State v. Ingram

Albert Ingram (defendant) was indicted on a number of state criminal counts in New Jersey, including two counts of unlawfully disposing of or abandoning hazardous waste. Ingram allegedly dumped the waste at a United States Army Corps of Engineers site located in the state. Ingram moved to have these two charges dismissed under two alternative theories. Ingram’s first assertion claimed that because the alleged activity occurred on federal property, the charges should have been brought in federal court. Ingram’s second motion for dismissal claimed that an essential element of the charge was that the disposal or abandonment of the hazardous waste had to have occurred within the territory of the state and that the prosecution had failed to prove this element because the alleged activity occurred on federal land. The state conceded that the land in question was federally owned but claimed that a section of the Federal Solid Waste Disposal Act (42 U.S.C. § 6961) waived federal sovereignty over the matter and granted New Jersey the right to regulate the disposal of hazardous waste within the state. The court held in an oral ruling that the state had put forth sufficient evidence to establish territorial jurisdiction over the matter and therefore dismissed Ingram’s motions. Ingram was convicted on all counts. The court, however, reserved for itself the right to further research the jurisdictional issue over the two counts related to the federal site and to issue a later written opinion.