TRENTON — About a year ago, convicted rapist James Smith wanted copies of his entire court record including discovery, pleadings, transcripts, briefs, orders and other materials generated from his case. A motion judge denied his request, so Smith asked an appeals court to reconsider.
Smith, 32, a former truck driver from Vineland, is serving a 105-year prison sentence for the early morning Aug. 7, 2000 abduction of two teenagers from the Ocean City Boardwalk. According to a Herald report from that time, Smith ambushed boy and girl, both 17 and from Perkasie, Pa., at knifepoint, kidnapping the girl. He drove the victim to a remote area of Maurice River Township where he raped her repeatedly before beating her and leaving her for dead gagged and tied to a tree.
According to the appellate decision, Smith asked for court records to prepare an application to the trial court. Smith previously had been given copies, but said they “were destroyed by prison officials during several cell searches, which resulted in several lockdowns.”
The motion judge found that prisoners can ask for these documents if “a copy of the transcript of the record, testimony and proceedings at the trial is necessary for the filing of any application with the trial court,” but the court doesn’t have to provide a second set.
In his appeal, Smith said the trial court erred by refusing to provide an indigent defendant a free copy of the record and violating his right of meaningful access to the courts.
The appeals court affirmed the motion judge’s order saying that Smith should have asked for copies of the record from other sources, such as the Public Defender’s Office or his lawyer from earlier proceedings, rather than requesting another copy at the taxpayers’ expense.
“We agree with the motion judge’s determination…that defendant was not entitled to relief until at least such time as he exhausted other potential sources for the recovery of these materials,” the court’s opinion stated.
In the end, the appeals court said it really didn’t matter.
Since Smith first asked for the copies and filed his appeal, he has likely received all or most of the records he requested through other sources.
According to the state Department of Corrections, Smith is a resident of the New Jersey State Prison in Trenton, Mercer County. His projected max release date is listed as May 8, 2055.
Contact Hart at (609) 886-8600 Ext 35 or at: jhart@cmcherald.com
