Christopher Carrigan, 52, argued that prosecutors unfairly used his driving abstract during his 2012 trial in Ocean County, but the two-judge panel said his use of that information first opened the door for prosecutors to reveal his lengthy suspension record.
TRENTON -- A Neptune man with nearly two dozen license suspensions wasn't prejudiced unfairly when prosecutors were allowed to use his driving abstract at trial for his most recent conviction, an appellate panel concluded on Thursday.
Christopher Carrigan, 52, argued that prosecutors unfairly used his driving abstract during his 2012 trial in Ocean County, but the two-judge panel said his use of that information first opened the door for prosecutors to reveal his lengthy suspension record.
The ruling comes from Carrigan's appeal of his 2013 conviction for driving on a suspended license after having two or more convictions for driving under the influence.
Carrigan tried to get that conviction overturned by arguing that his case was prejudiced when a trial judge let jurors hear his entire driving abstract. According to court records, Carrigan was convicted 23 times for illegally driving with a license that was either suspended or revoked between 1983 and 2010.
He was also convicted at least 13 times for driving while intoxicated and twice for refusing to submit to a Breathalyzer test.
Prosecutors contended they only used his driving abstract after he used it to try to argue that he didn't know how and when the various suspensions went into effect.
"He asserts it was error for the court to allow his entire driving abstract into evidence and the trial judge misapplied the 'opening the door doctrine,'" judges Richard S. Hoffman and Mary Gibbons Whipple wrote in their six-page opinion.
Carrigan's conviction - from a Sept. 23, 2011, arrest in Seaside Park - was under a relatively new law making driving with a suspended or revoked license a fourth-degree crime punishable by up to 18 months in prison if a motorist has had two or more previous convictions for driving under the influence.
He was arrested after Seaside Park police charged him with driving with a suspended license and driving under the influence of alcohol.
Carrigan challenged that new law in another appeal, this time from a dwi conviction in 2012 relating to a motor vehicle stop in Manchester on Sept. 27, 2011, according to court documents. At that time, his last arrest was Oct. 22, 2010, also in Manchester. That was the same year his license was suspended for 10 years because of a DUI conviction.
MaryAnn Spoto may be reached at mspoto@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @MaryAnnSpoto. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
