STATE OF NEW JERSEY, PLAINTIFF-RESPONDENT, v. RONALD L. FRANKLIN, DEFENDANT-APPELLANT.
Supreme Court of New Jersey
February 26, 2003
815 A.2d 964 | 175 N.J. 456
Argued October 8, 2002
For affirming—Chief Justice PORITZ and Justices COLEMAN, LONG, VERNIERO, LaVECCHIA, ZAZZALI and ALBIN—7.
Opposed—None.
J. Michael Blake, Assistant Deputy Public Defender, argued the cause for appellant (Yvonne Smith Segars, Public Defender, attorney).
Mark P. Stalford, Assistant Prosecutor, argued the cause for respondent (John A. Kaye, Monmouth County Prosecutor, attorney).
The opinion of the Court was delivered by
ALBIN, J.
This case requires us to resolve whether juveniles are entitled to the same rights as adults with respect to “gap-time” credit and, if so, whether gap-time applies to a period of imprisonment served after a parole revocation. The gap-time statute,
We now hold that juveniles are entitled to the same equitable remedy as adults with respect to gap-time credit. We also conclude that gap-time credit applies to the period of imprisonment served on the first sentence after a parole revocation.
I.
Ronald L. Franklin committed three crimes within five days of each other. On July 16, 1992, Franklin was arrested in Asbury Park for possession of heroin, an act of delinquency which, if committed by an adult, would constitute third-degree possession of a controlled dangerous substance in violation of
On August 14, 1992, Franklin entered a plea of guilty to the heroin offense at a delinquency proceeding in the Chancery Division, Family Part, and was sentenced to an indeterminate term of incarceration not to exceed two years. That term of incarceration was to be served at the New Jersey State Training School for Boys and Girls at Jamesburg.
On September 24, 1992, on motion by the prosecutor, the Family Part waived jurisdiction to the Law Division on the robbery offenses, permitting the prosecution of Franklin as though he were an adult. Eight months later, on May 20, 1993, Franklin was indicted by a grand jury for the robbery offenses.
On June 14, 1993, Franklin was placed on parole for the juvenile heroin offense. Unfortunately, he did not use his freedom wisely. On July 30, 1993, he was arrested for various offenses, including possession of a controlled dangerous substance, cocaine, with intent to distribute within 1000 feet of school property (distribution offense or distribution charge). His release on bail for the distribution offense was short-lived. On August 9, 1993, Franklin was again arrested and this time incarcerated for violating the conditions of his parole on the juvenile heroin offense, specifically, for failing to maintain employment and to refrain from possessing or using a controlled dangerous substance. At a hearing in November 1993, Franklin did not contest the parole violation. His parole was revoked, and a new parole eligibility date on the heroin offense was set for June 1, 1994.
On April 28, 1994, pursuant to a plea agreement with the State, Franklin pled guilty to the robbery charges and to the 1993 distribution charge. In exchange for the plea, the State recommended that Franklin receive seven-year concurrent prison terms on the robbery charges, to run concurrent to the time he was then serving on the heroin offense after revocation of his parole, and a
Franklin filed a motion for post conviction relief seeking gap-time credit toward the robbery sentences for the time he served on the heroin offense before and after his parole revocation. The motion judge concluded that gap-time applied to a juvenile sentence, but only awarded Franklin 304 days of gap-time credit toward the robbery offenses, the period from the date of his sentence on the juvenile heroin offense until the date of his parole for that offense.
Franklin‘s appeal was heard on the Appellate Division‘s excessive sentencing oral argument calendar. The two-judge panel affirmed the motion judge, denying Franklin gap-time credit for the period after his parole revocation.
We granted Franklin‘s petition for certification, 171 N.J. 442, 794 A.2d 181 (2002), to determine whether gap-time credit applies to time served following a violation of parole. In addressing this issue, we must first decide whether gap-time credit applies to a juvenile term of imprisonment. We also granted the motion of the Attorney General to participate as amicus.
II.
A.
“Gap-time” is a subject more difficult to articulate than understand; it need not send shivers of fear down the spines of those who practice criminal law. The gap-time provision in our Code of
When a defendant who has previously been sentenced to imprisonment is subsequently sentenced to another term for an offense committed prior to the former sentence, other than an offense committed while in custody:
....
(2) Whether the court determines that the terms shall run concurrently or consecutively, the defendant shall be credited with time served in imprisonment on the prior sentence in determining the permissible aggregate length of the term or terms remaining to be served....
[
N.J.S.A. 2C:44-5b(2) .]
This Court has previously noted that the statute‘s general purpose “is to avoid manipulation of trial dates to the disadvantage of defendants and to put defendants in the same position that they would have been ‘had the two offenses been tried at the same time.‘” Booker v. New Jersey State Parole Bd., 136 N.J. 257, 260, 642 A.2d 984 (1994) (quoting Model Penal Code § 7.06 commentary at 278 (1962)). The intent of the statute is to “counteract any dilatory tactics of the prosecutor in pursuing a conviction for an earlier offense after a defendant has been sentenced on another offense.” State v. Carreker, 172 N.J. 100, 105, 796 A.2d 847 (2002) (quoting State v. Hall, 206 N.J.Super. 547, 550, 503 A.2d 344 (App.Div.1985) (internal quotation marks omitted)).
The three-prong test for entitlement to gap-time credit requires a showing that (1) the defendant has been sentenced previously to a term of imprisonment, (2) the defendant is sentenced subsequently to another term, and (3) both offenses occurred prior to the imposition of the first sentence. Carreker, supra, 172 N.J. at 105, 796 A.2d 847 (citing State v. French, 313 N.J.Super. 457, 461, 712 A.2d 1281 (Law Div.1997)). “If those elements are established, then the defendant must be awarded credit for the time served on the prior sentence when the ‘permissible aggregate length of the term or terms’ is determined.” Carreker, supra, 172 N.J. at 105, 796 A.2d 847 (quoting
The facts of this case present a straightforward application of the concept of gap-time. Franklin committed the heroin and
We are aware that the gap-time statute may give a defendant a windfall benefit in those circumstances where there is no purposeful delay in the scheduling of sentencing and the sentences cannot be imposed on the same day for practical purposes. In this case, the prosecution moved to have Franklin tried as an adult on the robbery offenses, a procedure that necessarily ensured that a disposition of the robbery and heroin offenses could not be accommodated on the same date.
On the other hand, the gap-time statute was intended to alleviate the lost opportunity to a defendant by the type of gap between sentences as occurred here, a twenty-two month interruption between the two sentences. It must also be recognized that a defendant who is denied the chance to be sentenced to concurrent terms for separate offenses on the same day may never be made whole for that lost opportunity because gap-time credit comes off the back end and not the front end of a sentence.1 Although in
In this case, if Franklin had been sentenced to adult terms of imprisonment on both the heroin and robbery offenses, there is no question that he would be entitled to gap-time credit for at least the time served before parole on the heroin offense. We must now determine whether he should be denied gap-time credit because of his status as a juvenile.
B.
The gap-time credit statute,
Our Legislature explicitly provided in the Juvenile Code that “[a]ll defenses available to an adult charged with a crime,” and all rights guaranteed to adult criminal defendants under the Federal and State Constitutions (except indictment, trial by jury, and bail), are to be afforded to a juvenile.
A boy is charged with misconduct. The boy is committed to an institution where he may be restrained of liberty for years. It is of no constitutional consequence—and of limited practical meaning—that the institution to which he is committed is called an Industrial School. The fact of the matter is that, however euphemistic the title, a “receiving home” or an “industrial school” for juveniles is an institution of confinement in which the child is incarcerated for a greater or lesser time. His
world becomes “a building with whitewashed walls, regimented routine and institutional hours....” Instead of mother and father and sisters and brothers and friends and classmates, his world is peopled by guards, custodians, state employees, and “delinquents” confined with him for anything from waywardness to rape and homicide.
[387 U.S. at 27, 87 S.Ct. at 1443, 18 L.Ed.2d at 546 (footnote citations omitted).]
As our notions of juvenile justice have evolved, there has come the increasing recognition that while “rehabilitation remains a primary goal of the Juvenile Code[,] [n]evertheless, the Juvenile Code also reflects a correlative emphasis on public safety and deterrence.” State in the Interest of J.L.A., 136 N.J. 370, 377-78, 643 A.2d 538 (1994). In 1995, in amending the statement of purposes of the Juvenile Code, the Legislature underscored that, in addition to promoting rehabilitation, the sanctions available against juveniles are “designed to promote accountability and protect the public.”
Although gap-time credit is not a constitutional right, juveniles are nevertheless entitled to “defenses available to an adult,” which in a broad sense may be deemed to encompass sentencing alternatives available to adults, particularly those with public policy objectives that would be advanced in both adult and juvenile cases. Gap-time credit has the laudable goal of encouraging speedy disposition of multiple charges filed against a defendant to ensure fairness in sentencing. This is not a goal unique to the adult sentencing scheme.
Our courts have not hesitated to export provisions of the Rules of Court or the Code of Criminal Justice applicable to adults to expand the sentencing options of the Family Court in juvenile
In light of the litany of cases, all of which expand the rights of juveniles to those afforded their adult counterpart, we perceive no reason why the juvenile should not receive credit for time spent in custody. It has not been suggested, nor can we conceive of a reason, why custody credit would be detrimental to the rehabilitative process of the juvenile. Absent a cogent reason to treat the juvenile differently, we deem it a matter of fundamental fairness that the juvenile receive credit for predisposition custody.
In State in the Interest of J.L.A., supra, 136 N.J. at 371-72, 643 A.2d 538, this Court addressed whether the Family Court had the authority to impose consecutive sentences of imprisonment on juveniles who had committed two or more acts of delinquency. The Juvenile Code‘s silence on the subject contrasted with the express authority conferred by the Code of Criminal Justice allowing for the imposition of consecutive sentences. Id. at 372, 383, 643 A.2d 538. We held that absent a statutory expression to the contrary, the judiciary, including the Family Court, possessed the inherent power to impose consecutive sentences for separate offenses. Id. at 374, 382-83, 643 A.2d 538. We thus declined to attribute to the Legislature the intent to prohibit consecutive sentences in juvenile cases when appropriate. Id. at 380, 643 A.2d 538. In reaching that conclusion, we noted that the policies of the Juvenile Code were deterrence and punishment as well as rehabilitation. Id. at 376-79, 643 A.2d 538.
The Attorney General argues that the Juvenile Code provides for “incarceration” as a potential disposition for a juvenile,
Section 25 provides for terms of incarceration for delinquent acts. Specifically, this bill establishes aggravating and mitigating circumstances for the court to consider in determining whether or not to incarcerate a juvenile.
....
This section also provides for presumption of imprisonment for certain serious crimes, such as criminal homicide, robbery, sexual assault and kidnapping, among others. Practically, this presumption may encourage less dependency on waiver of a juvenile to adult court, because of some assurance that the juvenile committing a serious crime would possibly receive a more appropriate disposition in the juvenile system.
[Senate Judiciary Committee Statement to Assembly Bill No. 641; L. 1982, c. 77, § 25, reprinted after
N.J.S.A. 2A:4A-20 (emphasis added).]
Our case law, moreover, makes clear that the term “imprisonment” does not have the concrete, immutable meaning suggested by the Attorney General. See State v. O‘Connor, 105 N.J. 399, 408, 522 A.2d 423 (1987) (declining to hold that “the term ‘imprisonment’ should have the same meaning throughout the Code‘s sentencing provisions“); French, supra, 313 N.J.Super. at 467, 712 A.2d 1281 (holding that gap-time credit applies to municipal court sentence served in state prison because term imprisonment “appears to be as broad as the word ‘incarceration’ ... [and] there does not appear to be a particular meaning in this [gap-time] statute to the word ‘imprisonment’ “). See also Webster‘s New Third International Dictionary (1981) (defining incarcerate as “to put in prison: imprison,” from French word “carcer,” meaning prison, and Latin word “incarceratus“).
Permitting juveniles to receive the benefit of gap-time is consistent with the policies behind
We do not envision that granting gap-time to juveniles will detract from any of the policies, including the goal of rehabilitation, supporting the Juvenile Code. The Attorney General‘s argument that juvenile sentences are shorter in length than adult sentences does not alter our analysis. We note that the periods of incarceration to which a juvenile may be sentenced range from six months to twenty years, with even longer terms available for repeat offenders.
Subtracting 106 days from the back end of a fifty-year sentence does not confer any considerable benefit on most offenders because those offenders with long parole bars will have “maxed out” long before the credit becomes relevant. On the other hand, in cases of relatively short sentences involving a fairly substantial period of gap time, ... the credits serve a valid legislative purpose.
That a juvenile sentence may be shorter than an adult sentence should have no bearing on whether gap-time accrues while a juvenile is serving a term of incarceration because the harm caused by a delay in sentencing is the same. We therefore conclude that a juvenile term of incarceration qualifies as a term of imprisonment under
III.
We must next determine whether Franklin is entitled to gap-time credit for the period he served in custody following his arrest on the violation of parole. Franklin was arrested for that violation on August 9, 1993, did not contest the charges at his parole revocation hearing, and served the remainder of his sentence on the heroin offense until his release on May 26, 1994. Franklin was not sentenced on the robbery offenses until June 10,
Parole is the conditional release of an inmate from confinement for conviction of an offense, subject to the terms set forth by the New Jersey State Parole Board. State v. Black, 153 N.J. 438, 447, 710 A.2d 428 (1998). See also
A revocation of parole does not lead to the imposition of a new sentence, but to the continuation of the original sentence. In Black, supra, we determined that principles of double jeopardy and fundamental fairness were not violated in a case where a defendant who failed to report to his parole officer was subject to both parole revocation and criminal prosecution for absconding while on parole. In that case, we addressed the “essential purpose and essential effect” of parole revocation:
Revocation of parole or probation is regarded as reinstatement of the sentence for the underlying crime, not as punishment for the conduct leading to the revocation. Parole and probation are part of the original sentence.
[153 N.J. at 450, 710 A.2d 428 (quoting United States v. Brown, 59 F.3d 102, 104-05 (9th Cir.1995)) (citations omitted).]
So, for example, when Franklin was taken into custody on the parole warrant, his “confinement [was] attributable to the original offense on which the parole was granted and not to any offense or offenses committed during [his] release.” Black, supra, 153 N.J. at 461, 710 A.2d 428. In State v. Hunt, 272 N.J.Super. 182, 185, 639 A.2d 411 (App.Div.1993), certif. denied, 137 N.J. 307, 645 A.2d 126 (1994), the defendant was denied gap-time credit toward the offense that caused the revocation of his parole. The Appellate Division, however, asserted the well-accepted principle that imprisonment after a parole revocation “does not constitute a new sentencing event within the contemplation of
The underlying purpose of the gap-time credit statute—to give an incentive for the early disposition of a case where the defendant may have the opportunity for a concurrent sentence—certainly applies to the period after a revocation of parole. Of the twenty-two month delay between sentencing on the heroin and robbery charges, ten months of lost opportunity occurred after the parole revocation. Had Franklin been sentenced on the robbery charges on August 9, 1993, instead of June 10, 1994, he presumably would have received the full benefit of concurrent sentences based on the plea offer eventually extended to him.
We see no countervailing public policy rationale for denying gap-time credit for the period after parole revocation. In those circumstances, such as here, where a defendant commits a new crime while on parole, he faces new charges and the potential for an expanded prison sentence. Franklin received a consecutive five-year state prison term with a two-year parole disqualifier for the drug distribution charge that caused the revocation of his parole. He was not entitled to and did not receive any gap-time credit for this new offense. See Hunt, supra, 272 N.J.Super. at 185, 639 A.2d 411. Franklin thus received his “just deserts” for the distribution offense, not only by the reinstatement of his sentence on the heroin offense as a result of his parole revocation, but also by the punishment imposed for the distribution offense.
Last, we cannot agree with our dissenting colleagues’ statutory analysis in support of denying gap-time credit for time served after a parole revocation. The dissent correctly notes that
We therefore conclude that Franklin is entitled to gap-time credit for time served in custody on the heroin offense from the date of his arrest for violating parole until his sentencing on the robbery offenses. Accordingly, we reverse the judgment of the Appellate Division and remand to the trial court for the calculation and award of gap-time credit toward the sentences imposed on Franklin‘s robbery offenses consistent with this opinion.
VERNIERO, J., concurring in part, dissenting in part.
I concur in that part of the Court‘s holding that applies the gap-time calculation to time served on a juvenile sentence. I agree with the rationale expressed in the majority‘s opinion. I find additional support in this Court‘s recent decision in State in re J.D.H., 171 N.J. 475, 795 A.2d 851 (2002). In that case, a juvenile argued that the police had intercepted a telephone conversation between himself and the victim of his sexual assault in violation of
Somewhat ironically, the juvenile‘s argument in J.D.H. mirrored that which the State is asserting here, namely, that a criminal statute should not apply to juvenile conduct in view of the purported differences between acts of “delinquency” and adult “crimes.” The juvenile contended “that the Wiretap Act‘s use of the phrase
I reason similarly in this case. I find no persuasive indication in the text or history of the gap-time statute that the Legislature intended it to apply only to adult sentences. I acknowledge that there are distinct differences between juvenile and adult proceedings. But because they yield the same result, i.e., deprivation of a person‘s liberty, juvenile and adult sentences should be treated uniformly for purposes of the gap-time calculation. See State v. Carreker, 172 N.J. 100, 116, 796 A.2d 847 (2002) (favoring uniform application of gap-time statute unless such application “run[s] counter to the statute‘s language and underlying policy rationale“).
I part company with my colleagues with respect to their conclusion that defendant is entitled to gap-time credit for that portion of his first sentence that he served after his subsequent criminal behavior resulted in a revocation of parole and re-incarceration. That conclusion is contrary to what I believe lawmakers would have intended in these circumstances. As the majority correctly notes, the gap-time statute at its root is grounded in equitable considerations. Ante at 459, 815 A.2d at 965-66 (characterizing gap-time credit as “equitable remedy“). In my view, however, those considerations require us to deny gap-time credit when a defendant violates parole and is re-incarcerated as a direct result of that conduct. Consistent with the majority‘s own equitable paradigm, I conclude that an award of gap-time credit to defendant in the face of his parole revocation constitutes an unwarranted benefit not contemplated by the Legislature.
Although the statute‘s legislative history is sketchy, we have surmised that the purpose of gap time “is to mitigate the possible manipulation of sentences by prosecutors who might delay a criminal indictment even when an inmate is available for disposi-
The same concept is applicable in this case. The time served for which defendant seeks credit resulted from a revocation of parole due to his subsequent acts, not from any manipulation by prosecutors. This is roughly similar to when an inmate commits a crime while in custody, the result being that the inmate‘s ultimate term of incarceration is extended to incorporate the additional offense. In that circumstance the statute expressly prohibits an award of gap-time credit. See
I do not suggest that courts undertake a fact-sensitive analysis each time they are presented with a gap-time application. In most instances a gap-time award is non-discretionary. We do not want sentencing courts to engage in lengthy hearings to determine whether idiosyncratic factors warrant a particular gap-time calculation. My intended disposition would not require such a hearing for two reasons. First, defendant‘s receipt of his juvenile sentence and his subsequent parole furnish the precise dates on which to calculate a gap-time award (i.e., 304 days). Second, revocation of that parole was a defined act that indisputably enhanced the time served by defendant for which he now claims credit. That defendant‘s conduct resulted in his re-incarceration is self-evident, requiring no subjective determination by the trial court, similar to
Lastly, “[c]riminal statutes, generally speaking, are to be strictly construed, but the rule of strict construction does not mean that the manifestations of the Legislature‘s intention should be disregarded.” Carreker, supra, 172 N.J. at 115, 796 A.2d 847 (internal citation and quotation marks omitted). The statute does not address expressly the circumstances presented here. In my view, application of the statute in the face of defendant‘s parole revocation would run counter to its underlying policy rationale for the reasons already stated. I thus would afford the trial court the discretion to deny gap-time credit as was done below.
Justice COLEMAN joins in this opinion.
For reversing and remanding—Chief Justice PORITZ and Justices LONG, LaVECCHIA, ZAZZALI and ALBIN—5.
Concurring in part/dissenting in part—Justices COLEMAN and VERNIERO—2.
Notes
All defenses available to an adult charged with a crime, offense or violation shall be available to a juvenile charged with committing an act of delinquency.
All rights guaranteed to criminal defendants by the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of this State, except the right to indictment, the right to trial by jury and the right to bail, shall be applicable to cases arising under this act.
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