STATE OF NEW JERSEY VS. YOMAIRA SENCION STATE OF NEW JERSEY VS. JUAN F. SANTANA STATE OF NEW JERSEY VS. ROBERTO PEREZ-GARCIA STATE OF NEW JERSEY VS. WILLIAM R. JEREZ (13-08-1177, BERGEN COUNTY AND STATEWIDE) (CONSOLIDATED) - Published

The court reverses the denial of defendants' motion to suppress drugs and guns found after a plain view sighting through the open door of an apartment. The police used a tool to force entry into the locked apartment building twice before approaching the fourth-floor apartment door. The State, conceding a lack of probable cause, argued that the forced entry into the building did not violate defendants' expectation of privacy because of the size of the apartment building. The court refused to "condone the police forcing entry into a locked residential apartment building while on an investigative hunt for suspected criminal activity."