STATE OF NEW JERSEY VS. KENNETH C. FRANCIS (17-11-0199, OCEAN COUNTY AND STATEWIDE)


NOT FOR PUBLICATION WITHOUT THE APPROVAL OF THE APPELLATE DIVISION This opinion shall not "constitute precedent or be binding upon any court ." Although it is posted on the internet, this opinion is binding only on the parties in the case and its use in other cases is limited . R. 1:36-3. SUPERIOR COURT OF NEW JERSEY APPELLATE DIVISION DOCKET NO. A-2848-18T2 STATE OF NEW JERSEY, Plaintiff-Respondent, v. KENNETH C. FRANCIS, Defendant-Appellant. _______________________ Submitted April 29, 2020 – Decided May 14. 2020 Before Judges Fuentes and Enright. On appeal from the Superior Court of New Jersey, Law Division, Ocean County, Indictment No. 17-11-0199. Joseph E. Krakora, Public Defender, attorney for appellant (Michele Erica Friedman, Assistant Deputy Public Defender, of counsel and on the brief). Gurbir S. Grewal, Attorney General, attorney for respondent (Frank Muroski, Deputy Attorney General, of counsel and on the brief). PER CURIAM Defendant appeals from a November 2, 2016 order denying his suppression motion. We affirm, substantially for the reasons outlined in Judge James M. Blaney's concise, thoughtful oral opinion. We briefly summarize the facts leading to defendant's conviction and sentence. On April 25, 2016, Officer Francis Falcicchio was working in the Parole Fugitive Unit and was assigned to the United States Marshals Service Regional Fugitive Task Forces. That day, he executed an arrest warrant for defendant's son, Eric. Prior to this arrest, another member of the Task Forces team recollected there was a Federal immigration "warrant" for defendant, based on defendant's illegal reentry into the United States. When law enforcement went to arrest defendant's son, Officer Falcicchio encountered an unknown adult male, later identified as defendant, in the living room. At first, defendant was reluctant to disclose his identity to officers and he gave Officer Falcicchio an alias. Defendant also stated he did not have identification. According to Officer Falcicchio, defendant was "inconsistent with his identifiers, you know, date of birth, address, so on." Because defendant initially refused to identify himself, he was asked to place his fingers on a fingerprint scanner. Only then did defendant disclose his identity. Defendant also admitted he had been deported previously and did not have a passport. A-2848-18T2 2 Accordingly, defendant was arrested. Since he was wearing only underwear at the time of his arrest, Officer Falcicchio retrieved a pair of jeans near the defendant so he could put them on. Defendant was the only adult, other than his son, in the area where the jeans were located. Before handing the pants to defendant, the officer patted them down and felt items inside the pants pockets. The officer removed those items before handing the jeans to defendant. In one of defendant's pants pockets, Officer Falcicchio found a Florida driver's license with defendant's picture on it, but it reflected another person's name. In another pocket, the officer found a Jamaican ID card, with defendant's name on it. Underneath defendant's jeans, the officer also discovered a stack of paperwork, with a list of names and personal identifiers. The officer confirmed the paperwork ...

Original document
Source: All recent Immigration Decisions In All the U.S. Courts of Appeals