New Jersey Criminal Defense Blog

New Jersey’s Supreme Court reinstated child sexual assault convictions recently for a man who claimed that his confession should not have been presented in his trial. According to details in this news report, John Nyhammer's 2003 convictions on aggravated sexual assault in New Jersey and child endangerment charges had been overturned when an appeals court ruled that he had not voluntarily waived his rights against self-incrimination.

Investigating detectives say that they obtained a waiver of Miranda rights signed by Nyhammer while they were interviewing him. The detectives questioned Nyhammer about whether or not his uncle had sexually abused a younger relative and asked if Nyhammer had suffered abuse as a child. They told him that the younger relative had made allegations against him and Nyhammer later admitted making inappropriate contact. This admission was presented in court and Nyhammer was convicted and sentenced to 18 years in prison.

But the conviction was overturned by an appeals court that said that the confession has been involuntary. In a unanimous decision, the New Jersey Supreme Court disagreed saying, "The defining event triggering the need to give Miranda warnings is custody, not police suspicions concerning an individual's possible role in a crime."