Travis J. Tormey and Christopher Perry of the Tormey Law Firm recently defended a client against two separate felony charges, including drug crime charges, in Essex County Superior Court, which is located in Newark, New Jersey. The client did not have any kind of prior criminal record, but he still faced severe penalties if convicted on the very serious criminal charges.
The charges had the potential to cause significant problems for the client’s life and career. That’s because he worked for the Newark NJ school system and was suspended from his job while the criminal charges remained pending. As a result, it was extremely important to get these charges resolved so that our client could maintain his employment and return to work.
The first charge our client faced was endangering the welfare of a child. The basis for the charge was an allegation that he somehow bruised the eye of a young boy. The boy was his girlfriend’s son from another relationship. There were zero witnesses to the alleged violent incident. Moreover, the child was so young that it was very possible that he sustained his injury by accidentally bumping his head, as children sometimes do. Beyond that, the client’s girlfriend, the mother of the injured child, did not even accuse the client of causing the injury; the accusation was brought by the child’s grandmother, who was not even present at any time during our client’s interaction with the child.
Another factor weighing in our client’s favor was the fact that he was no longer involved in a dating relationship with the child’s mother. As a result, she had absolutely no motive or reason to lie on his behalf. In other words: her statements that our client had nothing to do with the child’s injuries were extremely credible.
Ultimately, Travis Tormey was successful in getting the criminal charges for child endangerment dismissed. That’s because the State lacked evidence and was unable to prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt.
The second charge our client faced was for marijuana distribution. The client was on his lunch break from work and had stopped by a Newark bodega to visit his friend. At the same time, Newark detectives were conducting an investigation into potential drug activity at the store. In a case of terrible timing, police officers raided the store at the same time that our client was present. Although our client had done nothing wrong, he was charged with a felony-level offense for distribution of marijuana and faced significant time in prison because Newark police found a large quantity of marijuana inside the bodega.
Fortunately for our client, he had the Tormey Law Firm on his side throughout the case. Travis J. Tormey spoke with witnesses and highlighted evidence that exonerated our client of the drug charges. Eventually, someone else who was present at the store took responsibility for the drugs and pleaded guilty to marijuana distribution charges. Our client was exonerated as a result of this plea, so prosecutors dropped the criminal charges against him.
Travis J. Tormey worked on both of these cases for a year-and-a-half and made more than 15 court appearances on behalf of the client. Ultimately, Mr. Tormey’s hard work was rewarded and he was able to get all of the client’s criminal charges dismissed in court. This was a tremendous outcome for our client and a major win for the Tormey Law Firm LLC.