Returning to sentencing downgrades under the broader “in the interests of justice standard”, the defendant must provide compelling reasons for the downgrade in addition to, and separate from, the mitigating factors which substantially outweigh the aggravating factors. State v. Megargel, 143 N.J. 484, 496-502 (1996). The focus is not on the offender, but on the […]

In State v. E.R., 273 N.J . Super. 262 (App. Div. 1994), an amended judgment of conviction was imposed upon defendant, E.R., for two second degree crimes.  Id. at 264. By the terms of the amended judgment, the trial court’s seven year prison sentence was vacated and the defendant was re-sentenced to probation for a […]

Additionally, the two statutes address two qualitatively different criminal law situations. Id. 2C :44-l(d) governs imprisonment versus non-imprisonment, a more serious condition, while section 2C :44-lf(2) governs whether or not a defendant convicted of a crime should be sentenced as if convicted of a crime one degree lower. Id. This means that a first or […]

Although our legislature mandates that persons convicted of first or second-degree crimes must be sentenced to prison, as opposed to probation, there are limited circumstances where defendant can still receive a sentencing downgrade to probation for a first or second-degree crime. Note that probation as used here refers to “standard probation” as opposed to drug […]