🔴 Man serving 7-year prison sentence wins appeal
🔴 Arrest made at crime hotspot where one teenager was killed and four others injured in shooting
🔴 He had previously fled from the police and had a weapon at that time too
PATERSON – An appeals court has ruled in favor of a Passaic County man who was found to have a gun and drugs in his belt pouch during a police search.
Javarus Patterson, 21, pleaded guilty last year to second-degree possession of a handgun and two third-degree drug offenses.
On June 7, 2023, he was sentenced to seven years in prison.
But on Monday, Patterson won his appeal, saying Paterson police violated his rights when they searched his fanny pack.
Arrest at a crime hotspot
Patterson was arrested in June 2022. He was one of 10 people Paterson police found standing at the corner of Madison and Essex Streets.
Investigators knew the area was a crime “hotspot,” court documents show. A month earlier, a 15-year-old girl was shot there. Four men between the ages of 21 and 32 were injured in the same shooting.
Shooting in the area of Madison Street and Essex Street in Paterson, 11.05.22
A detective recognized Patterson because he had fled from police a year earlier in 2021. According to court documents, the detective pursued the then 17-year-old for four blocks and found a gun.
During the 2022 search, police noticed Patterson's fanny pack and felt the front. The detective testified in court that he felt the handle and barrel of a gun.
Police said they found a loaded pistol in the belt pouch. “I firmly believe the state has fulfilled its duty,” the trial judge said.
SEE ALSO: Missing child found safe during midnight alarm in Mercer County, NJ
Javarus Patterson (NJ DOC)
Court of Appeal overturns unlawful search
However, Monday's appeal decision said there was insufficient reason to search Patterson's fanny pack.
“We conclude that the fact that the defendant was in a hot spot and had previously owned firearms does not provide a sufficiently objective inference that the defendant was in possession of a handgun,” the court wrote.
The deal was scrapped.
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