SUPERIOR COURT OF NEW JERSEY
APPELLATE DIVISION
A-2582-98T4
STATE OF NEW JERSEY,
Plaintiff-Respondent,
v.
ANDREW G. CHEUNG,
Defendant-Appellant.
Submitted January 26, 2000 - Decided February 14, 2000
Before Judges Stern and Steinberg.
On appeal from the Superior Court of New
Jersey, Law Division, Ocean County.
Ivelisse Torres, Public Defender, attorney
for appellant (Alison Perrone, Assistant
Deputy Public Defender, of counsel and on
the brief).
John J. Farmer, Jr., Attorney General,
attorney for respondent (Steven A. Yomtov,
Deputy Attorney General, of counsel and
on the brief).
PER CURIAM
Defendant pled guilty to first-degree armed robbery and two
counts of burglary. Defendant admitted his liability as an
accomplice. Pursuant to a negotiated disposition, he was
sentenced under N.J.S.A. 2C:44-1f(2) to an eight-year term in the
custody of the Commissioner of Corrections for the armed robbery
with 85" to be served before parole eligibility under the No
Early Release Act, N.J.S.A. 2C:43-7.2 ("NERA"), and to concurrent
sentences on the burglaries. The balance of the indictment and
other charges were dismissed.
On this appeal defendant argues that NERA "does not apply to
unarmed accomplices" or to someone who uses or threatens the use
of a BB gun during an armed robbery because a "BB gun is not a
deadly weapon for purposes of [NERA]."
We express our reservation about the cognizability of this
appeal. In pleading guilty, defendant acknowledged the
application of NERASee footnote 11 and was sentenced thereunder. He now seeks
to vacate the parole ineligibility term but "does not challenge
the validity of his guilty plea." Thus, defendant's "argument on
appeal is limited to contesting the applicability of the No Early
Release Act" while seeking to maintain an eight-year, specific
term sentence that was recommended by the prosecutor based on the
application of NERA.
If defendant prevails on the appeal, the State might have
the right to withdraw its plea offer of eight years in these
circumstances because the negotiated plea recommendation was
expressly premised upon the imposition of an 85" parole
ineligibility term, as defendant acknowledged. See State v.
Meyer, __ N.J. Super __, __ (App. Div. 2000) (slip op. at 5)
(distinguishing State v. Warren,
115 N.J. 433 (1989), and State
v. Spinks,
66 N.J. 568 (1975)); see also, e.g., State v.
Pennington,
154 N.J. 344, 362-63 (1998); State v. Barboza,
115 N.J. 415, 420-24 (1989); cf. State v. Gibson,
68 N.J. 499 (1975).
Moreover, because the plea was to first-degree armed robbery
there is at least the potential that, independent of the
resurrection of the other charges, defendant could be worse off
than he is under the negotiated plea with its recommended eight
year sentence, if he is convicted of the first-degree crime. We
thus question whether defendant should be able to argue that NERA
is not applicable in these circumstances without first making an
application to the trial court to withdraw his plea or for other
relief, at which time defendant can express his desire to so
proceed notwithstanding the potential consequences. Cf. State v.
Staten, __ N.J. Super. __ (App. Div. 2000); State v. S.C.,
289 N.J. Super. 61, 72-74 (App. Div.), (Stern, J.A.D., concurring),
certif. denied,
145 N.J. 373 (1996).
We need not pursue the question further, however, because we
reject defendant's contentions on the merits by adhering to our
opinions in State v. Meyer, supra, (finding that a pellet gun or
BB gun is a "deadly weapon" for purposes of NERA), and State v.
Rumblin,
326 N.J. Super. 296, 303 (App. Div. 1999) (noting that
an accomplice of a person committing a qualifying offense is
subject to NERA). Accordingly, we affirm the judgment and
sentence imposed. However, we remand to the Law Division to
amend the judgment in three respects.
First, the judgment should reflect the five-year term of
parole supervision mandated by NERA, N.J.S.A. 2C:43-7.2(c), which
defendant challenged at the trial level (but not before us) as
"unconstitutional . . . double jeopardy." We add that, although
the matter was downgraded for sentencing under N.J.S.A. 2C:44
1f(2), defendant was "sentenced for a crime of the first degree,"
N.J.S.A. 2C:43-7.2(c), thereby requiring a five-, not a three-,
year period of supervision. Cf. State v. O'Connor,
105 N.J. 399,
404-05 (1987) (presumption of imprisonment applies to a downgrade
from second-degree to third-degree crime for sentencing
purposes); State v. Partusch,
214 N.J. Super. 473, 476-77 (App.
Div. 1987) (same); State v. Williams,
225 N.J. Super. 462, 464-65
(Law Div. 1988) (imposing Drug Enforcement and Demand Reduction
penalty for second degree crime notwithstanding downgrade to
third degree for purposes of sentencing).
Additionally, the judgment should further reflect that the
85" ineligibility term applies only to the conviction for armed
robbery to which it applies, N.J.S.A. 2C:43-7.2(a), and not to
the convictions for burglary, which are not subject to NERA.
Finally, while the 85" parole ineligibility term more than
satisfies the mandatory parole ineligibility term required for a
Graves Act offense, the judgment should reflect that the armed
robbery was a Graves Act conviction so that the record is clear
in the event defendant commits a second Graves Act offense, in
which case a mandatory extended term is required. N.J.S.A.
2C:43-6c, -7c. Cf. State v. Martin,
209 N.J. Super. 473, 481
(App. Div. 1986), rev'd on other grounds,
110 N.J. 10 (1988).
Affirmed and remanded for correction of the judgment.
Footnote: 1 1The "No Early Release Act Supplementary Plea Form" was not used, but the judge asked defendant personally about his custodial exposure under NERA. However, no questions were asked orally or on the form which was used regarding the period of parole supervision, but defendant does not now challenge the required parole supervision if NERA otherwise applies.