Lead Opinion
(temporarily assigned) delivered the opinion of the Court.
We granted certification to consider the proper interpretation and application of Rule 3:21-8, the rule governing the award of jail credits, to cases involving defendants sentenced to imprisonment on multiple indictments. One case involves the disposition of charges in multiple counties; the other multiple charges in the same county. We hold that both defendants are entitled to precisely what the Rule provides: credits against all sentences “for any time served in custody in jail or in a state hospital between arrest and the imposition of sentence” on each ease. Accordingly, we remand to the Law Division for a re-determination of the credits to be awarded in these cases, which we have consolidated for purposes of this opinion.
I.
In September and October 2006, defendant Andrea Hernandez allegedly took part in a series of armed robberies in Paterson,
On January 23, 2007, while Hernandez was in custody awaiting disposition of the Passaic County charges, Ocean County authorities charged her with third-degree burglary, N.J.S.A. 2C:18-2, and third-degree theft by unlawful taking, N.J.S.A. 2C:20-3, for an earlier theft committed in Ocean Township. She was apparently moved to the Ocean County Jail the day before.
On October 4, 2007, pursuant to a negotiated plea agreement, Hernandez pled guilty to the seven counts of first-degree robbery embodied in the Passaic County indictment. In exchange the State recommended the remaining counts of the indictment be dismissed and that concurrent sentences of twenty years, eighty-five percent of which would be subject to parole ineligibility pursuant to the No Early Release Act (NERA), N.J.S.A 2C:43-7.2, be imposed. The State also recommended that the sentence run concurrent to the three-year Ocean County sentence that Hernandez was serving at the time.
On February 1, 2008, the Law Division in Passaic County imposed a sentence consistent with the negotiated recommendation. However, at the sentencing proceeding, Hernandez objected to the amount of jail credit that she would receive. Hernandez believed that she was entitled to more than the ninety-day credit given for time she spent in custody from her arrest in Passaic County on October 25, 2006, until January 22, 2007, the day she was moved to the Ocean County Jail. Although the record is unclear, it appears that Hernandez specifically argued (as she does now) that she should also receive credit towards her Passaic County sentence for 220 days she spent in custody between the Ocean County “arrest” and sentencing for the Ocean County offense. The sentencing court rejected Hernandez’s request, noting that the requested credit had already been applied against her Ocean County sentence. She was thus awarded only the ninety days of jail credit spent in Passaic County solely attributable to the Passaic County offenses. The Passaic County judgment also awarded Hernandez 161 days of gap-time credit for the period that she spent in custody beginning August 24, 2007—the date of her Ocean County sentence—until January 31, 2008—the day preceding the Passaic County sentence.
II.
On May 4, 2006, defendant Derrick Wayne Rose allegedly sold cocaine and heroin to an undercover police officer. On August 14, 2006, he allegedly sold crack cocaine to another undercover Plain-field police officer. Rose was not arrested at the time. On January 26, 2007, Rose committed a theft in Linden, another municipality in Union County. He was arrested that day by Linden police.
On April 26, 2007, defendant was indicted for distribution of a controlled dangerous substance (CDS) and distribution within 500 feet of a public housing facility, for the alleged sale on May 4, 2006. On May 1, 2007, another indictment embodying the same charges was returned for the August 14, 2006, CDS offenses. On May 31, 2007, defendant was charged with the Linden offenses,
On October 29, 2007, pursuant to a negotiated plea agreement with the State, Rose pled guilty to third-degree theft by unlawful taking for the Linden offense and to two counts of third-degree distribution of CDS for the Plainfield offenses.
At the sentencing hearing on January 18, 2008, Rose requested that he be placed in a drug treatment program. Although the court was sympathetic to Rose’s request, it stated that it would not deviate from the minimum sentence prescribed in the plea agreement because Rose had eighteen prior convictions,
The court imposed two concurrent five-year sentences with three years of parole ineligibility on the drug charges (CDS sentence), to run consecutively with a four-year sentence for the theft charge. It found that aggravating factors 3, 6, and 9
III.
As already noted, in the Law Division Hernandez sought more jail credits beyond the ninety days awarded from October 25, 2006, to January 22, 2007, and the 161 days of gap-time credit from August 24, 2007, to January 31, 2008. The judge denied the request, stating, “[y]ou can’t get credit for an—an indictment in Ocean and credit here for—for the same time period.”
Before the Appellate Division, Hernandez challenged the Passaic County sentence and asserted that the sentencing court should have (1) found that a mitigating factor was supported by the record and (2) considered granting Hernandez additional credits towards her twenty-year sentence. On the latter point, counsel noted that Hernandez received jail credits for time spent in custody between her “arrest” in Ocean County and her three-year Ocean County sentence, which is not governed by NERA, but not towards her twenty-year Passaic County sentence, which is governed by NERA. Therefore, counsel argued that
following State v. Hill9 and State v. Marnin10 and several other cases that follow that, the judge should have considered his discretionary ability to award credit*34 toward the NERA sentence where the credit for day to day jail had been subsumed in a sentence that meant absolutely nothing in terms of her future.
That is to say, whether [ ] consecutive or concurrent, by the time she finishes the NERA [twenty] she will have maxed out the [three]-year sentence out of Ocean County. So, to apply those credits to that sentence was to essentially extend her term that much the more. And the judge had the discretion under Hill and Mamin to apply those credits to the sentence, and I believe it should be remanded at least for him to consider whether that was appropriate because he certainly made no statement to the contrary.
Hernandez’s counsel also maintained that applying gap-time credits to the “back end,” as opposed to the “front end,” of a defendant’s NERA sentence would be “meaningless” to the defendant and contravene this Court’s mandate in Booker v. New Jersey State Parole Board, 136 N.J. 257, 642 A.2d 984 (1994), that gap-time credits be awarded in a meaningful way. Accordingly, counsel suggested that the sentencing court “should at least have said[,] I have considered the possibility, Fve considered my authority to use these credits as discretionary credits as a grant of front end jail time eredit[,] and I choose not to do so.”
In response the State maintained that the sentencing court adequately explained why Hernandez was getting gap-time credit, not jail credit, for the time that she spent in custody in Ocean County since August 24, 2007, the sentencing date in Ocean County, and why she was getting jail credit only for the time “she has spent only incarcerated on the Passaic offenses.” Therefore, the State argued for affirmance because the sentencing court “definitely looked at [the credits] carefully, knew the dates and knew what [it] was giving when [it] gave it.”
In an unpublished order, the Appellate Division affirmed the trial court’s judgment. The panel found “no abuse of discretion with respect to the application of jail credits.” We thereafter granted certification. State v. Hernandez, 201 N.J. 154, 988 A.2d 1176 (2010).
In an unpublished order the Appellate Division affirmed the trial court’s judgment on Rose’s appeal. The panel expressly “rejected] defendant’s argument as to the reallocation of jail credits.” This Court then granted certification. State v. Rose, 201 N.J. 155, 988 A.2d 1177 (2010).
IV.
A defendant may be eligible to receive jail credits under Rule 3:21-8 or gap-time credits under N.J.S.A 2C:44-5(b)(2) to reduce the time to be served on his sentence.
Rule 3:21-8 provides that “[t]he defendant shall receive credit on the term of a custodial sentence for any time served in custody in jail or in a state hospital between arrest and the imposition of sentence.” Ibid. Such credit for pre-sentence custody is commonly labeled “ ‘jail credits.’ ” Richardson v. Nickolopoulos, 110 N.J. 241, 242, 540 A.2d 1246 (1988). Jail credits were conceived as a matter of equal protection or fundamental fairness and a means of avoiding the double punishment that would result if no such credits were granted. See id. at 250 n. 2, 540 A.2d 1246. Otherwise, “the judicial sentence would be cumulative to jail time spent by a presumably innocent but poor defendant” who could not make bail or conditions of pretrial release. Ibid. Although “R[uleJ 3:21-8 expresses the public policy of the State and should be liberally construed,” State v. Beatty, 128 N.J.Super. 488, 491, 320 A.2d 514 (App.Div.1974), New Jersey courts have interpreted the Rule to allow jail credits only for “such confinement as is attributable to the arrest or other detention resulting from the particular offense.” State v. Black, 153 N.J. 438, 456, 710 A.2d 428 (1998)(internal quotations and citation omitted); accord State v. Hemphill, 391 N.J.Super. 67, 70, 917 A.2d 247 (App.Div.), certif. denied, 192 N.J. 68, 926 A.2d 853 (2007); State v. Mercandante, 299 N.J.Super. 522, 529, 691 A.2d 819 (App.Div.), certif. denied, 150
Jail credits are “day-for-day credits,” Buncie v. Dep’t of Corr., 382 N.J.Super. 214, 217, 888 A.2d 483 (App.Div.2005), certif. denied, 186 N.J. 606, 897 A.2d 1061 (2006), that are applied to the “front end” of a defendant’s sentence, meaning that he or she is entitled to credit against the sentence for every day defendant was held in custody for that offense prior to sentencing. See Booker, supra, 136 N.J. at 263, 265, 642 A.2d 984. The practical effect of that allocation is that jail credits will “reduce a[ ] [parole] ineligibility term as well as the sentence imposed.” State v. Mastapeter, 290 N.J.Super. 56, 64, 674 A.2d 1016 (App.Div.), certif. denied, 146 N.J. 569, 683 A.2d 1164 (1996).
N.J.S.A. 2C:44-5(b) provides for “gap-time” credits:
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 servedl. ]
*38 [Ibid.]
The credit awarded under N.J.S.A 2C:44-5(b) is referred to as “gap-time credit” because it awards a defendant who is given two separate sentences on two different dates credit toward the second sentence for the time spent in custody since he or she began serving the first sentence. The primary purpose of allowing such credit “ ‘is to avoid the manipulation of trial dates to the disadvantage of defendants,’” State v. Carreker, 172 N.J. 100; 105, 796 A.2d 847 (2002) (quoting Booker, supra, 136 N.J. at 260, 642 A.2d 984), and to “ ‘counteract any dilatory tactics of the prosecutor’ in pursuing a conviction for another offense after a defendant has been sentenced on the previous offense.” Ibid, (quoting State v. Hall, 206 N.J.Super. 547, 550, 503 A.2d 344 (App.Div.1985)). However, gap-time credits are appropriate even in the absence of evidence of intentional prosecutorial delay. State v. Franklin, 175 N.J. 456, 463-64, 815 A.2d 964 (2003).
To demonstrate an entitlement to gap-time credit, a defendant must establish three facts: “(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.” Id. at 462, 815 A.2d 964 (citing Carreker, supra, 172 N.J. at 105, 796 A.2d 847). If the defendant meets those requirements, the sentencing court is obligated to award gap-time credits. Ibid. (citing Carreker, supra, 172 N.J. at 105, 796 A.2d 847). Those credits apply towards the defendant’s aggregate sentence, which is calculated as the length of the defendant’s longest term when he or she is ordered to serve multiple sentences concurrently and is “ ‘equal to the sum of all terms’ ” when he or she is ordered to serve multiple sentences consecutively. Richardson, supra, 110 N.J. at 246, 540 A.2d 1246 (quoting N.J.S.A 2C:44-5(e)).
Unlike jail credits, gap-time credits are applied to the “back end” of a sentence. Booker, supra, 136 N.J. at 260, 642 A.2d 984. If no parole ineligibility term is imposed, gap-time credits will advance the date on which a defendant first becomes
Hernandez contends she would serve her entire twenty-year sentence (reduced by good time comportment and work credits) before the seventeen-year parole bar is reached, thereby rendering the gap-time credits “meaningless.”
N.J.S.A. 30:4-123.51(a) clearly provides:
Each adult inmate sentenced to ... a specific term of years at the State Prison or the correctional institution for women shall become primarily eligible for parole after having served any judicial or statutory mandatory minimum term, ... less commutation time for good behavior pursuant to ... [N.J.S.A. ] 30:4-140 and credits for diligent application to work and other institutional assignments pursuant to ... EN.J.S.A.3 30:4-92. Consistent with the provisions of the New Jersey Code of Criminal Justice ([N./.S'.A]2C:ll-3, 2C:14-6, 2C:43~6, 2C:43-7), commutation and work credits shall not in any way reduce any judicial or statutory mandatory minimum term and such credits accrued shall only be awarded subsequent to the expiration of the term.
[Ibid.]
Hernandez’s reliance on Booker for the proposition that sentencing courts can impose discretionary jail credits is misplaced,
We adhere to Richardson and Booker and reject Hernandez’s contention that her gap-time credit should reduce her parole bar. However, those cases do not address our Rule 3:21-8 or jail credits for time spent in custody before sentencing following arrest on other charges.
Despite our numerous opinions on gap-time credits, see, e.g., Carreker, supra, 172 N.J. 100, 796 A.2d 847; Richardson, supra, 110 N.J. 241, 540 A.2d 1246; Booker, supra, 136 N.J. 257, 642 A.2d 984; Franklin, supra, 175 N.J. 456, 815 A.2d 964, and on credits for time on parole or probation upon revocation, see State v. Oquendo, 133 N.J. 416, 627 A.2d 1127 (1993); State v. Rosado, 131 N.J. 423, 621 A.2d 12 (1993); State v. Williams, 81 N.J. 498, 410 A.2d 251 (1980), we have addressed jail credits only occasionally.
In State v. Towey, 114 N.J. 69, 552 A.2d 994 (1989), we clarified the meaning of a custodial sentence under Rule 3:21-8. There the defendant pled guilty to aggravated manslaughter. Id. at 73, 552 A.2d 994. She was sentenced to a ten-year term of incarceration, with a parole ineligibility period of five years. Ibid. At issue was whether the Graves Act imposed limits on a sentencing judge’s discretion regarding the term of parole ineligibility and what factors affect parole ineligibility terms. Id. at 72-73, 552 A.2d
In State v. Black, supra, 153 N.J. at 455-61, 710 A.2d 428, we assessed the application of Rule 3:21-8 where a defendant released on parole was returned to custody based on conduct that led to revocation of parole and further service of the sentence on which he was paroled, as well as a conviction on the new charge of absconding. The defendant claimed on appeal that pursuing both the absconding charge and the parole revocation violated “principles of double jeopardy and fundamental fairness,” and that the time he spent incarcerated between his absconding arrest and sentencing warranted a credit against the absconding sentence. Id. at 441-42, 710 A.2d 428. We also considered whether the defendant “should have received jail credit against his absconding sentence for the full time he spent in custody between his arrest and sentencing on that charge.” Id. at 455-56, 710 A.2d 428.
Black was originally sentenced to a three-year term for CDS violations. Id. at 441, 710 A.2d 428. He was released on parole but failed to report to his parole officer. Ibid. A parole warrant was issued, and he was also indicted for absconding. Id. at 441-42, 710 A.2d 428. The defendant was eventually returned to
In examining the relevant caselaw, we noted that Rule 3:21-8 “has been interpreted to require credit only for ‘such confinement as is attributable to the arrest or other detention resulting from the particular offense.’ ” Id. at 456, 710 A.2d 428 (citing State v. Allen, supra, 155 N.J.Super. at 585, 383 A.2d 138). We further noted that “the record suggests that [Black’s] return to custody arose under the parole warrant,” id. at 456, 710 A.2d 428, and that N.J.S.A. 30:4-123.62(a)(2) provides that “[n]o parolee held in custody on a parole warrant shall be entitled to release on bail.” Id. at 459, 710 A.2d 428 (citing N.J.S.A. 30:4-123.62(a)(2)). Therefore, we held that
when a parolee is taken into custody on a parole warrant, the confinement is attributable to the original offense on which the parole was granted and not to any offense or offenses committed during the parolee’s release. If the parole warrant is thereafter withdrawn or parole is not revoked, and the defendant is convicted and sentenced on new charges based on the same conduct warrant, against revoked, between that led to the initial parole then jail time should be credited the new sentence. If parole is then the period of incarceration the parolee’s confinement pursuant to the parole warrant and the revocation of parole should be credited against any period of reimprisonment ordered by the parole board. Any period of confinement following the revocation of parole but before sentencing on the new offense also should be credited only against the original sentence, except in the rare case where the inmate has once again become parole eligible on the original offense but remains incarcerated because of the new offense.
{Id. at 461, 710 A.2d 428.1
Applying these principles, the Court affirmed the grant of three days credit, rather than the 103 days the defendant sought on the absconding conviction. Id. at 442, 461-62, 710 A.2d 428.
For completeness, we note that defendant has not requested “jail credit” under Buie 3:21-8 for the time spent in Somerset County awaiting disposition of the New Jersey offense; nor would she be entitled to such credit on the record presented. Generally, that form of credit applies to confinement attributable to the offense that gave rise to the sentence. State v. Black, 153 N.J. 438, 456, 710 A.2d 428 (1998). In this case, defendant’s presentence confinement in Somerset County was attributable not to a New Jersey offense, but to the fact that, under N.J.S.A 2A:159A-5(f) of the IAD, she was required to continue her term of incarceration under her New York sentence. Under that circumstance, New Jersey jail credit does not apply.
[Id. at 115, 796 A.2d 847.]
In Black and Carreker, the defendants were serving a custodial sentence, and we concluded they were not entitled to presentence jail credits against a new sentence for time served in custody while those new charges were pending. Under those circumstances, we declined to read Rule 3:21-8 as requiring additional credit.
The Rule governing jail credits has read as it now reads since 1969. R. 3:21-8. See R.R. 3:7-10 (prior to 1969). However, there have been numerous developments in our criminal procedure and law of sentencing since the Rule was adopted that impact on its proper interpretation.
The Code of Criminal Justice was adopted effective September 1, 1979, N.J.S.A. 2C:98-4, long after the Rule was placed in its present form. The Code introduced the concept of presumptive sentences with degrees of crimes, ranges of sentence for each degree, and a presumptive sentence at the midpoint. N.J.S.A. 2C:43-6.
Mandatory and discretionary parole ineligibility terms were essentially unknown to our law of sentencing when Rule 3:21-8 was first adopted and interpreted, see, e.g., Allen, supra, 155 N.J.Super. 582, 383 A.2d 138; Council, supra, 137 N.J.Super. 306,
Around the same time as the Code was adopted, the Judiciary, with the participation of the Attorney General, New Jersey State Bar Association, and Public Defender, sponsored the 1980 and 1986 Judicial Conferences devoted to the promotion of speedy trials in criminal cases. See Reports of Task Force on Speedy Trial, “An approach to expeditious processing of criminal cases,” 105 N.J.L.J. 521 (June 5, 1980); Report of Task Force on Speedy Trial, 117 N.J.L.J. 747 (June 5, 1986). As a result of the conferences and subsequent developments, our rules were amended to promote more expeditious processing and disposition of criminal cases. For example, Rule 3:25A-1 was adopted to promote the simultaneous disposition by plea of charges pending in several counties. See ibid. Hence, sentencing on all open cases could be simultaneously imposed where, as here, they were disposed by plea.
In this context it is inconceivable that two defendants sentenced to the same sentences for the same crimes in two different counties should actually serve different amounts of real time depending only on the sequence and timing of the imposition of sentence. Yet that may be the consequence of a rule which does not provide credits for all time spent in custody between arrest and imposition of the first sentence. Had Ms. Hernandez remained in Passaic County before entering her plea and being
There is nothing new or extraordinary in this holding. Prior to sentencing on pending charges, a defendant accrues and is entitled to jail credits for time spent in custody, but once the first sentence is imposed a defendant is only entitled to gap-time credits for time accrued thereafter when sentenced on the other charges.
The same principles apply to the Rose matter. Unless part of a negotiated agreement, the amount of real time to be served on a sentence should not depend on which matter is disposed first, if they are not simultaneously disposed, or even on the prosecutor’s joinder practice.
Accordingly, we interpret Rule 3:21-8 to provide exactly what it states in plain language, and prosecutors and defendants negotiating plea recommendations as well as sentencing judges should so understand it.
Y.
Our dissenting colleagues make some statements that we feel compelled to address. In so doing, we agree that the Rule should be interpreted and applied in a consistent and uniform manner. However, many of the cases cited by our dissenting colleagues for support of a consistent application of the Rule present factual scenarios that are very different from those presented by Hernandez and Rose.
While we acknowledge that State v. Allen, supra, 155 N.J.Super. at 584-85, 383 A.2d 138, appears to hold otherwise, a defendant in jail pending trial in one county subject to a detainer on charges in another county must receive jail credits under Rule 3:21-8 for that time on both charges if ultimately sentenced on both. We decline to rely on one Appellate Division case to hold otherwise. To the extent our opinion conflicts with Allen, we disapprove of that decision.
The dissent also states that we have “simply elected to transform time that should be counted as gap time under the statute
Finally, while we recognize that sentencing and appellate courts must “be mindful of the real-time consequences of ÑERA and the role that it customarily plays in the fashioning of an appropriate sentence,” State v. Marinez, 370 N.J.Super. 49, 58, 850 A.2d 553 (App.Div.), certif. denied, 182 N.J. 142, 861 A.2d 846 (2004), that principle does not control our disposition. This appeal presents our first relevant inquiry into the meaning of Rule 3:21-8 in these circumstances—in one ÑERA and one non-NERA case. In deciding the case, we emphasize we are dealing with a court rule; there is no relevant legislative history for the dissent’s proposition that the Legislature relied on prior interpretations of the Rule in adopting the gap-time statute. See II Commentary, Final Report of the New Jersey Criminal Law Revision Commission (1971) 2C:44-5; see also “A Review of the Legislative History of the New Jersey Code of Criminal Justice,” including statements to 1978 enactment and 1979 revisions, 7 Crim. Just Quart 28-100 (1980). Moreover, the lack of legislative history has led us to recognize that “gap-time credits remain ‘a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma.’ ” Booker, supra, 136 N.J. at 267, 642 A.2d 984 (quoting State v. Edwards, 263 N.J.Super. 256, 262, 622 A.2d 919 (App.Div.1993)). Legislative history concerning gap-time credits simply does not support the dissent’s interpretation of the jail credit rule.
Today we simply clarify the manner in which jail credits, which are earned prior to the imposition of the first custodial sentence, are to be awarded with respect to multiple charges. Again, once the first sentence is imposed, a defendant awaiting imposition of another sentence accrues no more jail credit under Rule 3:21-8.
The matters are remanded for reconsideration of the award of jail credits consistent with this opinion. To the extent the opinion
The pre-sentence report and judgment of conviction indicate that Hernandez was arrested and charged on October 25, 2006. However, that date is contradicted by other material in the record, including one count of the indictment, which charged Hernandez with an October 26, 2006, possession of weapons offense, and the detective's supplemental report detailing Hernandez’s arrest. For purposes of this opinion we shall use the October 25, 2006, date, but the subject can be developed at the remand proceedings.
The judgment of conviction reflects that the indictment was returned on January 20, 2007, that she was "arrested” on January 22, 2007, and entered a not guilty plea on April 29, 2007. *
The Passaic County presentence report indicates that Hernandez received 220 days of jail credit, and defendant is asking for 220 days of jail credits on the Passaic sentence.
Neither the plea nor sentence transcript develops the jail credit issue. The appeal was heard on the Sentence Oral Argument calendar, and no document oí relevance was presented to the court. On the appeal to us, the parties agree defendant was not arrested when the CDS transactions occurred. The presentence report, which, like the plea form, plea transcript, sentence transcript, and judgment, was before the Appellate Division, notes at the time of the May 4, 2006, offense "the defendant was not arrested. On [January 26, 2007], he was arrested on another matter and subsequently charged with this offense. Therefore additional jail credit is given on [the theft offense].” The same notation was included on the presentenee report for the second CDS offense. The complaints are not in the record.
The judgment reflects the arrest date of January 26, 2007, and grants jail credits of 357 days from January 26, 2007, to the date of sentencing on January 18, 2008.
The plea form for the Linden indictment is not in the record, but there is no dispute about the plea or recommendation.
Rose's criminal history includes additional convictions for CDS offenses proscribed by N.J.S.A. 2C:35-5.
See State v. Brimage, 153 N.J. 1, 706 A.2d 1096 (1998).
208 N.J.Super. 492, 506 A.2d 373 (App.Div.), certif. denied, 104 N.J. 412, 517 A.2d 411 (1986).
108 N.J.Super. 442, 261 A.2d 682 (App.Div.), certif. denied, 55 N.J. 598, 264 A.2d 70 (1970).
As to the latter contention counsel merely stated "my second point [] is that I do not see that there’s any demand under Brimage that the four-year sentence be consecutive" and did no1 develop it further. Neither the State nor the panel addressed that statement.
244 N.J.Super. 310, 582 A.2d 812 (App.Div.1990).
311 N.J.Super. 456, 710 A.2d 554 (App.Div.1998).
It is significant to note the facts of Booker. The defendant in Booker had received a fifty-year sentence with twenty-five years of parole ineligibility. Booker, supra, 136 N.J. at 262, 642 A.2d 984. The defendant was entitled to 106 days of gap-time credit. Ibid. He argued that the back end of his parole-ineligibility period had to be reduced by 53 days of gap time. Ibid. We rejected that argument and held that the 106 days of gap-time credit came entirely off the back end of the sentence and therefore did not reduce any of the parole-disqualifier period. Ibid.
Rose was not entitled to receive any gap-time credits because he was sentenced for his theft offense and two CDS offenses all on the same date.
Because the dissent relies on Carreker, we emphasize our adherence to that opinion, which we do not believe is relevant to the issues involved in this case. The defendant was serving a sentence in New York when brought back to New Jersey for trial and housed in the Somerset County Jail.
There are no more presumptive terms. State v. Natale, 184 N.J. 458, 878 A.2d 724 (2005).
"The [Minnesota] supreme court has in recent years shifted the focus in jail credit cases away from the issues of whether the time was served 'in connection with’ the current offense and whether a 'hold' was placed on the defendant. The present standard is that the amount of credit awarded should not turn on irrelevant concerns or on factors subject to manipulation by the prosecution.’’ State v. Fritzke, 521 N.W.2d 859, 861 (Minn.Ct.App.l994)(citing State v. Goar, 453 N.W.2d 28, 29-30 (Minn. 1990)).
Our judgment of conviction form has for years included a single space for jail credits, indicating the number of days of jail credit thereby reducing the aggregate term. See N.J.S.A. 20:43-10; 20:44-5; R. 3:21-5. Our opinion therefore essentially impacts only cases involving defendants sentenced to custodial terms on multiple indictments.
Under the State's interpretation of the rule, and one which flows from the principle that a defendant should receive credits only against a sentence for which the incarceration was "directly attributable,” assume a defendant like Rose is "bailed out” or released on the first arrest after two days, and the second after 10 days, and then is arrested again and remains in custody for six months before disposition by plea. If he pleads to the first crime and the others are dismissed, he would be entitled to two days credit if bail is not revoked, notwithstanding negotiations to dispose of all charges.
N.J.S.A. 2C:44-l(c)(2) expressly requires the sentencing judge to “consider the defendant's eligibility for release under the law governing parole, including time credits awarded pursuant to Title 30 ... in determining the appropriate term of imprisonment." Ibid. The judge must also consider “the jail credits or the amount of time the defendant has already served." N.J.S.A. 2C:43-2(f)(2).
See, e.g., In re Hinsinger, supra, 180 N.J.Super. at 499, 435 A.2d 850 (no jail credit for time held as material witness); State v. Council, supra, 137 N.J.Super. at 307-08, 349 A.2d 71 (no jail credit for time served attributable to federal sentence even where detainer filed by New Jersey authorities); State v. Marnin, supra, 108 N.J.Super. at 444-45, 261 A.2d 682 (time served for crime committed in 1953 not credited against unrelated conviction in 1968 where prior sentence found illegal).
Dissenting Opinion
dissenting.
Through the use of a single sentence embodied in Rule 3:21-8, this Court has defined a straightforward mechanism to award defendants credit for time spent in custody prior to imposition of sentence following a conviction. Its spare and simple language bears recitation: “The defendant shall receive credit on the term of a custodial sentence for any time served in custody in jail or in a state hospital between arrest and the imposition of sentence.” Ibid.
Commonly called jail credit, the method set forth in our Rule has long served the overarching goals of our sentencing statutes, while protecting defendants’ due process and equal protection rights. The Rule governing jail credit provides “day-for-day credits,” see Buncie v. Dep’t of Corr., 382 N.J.Super. 214, 217, 888 A.2d 483 (App.Div.2005), certif. denied, 186 N.J. 606, 897 A.2d 1061 (2006), through which time spent in custody relating to a particular charged offense is counted toward the eventual sentence on that offense, including any period of parole ineligibility that has been imposed, thus reducing the time remaining to be served, see Booker v. N.J. State Parole Bd., 136 N.J. 257, 263-65, 642 A.2d 984 (1994); State v. Mastapeter, 290 N.J.Super. 56, 64, 674 A.2d 1016 (App.Div.), certif. denied, 146 N.J. 569, 683 A.2d 1164 (1996). Its operation is different from, and it serves a different purpose than, gap time credit, see N.J.S.A. 2C:44-5(b), which is a statutory mechanism that provides credit toward a second-imposed sentence
The wording of the jail credit Rule, which leaves no doubt about its meaning or about the manner in which it operates when multiple charges or offenses are addressed in separate sentencing proceedings, has been stated repeatedly and applied consistently. Twice in the past this Court has taken the opportunity to emphasize the meaning of Rule 3:21-8 through published opinions, each time making precise our intention about its operation. See State v. Carreker, 172 N.J. 100, 115, 796 A.2d 847 (2002); State v. Black, 153 N.J. 438, 456, 710 A.2d 428 (1998). Our holdings were explicit about the meaning of the Rule and we expressly limited its award of jail credit
Consistent with that understanding of the Rule, we refused to allow jail credit to a defendant who, while serving a sentence imposed in New York, was returned to this State pursuant to the Interstate Agreement on Detainers (IAD), N.J.S.A 2A:159A-1 to -15. See Carreker, supra, 172 N.J. at 115, 796 A.2d 847. Even though defendant’s presence here was for the purpose of awaiting trial on New Jersey charges, and even though defendant was eventually sentenced on those charges, she was not entitled to jail
The decisions by this Court confirmed an understanding of the Rule that had been utilized by our trial and appellate courts in a long line of published opinions dating back decades. Those opinions were entirely uniform both in their reading and in their application of the Rule, regardless of the claims being raised by defendants seeking a new or different interpretation. One and all, they held, and we agreed, that the Rule is strictly limited in its application, explaining, for example, that “[w]hile R. 8:21-8 speaks in terms of credit for time spent in custody between arrest and sentencing, it is clear that the confinement must be ‘directly attributable’ to the particular offense for which the credits apply.” State v. Jones, 184 N.J.Super. 626, 629, 446 A.2d 1263 (Law Div.1982).
From the very earliest analysis of Rule 3:21-8, our appellate courts have consistently interpreted it to limit the application of jail credits to the particular offense or offenses for which there was confinement or detention. See, e.g., State v. Hemphill, 391 N.J.Super. 67, 70, 917 A.2d 247 (App.Div.) (holding that defendant who was captured and held in custody in the United Kingdom based on New Jersey warrant was entitled to jail credit for that time in custody following conviction of charge that supported warrant), certif. denied, 192 N.J. 68, 926 A.2d 853 (2007); State v. Dela Rosa, 327 N.J.Super. 295, 298, 743 A.2d 336 (App.Div.) (holding that transfer from New York to appear on Bergen County indictments pursuant to IAD did not qualify for jail credit on sentence following New Jersey conviction), certif. denied, 164 N.J. 191, 752 A.2d 1293 (2000); In re Hinsinger, 180 N.J.Super. 491, 499-500, 435 A.2d 850 (App.Div.) (holding that defendant
Our courts have been uniform and consistent in the application of the Rule governing jail credits. For example, they have granted credit against a New Jersey sentence if defendant was held in another state’s institution longer than he otherwise would have been because of a New Jersey detainer, see State v. Beatty, 128 N.J.Super. 488, 491, 320 A.2d 514 (App.Div.1974), but not if the detainer was unrelated to the reason that defendant remained incarcerated elsewhere, see State v. Council, 137 N.J.Super. 306, 308-09, 349 A.2d 71 (App.Div.1975), and not if defendant elected to be brought to New Jersey pursuant to the I AD and, while being held here, continued to be credited for time on a federal sentence, see State v. Mercadante, 299 N.J.Super. 522, 531, 691 A.2d 819 (App.Div.), certif. denied, 150 N.J. 26, 695 A.2d 668 (1997).
Similarly, the appellate courts have concluded that the Rule does not operate to treat jail time as if it were “money on deposit in the bank or a credit card, it may not be drawn on or credited for penalties imposed” for other unrelated crimes. State v. Marnin, 108 N.J.Super. 442, 445, 261 A.2d 682 (App.Div.1970) (refusing to grant credit for earlier-served time on unrelated illegal sentence), certif. denied, 59 N.J. 435, 283 A.2d 534 (1971), cert. denied, 400 U.S. 835, 91 S.Ct. 70, 27 L.Ed.2d 67 (1970); see State v. Hill, 208 N.J.Super. 492, 494-95, 506 A.2d 373 (App.Div.) (declining to read Rule to create credit for jail time spent awaiting trial on indictment that was eventually dismissed so that it could be used to reduce sentence imposed on charges in another county as to which detainer had been filed), certif. denied, 104 N.J. 412, 517 A.2d 411 (1986).
Not only is our existing jurisprudence consistent, but there is nothing unusual about the way in which the Rule should operate in the two unrelated appeals that the Court consolidated for eonsid-
The circumstances presented by defendant Hernandez were addressed, for example, in State v. Allen, 155 N.J.Super. 582, 383 A.2d 138 (App.Div.), certif. denied, 71 N.J. 472, 391 A.2d 487 (1978). There, the Appellate Division considered the Rule’s operation as to a defendant held in Somerset County on charges brought there, who was then convicted in Middlesex County, following which he returned to Somerset County and entered a guilty plea to the original charges. Id. at 583, 383 A.2d 138. The court reasoned that defendant, who was granted jail credits against the Somerset sentence for the time spent in the Somerset County jail, was not also entitled to credit for the same time as against his Middlesex County sentence. The court explained its decision by noting that “[t]o give him credit for the 127 days in both counties would bestow upon him impermissible double credit. R[ule] 3:21-8 was never so intended.” Id. at 585, 383 A.2d 138.
Likewise, the fact pattern posed by defendant Rose is not unlike the far more complicated scenario addressed in State v. De Rosa, 332 N.J.Super. 426, 753 A.2d 1164 (App.Div.2000). There, the appellate panel, faced with numerous charges that resulted in convictions arising from both guilty pleas and jury trials, carefully analyzed the basis on which defendant had been incarcerated during a lengthy period of time, in order to determine which periods were eligible for jail credit against which eventual sentences and which periods of incarceration should instead result in an award of gap time. Id. at 429-31, 753 A.2d 1164. As complicated as that analysis was, the court remained faithful to the essential purpose and operation of Rule 3:21-8.
These numerous opinions, notably, post-dated the adoption of our Code of Criminal Justice and, therefore, proceeded in full awareness of the impact of our interpretation of the Rule on overall sentencing consequences. Even so, the majority’s approach springs from a new-found belief that there is something unfair about the way the Rule and the gap time statute operate when an offender is subject to a sentence pursuant to the No Early Release Act (NERA), N.J.S.A. 20:43-7.2, and that it is of sufficient magnitude that it must now be addressed through a rather radical and unprecedented change in the way in which jail credits are awarded. Indeed, although “adher[ing] to Richardson [v. Nickolopoulos, 110 N.J. 241, 254-55, 540 A.2d 1246 (1988)], and Booker and rejecting] Hernandez’s contention that her gap-time credit should reduce her parole bar,” ante at 41, 26 A.3d at 386, the majority has simply elected to transform time that should be counted as gap time under the statute, see N.J.S.A. 2C:44-5(b)(2), into jail credit to be awarded under the Rule.
That many offenders facing a NERA sentence will receive little reduction in the time they will actually serve through gap time is a fact. So, too, is the far more favorable treatment that they would obtain were we to apply instead the jail credit Rule to that time. But both of those realities, along with the manner in which our Rule has long calculated jail credits, are facts about which we must presume the Legislature is fully aware. See State v. Fleischman, 189 N.J. 539, 550, 917 A.2d 722 (2007) (relying upon “established principle of statutory interpretation that the Legislature is presumed to act with knowledge of the judicial construction given
The reason for the Rule’s operation is simple and straightforward; any other interpretation leads directly to either double counting or to authorizing “free crimes” because time served at any time and for any offense becomes time served toward every offense, regardless of when it was committed. Nonetheless, against this clear and easily applied understanding of the Rule, and without even a hint of the kinds of foot-dragging or game-playing or overarching unfairness that might support a limited exception, the majority today embarks upon a new approach. For no apparent reason other than a change of mind, the majority now announces that time served on any offense will count as time served on all offenses. Although the majority implies that there is something in the operation of NERA that somehow makes our traditional reading of the Rule unfair or inconsistent with the statutes governing sentencing, the rationale behind this new reading of the Rule is nothing more than an effort to minimize the time that any offender will serve.
In the end, the majority has thwarted, and not enforced as it should, the expressed will of the Legislature; it has in fact concluded that the worst offenders in our criminal justice system, those facing multiple charges stemming from multiple arrests, regardless of the order in which those offenses were committed or the reason for the offender’s continued presentence incarceration, will reap the benefit of having all of that time count against each
There being no basis in the Rule or any of the sentencing statutes on which to make so radical a change in interpretation, and that change being contrary to the Legislature’s clear intent as expressed both in NERA and in the gap time credit statute, I respectfully dissent.
For remandment—Chief Justice RABNER and Justices LONG, LaVECCHIA, ALBIN, and STERN (temporarily assigned)—5.
For affirmance—Justices RIVERA-SOTO and HOENS—2.
Although the majority dismisses the reference to Carreker, supra, as irrelevant, see ante at 44, 26 A.3d at 388 n. 16, it makes no effort to explain how its decision is in any way consistent with the interpretation of the Rule this Court utilized in both Carreker, supra, 172 N.J. at 115, 796 A.2d 847, and Black, supra, 153 N.J. at 456, 710 A.2d 428.
In responding, the majority states that "[t]here is nothing new or extraordinary in [its] holding.” Ante at 47, 26 A.3d at 390. In its further, more direct response, however, the majority essentially concedes that its approach is an entirely new one. Both by "declin[ing] to rely” on Allen, supra, 155 N.J.Super. at 582, 383 A.2d 138, which the majority admits is directly on point, see ante at 49-50, 26 A.3d at 391-92, and by its remarkable observation that "[t]his appeal presents our first relevant inquiry into the meaning of Rule 3:21-8 in these circumstances,” see id. at 50, 26 A.3d at 391-92, the majority makes plain that its approach is indeed a new and dramatic departure from precedent.