State v. O'brien

• Decision Date: 10 February 2011
• Citation: 418 N.J.Super. 428,14 A.3d 56
• Parties: STATE of New Jersey, Plaintiff–Appellant,v.Diane O'BRIEN, Defendant–Respondent.
• Court: New Jersey Superior Court

418 N.J.Super. 428

14 A.3d 56

STATE of New Jersey, Plaintiff–Appellant,

v.Diane O'BRIEN, Defendant–Respondent.

Superior Court of New Jersey, Appellate Division.

Argued Sept. 15, 2010.Decided Feb. 10, 2011.

Mary R. Juliano, Assistant Prosecutor, argued the cause for appellant (Luis A. Valentin, Monmouth County Prosecutor, attorney; Ms. Juliano and Patricia B. Quelch, Assistant Prosecutor, of counsel, and on the briefs).

John Menzel, Point Pleasant, argued the cause for respondent.Before Judges FUENTES, GILROY and ASHRAFI.

The opinion of the court was delivered by

GILROY, J.A.D.

The State appeals from the April 23, 2010 order that directed defendant Diane O'Brien's admission into Monmouth County's pretrial intervention (PTI) program over the objection of the County Prosecutor. The question presented is whether a defendant who previously received supervisory treatment under the conditional discharge statute, N.J.S.A. 2C:36A–1, and who later applied for and obtained an order vacating the conditional discharge, may thereafter be admitted into PTI. We conclude that N.J.S.A. 2C:43–12g and Rule 3:28, Guideline 3(g) prohibit any person previously placed into supervisory treatment under the conditional discharge statute from subsequent admission into PTI, whether the conditional discharge is later vacated or not. Accordingly, we reverse.

I.

The facts are not in dispute. On March 18, 1990, defendant was charged in Monroe Township with the disorderly persons offense of possession of marijuana, N.J.S.A. 2C:35–10a(4). On April 26, 1990, defendant applied to the Monroe Township Municipal Court for a conditional discharge pursuant to N.J.S.A. 2C:36A–1. On that day, the court granted the application, placed defendant into supervisory treatment, and imposed appropriate penalties. One year later, having successfully completed her supervisory treatment, the court dismissed defendant's charge.

On October 25, 2008, defendant was arrested in Asbury Park and charged with third-degree possession of a controlled dangerous substance (CDS) (methamphetamine), N.J.S.A. 2C:35–10a(1). On March 18, 2009, a grand jury indicted defendant on the CDS offense. In December 2009, defendant filed a petition for “post-disposition relief” in the Monroe Township Municipal Court, seeking to vacate the conditional discharge. Defendant contended that at the time of her conditional discharge application, “she did not have the benefit of legal counsel, nor ... a full understanding and appreciation of the consequences of [that] disposition or [of] her procedural rights to contest the charge as originally issued.” On January 14, 2010, the municipal court entered an order granting defendant's request to vacate her conditional discharge, and restoring the matter to the active trial calendar. On the same day, defendant pled guilty to the charge, and the court imposed appropriate fines and penalties.

In January 2010, defendant filed an application seeking admission into Monmouth County's PTI program. On March 1, 2010, the PTI investigator recommended that defendant's application be denied because defendant had previously received a conditional discharge. On March 19, 2010, the prosecutor concurred with the investigator's recommendation and rejected defendant's application. In so doing, the prosecutor stated:

[Defendant's] motion to vacate the prior conditional discharge was done solely in anticipation of now being accepted into PTI. Because she previously received the benefit [of] a conditional discharge, she should not now be given the benefit of PTI. The [S]tate agrees with the PTI investigator and rejects the defendant's application.

Defendant appealed. On April 23, 2010, the trial court entered an order supported by an oral decision that granted defendant's admission into PTI. In determining that the prosecutor's decision was a “patent and gross” abuse of discretion, the court reasoned, in relevant part, that for defendant to have been deemed ineligible for admission into PTI pursuant to Rule 3:28, Guideline 3(g) she must have been “conditionally discharged,” not merely placed into supervisory treatment under N.J.S.A. 2C:36A–1. The court determined that the municipal court's January 14, 2010 order rendered the 1990 conditional discharge a legal nullity, and as such, “it [could not] be properly stated that ... defendant was previously ‘conditionally discharged’ ” as that phrase is used in Rule 3:28, Guideline 3(g). Accordingly, the court concluded that the prosecutor improperly relied upon defendant's prior conditional discharge in denying her admission into PTI.

[1] The State asserts the court mistakenly construed the phrase “conditionally discharged” in Rule 3:28, Guideline 3(g) as meaning that an individual receives a conditional discharge when the underlying disorderly persons offense is dismissed, rather than when the individual is placed into supervisory treatment pursuant to N.J.S.A. 2C:36A–1. Alternatively, the State argues that even if ambiguities exist in the language contained in Rule 3:28, Guideline 3(g), defendant is barred from PTI pursuant to N.J.S.A. 2C:43–12g. The State contends that the ineligibility provision contained in N.J.S.A. 2C:43–12g prevail over those of Rule 3:28.¹ We agree.

II.

PTI “represents a procedural alternative to the traditional system of prosecuting and incarcerating criminal suspects, and was intended as a response to deficiencies in that system.” State v. Leonardis, 71 N.J. 85, 92, 363 A.2d 321 (1976). The program is governed by statute and court rule. N.J.S.A. 2C:43–12; R. 3:28. “Pretrial intervention is a discretionary program diverting criminal defendants from formal prosecution,” and “[a]ny defendant charged with a crime is eligible for [the program].” State v. Caliguiri, 158 N.J. 28, 35–36, 726 A.2d 912 (1999). However, because PTI is discretionary, not every defendant is entitled to admission into the program. R. 3:28, Guideline 2.

“[T]o reverse the denial of an application for PTI [,] a defendant must clearly and convincingly establish that the prosecutor's refusal to consent to admission to the program was based upon a patent and gross abuse of discretion.” State v. Maldonado, 314 N.J.Super. 539, 543, 715 A.2d 996 (App.Div.1998). “[A] ‘patent and gross abuse of discretion’ is more than just an abuse of discretion as traditionally conceived; it is a prosecutorial decision that ‘has gone so wide of the mark sought to be accomplished by PTI that fundamental fairness and justice require judicial intervention.’ ” Ibid. (quoting State v. Wallace, 146 N.J. 576, 582–83, 684 A.2d 1355 (1996)). “To overturn a prosecutor's decision[,] a party must show that [the] decision either failed to account for all the relevant factors, was based on irrelevant or inappropriate factors, or constituted a ‘clear error in judgment.’ ” State v. Smith, 92 N.J. 143, 145, 455 A.2d 1117 (1983) (quoting State v. Bender, 80 N.J. 84, 93, 402 A.2d 217 (1979)). For a prosecutor's abuse of discretion, “to rise to the level of ‘patent and gross,’ it must further be shown that the prosecutorial error complained of will clearly subvert the goals underlying Pretrial Intervention.” Bender, supra, 80 N.J. at 93, 402 A.2d 217 (quoting State v. Leonardis, 73 N.J. 360, 382, 375 A.2d 607 (1977)).

Defendant seeks to exploit what she believes is an ambiguity in Rule 3:28 that allowed her to take advantage of the conditional discharge diversionary program under N.J.S.A. 2C:36A–1, have the order granting the conditional discharge vacated, and then take advantage of a second diversionary program under PTI. As noted by the trial court, the timing of defendant's motion to vacate the 1990 dismissal just before submitting her PTI application “is not a coincidence.” Nevertheless, the court allowed defendant to take advantage of PTI after having previously benefited from the prior diversionary program, contravening what we determine is part of the public policy underlying PTI.

The trial court found that the prosecutor's reliance on defendant having “previously received the benefit [of] a conditional discharge” constituted a patent and gross abuse of discretion. In reaching that determination, the court construed Rule 3:28, Guideline 3(g) as barring those individuals from PTI whose prior CDS offenses were dismissed at the completion of their supervisory treatment under N.J.S.A. 2C:36A–1, not those who had been placed into supervisory treatment under the conditional discharge statute, whether or not they successfully completed supervisory treatment. The court deemed the municipal court's vacation of defendant's prior conditional discharge as placing defendant in the same position as if she had never been placed into supervisory treatment under the conditional discharge statute. Absent from the trial court's analysis, however, is consideration of the effect of N.J.S.A. 2C:43–12g.

This appeal requires us to construe N.J.S.A. 2C:36A–1, N.J.S.A. 2C:43–12g, and Rule 3:28, Guideline 3(g), and the legal effect of the municipal court's January 14, 2010 order that vacated defendant's conditional discharge. Accordingly, our standard of review is de novo. See State v. Gandhi, 201 N.J. 161, 176, 989 A.2d 256 (2010) (holding that “[a] reviewing court is neither bound by, nor required to defer to, the legal conclusions of a trial ... court”).

Because the question presented turns in part on construction of two statutes and a court rule, we first review the general principles governing that task. In construing a statute, the role of the court is to determine the intent of the Legislature. Ibid. Generally, the best indicator of that intent is the statutory language itself. Ibid. In deciphering the Legislature's intent, “[w]e apply to the statutory terms the generally accepted meaning of the words used by the Legislature.” Patel v. N.J. Motor Vehicle Comm'n, 200 N.J. 413, 418, 982 A.2d 445 (2009); see also N.J.S.A. 1:1–1. It is not the function of a court t...