State of New Jersey v. Zaire R. Evans, A-3718-21/A-0298-22

Zaire R. Evans was indicted in connection with a 2001 shooting and convicted by a jury on multiple charges including aggravated manslaughter and third-degree unlawful possession of a weapon.
The trial court initially issued a judgment of conviction (JOC) with some count numbering discrepancies due to re-numbering after a robbery count was dismissed pretrial.
The Appellate Division remanded for resentencing specific counts but otherwise affirmed the convictions and sentences; on remand, the aggregate sentence was modified but not increased.
Multiple subsequent JOCs were issued attempting to correct clerical or numbering errors, resulting in confusion and an incorrect statutory citation (subsection (d) instead of (b)) for the weapon possession charge.
Evans sought reconsideration and modification based partly on not being present for the clerical amendments, arguing due process and alleged substantive sentencing errors.
The appellate panel considered these consolidated appeals, ultimately affirming the lower court’s decision but remanding solely for technical correction of the statutory citation in the JOC.

Issue	Evans's Argument	State's Argument	Held
Whether clerical errors in the JOC rendered the sentence illegal	Evans was not present and could not object to changes	Amendments were administrative, not new sentencing	Correction of clerical errors does not trigger right to be present; sentence not illegal
Whether the JOC incorrectly cited the statutory basis for weapons offense	Incorrect subsection cited may affect conviction status	Errors were technical; conviction under correct statute	Remand for correction to cite correct statute (2C:39-5(b))
Whether due process required Evans to be present for JOC changes	Evans’s presence required for any modification	Only required for substantive re-sentencing, not clerical	No due process violation; presence not required
Whether Evans was entitled to youthful offender consideration	Requested reconsideration based on post-conviction factors	Not applicable given the procedural setting	Youthful offender status not required

State v. Hyland, 238 N.J. 135 (N.J. 2019) (defining narrow categories of illegal sentences)
State v. Randolph, 210 N.J. 330 (N.J. 2012) (technical errors do not require new sentencing proceeding)
State v. Robinson, 217 N.J. 594 (N.J. 2014) (distinguishing between remands for technical corrections and new sentencing)
State v. Zola, 112 N.J. 384 (N.J. 1988) (right of defendant to be present and speak at sentencing)