues that because his client does not have access to money to pay for his criminal defense, he is constitutionally entitled to receive the services of a public defender.