State, Dept. of Law & Public Safety v. Gonzalez

• Decision Date: 05 December 1995
• Citation: 142 N.J. 618,667 A.2d 684
• Court: New Jersey Supreme Court
• Parties: STATE of New Jersey, DEPARTMENT OF LAW & PUBLIC SAFETY, Division of Gaming Enforcement, Complainant-Respondent, v. Adriel GONZALEZ, Respondent.

Page 618

142 N.J. 618

667 A.2d 684

STATE of New Jersey, DEPARTMENT OF LAW & PUBLIC SAFETY Division of Gaming Enforcement, Complainant-Respondent, v. Adriel GONZALEZ, Respondent.

Supreme Court of New Jersey.

Argued Sept. 12, 1995.

Decided Dec. 5, 1995.

Steven M. Ingis, Assistant General Counsel, for appellant New Jersey Casino Control Commission (John R. Zimmerman, General Counsel, attorney).

Gary A. Ehrlich, Deputy Attorney General, for respondent State of New Jersey, Department of Law & Public Safety, Division of Gaming Enforcement (Deborah T. Poritz, Attorney General of New Jersey, attorney; Frank Catania, Assistant Attorney General, of counsel).

The opinion of the Court was delivered by

COLEMAN, J.

The question raised in this case is whether the Casino Control Commission (Commission), while exercising its regulatory responsibilities in determining whether to revoke the license of a casino employee based on his guilty pleas to two third-degree criminal offenses, should be permitted to relitigate the facts underlying the criminal convictions.

A majority of the members of the Commission concluded that guilty pleas are merely voidable admissions that can be repudiated in a license revocation proceeding. The Division of Gaming Enforcement (Division) appealed, and a majority in the Appellate Division held that a casino employee may not challenge his or her conviction in the administrative revocation proceedings. State v. Gonzalez, 273 N.J.Super. 239, 247, 641 A.2d 1060 (1994). The Commission filed this appeal on the basis of the dissent in the Appellate Division. R. 2:2-1(a)(2). We hold that because of the strong public policy of maintaining integrity in the casino industry, a casino employee may not present evidence contradicting his or her convictions. The casino employee may present evidence to support a claim of rehabilitation, but that evidence must not be inconsistent with the elements of the criminal offenses to which guilty pleas have been entered.

I

The casino industry in New Jersey is subject to a two-tiered regulatory system. The Commission is the quasi-judicial licensing body. N.J.S.A. 5:12-63. The Division is the investigatory and prosecutorial body. N.J.S.A. 5:12-76.

The Commission issued Adriel Gonzalez a casino-employee license pursuant to the Casino Control Act (Act). N.J.S.A. 5:12-7. That license permitted him to be employed by the Sands Hotel and Casino as a security officer. N.J.S.A. 5:12-90(f). While holding that license, Gonzalez was indicted on September 5, 1990, for possession of and conspiracy to distribute marijuana, possession with intent to distribute and distribution of marijuana to an undercover agent in a school zone, all occurring on March 14, 1990, in violation of the Comprehensive Drug Reform Act of 1987, N.J.S.A. 2C:35-5 and -7 and N.J.S.A. 2C:5-2. On October 22, 1990, Gonzalez entered pleas of guilty to conspiracy to distribute marijuana contrary to N.J.S.A. 2C:5-2 and N.J.S.A. 2C:35-5b(3), and possession of marijuana with intent to distribute within 1,000 feet of a school in Hammonton Township, a violation of N.J.S.A. 2C:35-7. He was sentenced on November 30, 1990, to a term of probation, and as a condition of probation, he was required to serve thirty days in the Atlantic County Jail.

Based on the judgment of conviction, ¹ the Division filed a complaint with the Commission on September 17, 1991, seeking disqualification of Gonzalez's casino-employee license. A hearing was conducted on the complaint in April 1992 before one of the commissioners sitting as a hearing examiner. During that hearing, "Gonzalez testified [under oath], in response to the hearing examiner's questions, that despite his entry of a plea of guilty on two of the counts of the indictment, he in fact did not commit the offenses charged." State v. Gonzalez, supra, 273 N.J.Super. at 241, 641 A.2d 1060.

In June 1992 the hearing examiner issued an initial decision revoking Gonzalez's license. The full Commission, however, remanded the case to the hearing examiner for further proceedings. During the second hearing, conducted in September 1992, the hearing examiner again allowed Gonzalez to testify, over the Division's strenuous objections, that

he was not guilty of these offenses. The examiner ultimately concluded that Gonzalez's denial was more credible than the testimony of the arresting officer whom the Division felt compelled to bring in to meet Gonzalez's testimony. The examiner accepted the testimony of Gonzalez that he entered a false plea of guilty "because he could not afford to have a private attorney represent him in court and because he wanted to get the matter over with as quickly as possible." She concluded that Gonzalez had been rehabilitated pursuant to N.J.S.A. 5:12-90(h), and possessed the "good character, honesty and integrity" required under N.J.S.A. 5:12-89(b)(2) and -90(b) to retain his casino employee license. The Commission, Chairman Perskie dissenting, adopted her determination.

[Id. at 242, 641 A.2d 1060.]

The Appellate Division reversed based on the doctrines of issue preclusion and judicial estoppel. Id. at 247-49, 641 A.2d 1060. One member of the panel dissented, stating that because issue preclusion is an equitable doctrine, the Commission should have discretion in determining whether to give preclusive effect to a prior judicial determination absent a contrary legislative intent. Id. at 252, 641 A.2d 1060.

II

The Commission argues that it is vested with the discretion in an administrative, license revocation hearing not to apply the doctrines of issue preclusion and judicial estoppel to preclude evidence contradicting a guilty plea.

There are three basic categories of casino employees: non-key employees, N.J.S.A. 5:12-7; hotel employees, N.J.S.A. 5:12-8; and key employees, N.J.S.A. 5:12-9. Each casino employee must hold a valid employee license. N.J.S.A. 5:12-90a. That license may be revoked if the employee is convicted of a disqualifying offense, N.J.S.A. 5:12-86c(1), and has not been rehabilitated. N.J.S.A. 5:12-90h. The hearing in this case was required to permit the Commission to determine whether Gonzalez, by virtue of his convictions on two disqualifying offenses enumerated in N.J.S.A. 5:12-86c(1), should continue to hold a casino-employee license. In the course of that hearing, to avoid license revocation pursuant to N.J.S.A. 5:12-129(1), Gonzalez was required to establish by clear and convincing evidence, N.J.S.A. 5:12-89b(2), that he had been rehabilitated within the meaning of N.J.S.A. 5:12-90h.

The Commission also contends that relitigating the facts is warranted because one of the eight factors required to be considered on the issue of rehabilitation includes "the circumstances under which the offense or conduct occurred." N.J.S.A. 5:12-90h(3).

III

A

When determining whether a convicted casino employee has been rehabilitated, the Commission must consider the following criteria:

(1) The nature and duties of the position applied for;

(2) The nature and seriousness of the offense or conduct;

(3) The circumstances under which the offense or conduct occurred;

(4) The date of the offense or conduct;

(5) The age of the applicant when the offense or conduct was committed;

(6) Whether the offense or conduct was an isolated or repeated incident;

(7) Any social conditions which may have contributed to the offense or conduct;

(8) Any evidence of rehabilitation, including good conduct in prison or in the community, counseling or psychiatric treatment received, acquisition of additional academic or vocational schooling, successful participation in correctional work-release programs, or the recommendation of persons who have or have had the applicant under their supervision.

[ N.J.S.A. 5:12-90h.]

The Legislature did not articulate the types of evidence that are relevant to "rehabilitation" when it added paragraph h to subsection 90 in 1980. See L. 1979, c. 282, § 25. Nor did it address that issue in 1988 when it amended that subsection. The Commission argues that, "[a]lthough the Legislature accorded preclusive effect in section 86c to a prior conviction in terms of finding that a disqualifying offense was committed, the Act does not similarly preclude a party seeking to demonstrate rehabilitation pursuant to subsection 90h from presenting evidence that negates one of the elements of the disqualifying offense to which he has pled guilty."

B

This appeal requires us to focus on the way in which the Commission exercised its adjudicatory responsibilities in determining whether Gonzalez had been rehabilitated. The judicial capacity to review that administrative action is limited. Gloucester County Welfare Bd. v. New Jersey Civil Serv. Comm'n, 93 N.J. 384, 390, 461 A.2d 575 (1983). As this Court has observed:

[T]he judicial role is restricted to three inquiries: (1) whether the agency action violates the enabling act's express or implied legislative policies; (2) whether there is substantial evidence in the record to support the findings upon which the agency based application of legislative policies; and (3) whether, in applying the legislative policies to the facts, the agency clearly erred by reaching a conclusion that could not reasonably have been made upon a showing of the relevant factors. Campbell v. Department of Civil Serv., 39 N.J. 556, 562 (1963); see also Henry v. Rahway State Prison, 81 N.J. 571, 579-80 (1980).

[Public Serv. Elec. & Gas Co. v. New Jersey Dep't of Envtl. Prot., 101 N.J. 95, 103, 501 A.2d 125 (1985).]

Here, our review of the Commission's decision is restricted to whether its action violates the Act's express or implied legislative policies.

To answer that question, we must interpret the Act. We have emphasized repeatedly that when interpreting a statute, our overriding goal must be to determine the Legislature's intent. See Young v. Schering Corp., 141 N.J. 16, 25, 660 A.2d 1153 (1995); Roig v. Kelsey, 135 N.J. 500, 515...