Welcome to Spodek Law Group. If you've been charged with what you think is a "felony" in Essex County, here's the first thing you need to understand: New Jersey doesn't use that word. The term doesn't appear anywhere in the criminal code. What other states call felonies, New Jersey calls "indictable offenses" - and this isn't semantic pedantry. The distinction affects which court handles your case, whether a grand jury gets involved, and what penalties you face. Most defendants search for "felony lawyer" when they're actually charged with a "second degree crime." The terminology gap creates real problems from the very first phone call.
This matters because the classification system in New Jersey operates completely differently than what you'd expect from watching legal dramas set in other states. There are four degrees of crimes here. First degree is the most serious - 10 to 20 years in state prison. Fourth degree is the lowest indictable level - up to 18 months. Everything in between carries its own specific range. And for first and second degree charges, there's something called a "presumption of incarceration" that most defendants don't learn about until they're already in the system.
The presumption means exactly what it sounds like. If you're convicted of a first or second degree crime, the default is prison. Not probation. Not a fine. Prison. The judge doesn't have discretion to let you walk - the law presumes you're going in unless something extraordinary changes the equation. This is the reality of serious criminal charges in New Jersey, and understanding it from the start changes everything about how you approach your defense.
New Jersey Doesn't Have Felonies
The word "felony" appears nowhere in Title 2C, the section of New Jersey law that covers criminal offenses. You won't find it in the statutes, the charging documents, or anywhere in court proceedings. This isn't a technicality - its a fundamental difference in how the system categorizes and prosecutes crime.
What New Jersey has instead is a four-tier structure of indictable offenses. First degree crimes carry the harshest penalties: 10 to 20 years in state prison and fines up to $200,000. These include murder, aggravated sexual assault, kidnapping, and armed robbery. Some first degree offenses like murder and human trafficking can carry sentences beyond the 20-year maximum.
Second degree crimes carry 5 to 10 years and fines up to $150,000. This category includes aggravated arson, armed burglary, aggravated assault causing serious bodily injury, and reckless vehicular homicide. Many drug offenses also fall here - posession with intent to distribute certain quantities triggers second degree charges automatically.
Third degree crimes carry 3 to 5 years and fines up to $15,000. Motor vehicle theft, certain assault charges, and lower-level drug offenses fall into this category. Fourth degree crimes - the lowest indictable level - carry up to 18 months and $10,000 in fines. Forgery, cyberbullying, and certain theft offenses are prosecuted at this level.
Below indictable offenses, New Jersey has disorderly persons offenses and petty disorderly persons offenses. These are NOT crimes under the state constitution. They carry maximum penalties of 6 months in county jail for disorderly persons and 30 days for petty disorderly persons. Critically, these lower offenses are handled in municipal court with no grand jury and no jury trial. If your facing an indictable offense, your in Superior Court - completly different procedural universe.
The classification of your charge determines almost everything. Disorderly persons offense means municipal court, no grand jury, maximum 6 months. Fourth degree indictable means Superior Court, grand jury presentation, up to 18 months state prison. The same underlying conduct can sometimes be charged either way depending on how the prosecutor interprets the facts. Thats why early legal intervention matters so much - the charging decision itself is sometimes negotiable before anything gets filed.
The Window That Closes Before Most Defendants Know It Exists
Most people arrested on serious charges in Essex County have no idea there's a critical window before formal charges are filed. This pre-indictment phase is where cases can be negotiated, reduced, or sometimes declined entirely. Once the grand jury votes to indict, that window slams shut.
Heres how it works. After your arrested on an indictable offense, the case gets screened by the Essex County Prosecutors Office. Assistant prosecutors review the complaint and decide wether to proceed as an indictable offense or reduce it to a disorderly persons offense. They decide whether to issue a warrant or a summons. This screening happens before you've even had your first court appearance in most cases.
During this period - before the case goes to the grand jury - there's opportunity for negotiation. Experienced defense attorneys can present evidence, raise procedural issues, or make arguments for why charges should be reduced or declined. A possession with intent to distribute charge might become simple possession. A second degree assault might get downgraded to a third degree offense. Or the prosecutor might decide the case isnt worth pursuing at all.
Essex County has 10 grand juries operating simultaneously. Each consists of 23 citizens who meet once a week for 15 weeks. Their job is to determine whether there's enough evidence - a "prima facie" case - to proceed to trial. The burden at grand jury is far lower then at trial. They dont have to find guilt beyond reasonable doubt. They just have to find that the charges are supported by enough evidence to justify a prosecution.
Grand juries in New Jersey indict the vast majority of cases presented to them. The proceeding is one-sided - only the prosecutor presents evidence. Defendants have no right to appear, no right to present witnesses, no right to cross-examine. By the time the grand jury votes, the case is already framed entirely from the prosecution's perspective.
This is why the pre-indictment conference matters so much. Before that grand jury vote, everything is negotiable. After the indictment, your fighting uphill against formal charges that have already been blessed by 23 citizens. Todd Spodek understands that the best outcomes often happen before defendants even realize there case has reached a decision point.
What the Four Degrees Actually Mean
Understanding the degree of your charge tells you exactly what your facing. The numbers arent arbitrary - they map directly to sentencing ranges, and those ranges carry what the law calls "presumptive" sentences.
First degree crimes carry a presumptive sentence of 15 years. That means if your convicted of a first degree offense with no mitigating or aggravating factors, the starting point for sentencing is 15 years. The range runs from 10 to 20 years, but the default is 15. And because of NERA - the No Early Release Act - violent first degree offenders must serve 85% of there sentence before becoming eligible for parole. A 15-year sentence under NERA means nearly 13 years before parole even becomes a possibility.
Second degree crimes carry a presumptive sentence of 7 years with a range of 5 to 10. NERA applies to violent second degree offenses as well. A 7-year sentence means roughly 6 years before parole eligibility. The presumption of incarceration means prison is mandatory absent extraordinary circumstances - the judge dosent have discretion to impose probation.
Third degree crimes carry a presumptive sentence of 4 years with a range of 3 to 5. But heres were the presumption flips. For first-time offenders convicted of third degree crimes, theres a presumption of NON-incarceration. The default is probation, not prison. This dosent mean you cant go to prison - it means the judge needs a reason to deviate from probation.
Fourth degree crimes carry a presumptive sentence of 9 months with a range up to 18 months. First-time offenders again benefit from a presumption of non-incarceration. Many fourth degree convictions result in probation, fines, or conditional discharge for eligible defendants.
The same conduct can be charged at different degrees depending on aggravating factors. Assault becomes aggravated assault with a weapon. Theft escalates based on value. Drug offenses jump degrees based on quantity or location. Understanding what pushed your charge into its current classification is critical becuase sometimes those aggravating factors are challengeable.
When Prison Is Presumed
The presumption of incarceration for first and second degree crimes means the judge starts from a position of sending you to prison. This isn't the default in most criminal cases. Most offenses, even serious ones, leave judges with discretion about whether jail is appropriate. First and second degree crimes remove that discretion.
What does this mean in practical terms? If your convicted of a second degree aggravated assault - maybe a bar fight that caused serious injury - the judge can't simply give you probation and community service. The law requires justification for anything less than prison. Your attorney would need to demonstrate extraordinary circumstances, significant mitigating factors, or both. And even then, many judges are reluctant to deviate from the presumption.
This is where defense strategy becomes critical. If the facts support a conviction and the evidence is strong, avoiding the presumption of incarceration might mean negotiating a plea to a third degree offense instead of a second. The difference between second degree (presumption of prison) and third degree (presumption of probation for first offenders) can be the difference between years in state prison and probation.
NERA compounds the presumption problem. For violent crimes covered by the No Early Release Act, you must serve 85% of your sentence before parole eligibility. No good behavior credits. No early release programs. 85% is the floor. A 10-year sentence under NERA means 8.5 years minimum. A 20-year sentence means 17 years. These are enormous blocks of time that can't be negotiated or reduced once the sentence is imposed.
Spodek Law Group has handled cases were the difference between NERA and non-NERA classifications changed outcomes by years. Sometimes the facts of a case place it right at the boundary between a NERA-eligible offense and one that isnt. Challenging the classification, negotiating the charges, or presenting evidence that shifts how the conduct is characterized - these are the strategic decisions that determine wether your serving 85% of a decade or getting parole consideration much sooner.
How Ordinary People Become Second-Degree Defendants
Some defendants are career criminals. Most arent. Most people facing serious charges in Essex County are ordinary people who found themselves in extraordinary circumstances. Understanding how this happens reveals something important about the New Jersey criminal justice system - its remarkably easy to cross the line from law-abiding citizen to second-degree defendant.
Consider firearms. You legally own a handgun in Pennsylvania or Florida. You have a permit. You've followed every law in your home state. You drive into New Jersey for a business meeting, and your pulled over for a traffic violation. The officer asks about weapons. You tell the truth - there's a legally purchased, properly registered handgun in your vehicle. Congratulations: your now facing a second-degree charge for unlawful possession of a weapon. No intent to commit any crime. No threat to public safety. Just a legal gun that crossed an invisible line on the highway.
New Jersey has some of the strictest gun laws in the country. Permits from other states mean nothing here. Transporting a firearm through the state - even locked and unloaded - can trigger felony-level charges if the technical requirements arent met precisely. Defendants in these cases are often stunned. They followed every law they knew about. They didn't know New Jersey operates under completely different rules.
Or consider drug charges. Posession of more then a certain quantity of controlled substances triggers an automatic presumption of intent to distribute. The threshold amounts are lower then most people expect. What looks like personal use quantity to a layperson looks like distribution quantity to a prosecutor. And distribution charges carry second-degree penalties in many cases.
Domestic disputes escalate. Bar fights cause injuries. Financial desperation leads to decisions that look like fraud. Car accidents involving impairment become vehicular assault or vehicular homicide. The line between misdemeanor-level conduct and serious indictable offenses is thinner than most people realize until they've crossed it.
This is why having experienced representation matters from the earliest possible moment. The charging decision itself is sometimes negotiable. The way facts are characterized affects what degree of offense applies. Evidence that seems damning might have gaps that an experienced defense attorney recognizes. Ordinary people facing extraordinary charges need attorneys who understand that the goal isnt just "less prison time" - its sometimes avoiding conviction entirely or reducing charges to levels that dont carry mandatory incarceration.
Fighting Indictable Charges in Essex County
Essex County handles one of the highest volumes of criminal cases in New Jersey. The Newark courthouse processes thousands of indictments annually. The prosecutors office is experienced, well-staffed, and aggressive. If your facing indictable charges here, your not dealing with a sleepy county court - your dealing with one of the most active criminal justice systems in the state.
This cuts both ways. High volume means prosecutors have to make triage decisions. Not every case gets the same attention. Cases with weak evidence, procedural problems, or sympathetic defendants sometimes get more favorable treatment simply becuase prosecutors cant fight every battle at maximum intensity. An experienced defense attorney understands where the pressure points are and how to exploit them.
The Newark Municipal Court handles lower-level offenses. Superior Court handles indictable offenses. The switch from municipal to Superior Court changes everything - different judges, different prosecutors, different procedural rules, and dramatically higher stakes. Defendants who handled a previous municipal court matter on there own sometimes assume they can do the same in Superior Court. This is a mistake. The complexity, the stakes, and the opposition are all at a completly different level.
Grand jury proceedings in Essex County follow predictable patterns. Cases are presented efficiently. Indictments issue routinely. But the process creates opportunities for defense - if the defense acts before the grand jury votes. Pre-indictment conferences, evidence challenges, and negotiations all happen in this window. Missing it means fighting a harder battle later.
Trial in Superior Court is an option, but most cases dont reach trial. The conviction rate at trial is high because prosecutors generally only take strong cases to verdict. Weak cases get dismissed or negotiated down. Understanding this dynamic is critical - sometimes the best defense strategy isn't about winning at trial but about forcing favorable negotiations before trial becomes necessary.
Spodek Law Group fights indictable cases in Essex County because we understand how this particular system works. The prosecutors here. The judges here. The grand jury process here. Every county has its own culture and its own patterns. What works in Camden might not work in Essex. What worked last year might not work this year. Effective defense requires current, local knowledge combined with aggressive advocacy.
Your facing charges that carry years in prison, permanent criminal records, and consequences that extend far beyond your sentence. The presumption of incarceration for serious offenses means the system starts from a position of putting you away. The question is what your going to do about it.
Call us at 888-997-4071. The pre-indictment window is short. The grand jury meets weekly. Decisions are being made about your case right now - and you should have representation in the room when those decisions happen. Wether your facing first degree charges with 20-year exposure or fourth degree charges that could still derail your life, early aggressive defense is the difference between outcomes you can live with and outcomes that change everything.
