New Jersey State maintains pretrial intervention program (“PTI”). The program allows individuals to avoid prosecution for the charges pending against them. PTI goal is to rehabilitate individuals and return them to the community without criminal conviction. The program is not for everyone, and has a list of limitations and criteria outlined under N.J.S 2C:43-12. Additional PTI criteria requirements have been promulgated by the Supreme Court under Rule 3:28, which among other things adds time requirements for PTI submission: Application for pretrial intervention shall be made at the earliest possible opportunity, including before indictment, but in any event no later than twenty-eight days after indictment. (emphasis added). Is there anything that can be done by individuals, that are otherwise PTI eligible, but missed the 28-day filing time frame? One obvious answer is “it depends” on the circumstances of that individual. The “it depends” phrase also implies that the 28-day rule can be applied flexibly. The extend of flexibility depends on the prosecutor. Prosecutor has great discretion to decide whether a defendant should be admitted into PTI. State v. Wallace, 146 N.J. 576, 582 (N.J. 1996). The discretion includes prosecutorial consent to apply for PTI “out of time.” State v. Horner, 2012…
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