ASSEMBLY JUDICIARY COMMITTEE

 

STATEMENT TO

 

ASSEMBLY CONCURRENT RESOLUTION No. 102

 

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

 

DATED: MAY 1, 1997

 

      The Assembly Judiciary Committee reports favorably Assembly Concurrent Resolution Bill No. 102.

      In State v. Martini, 144 N.J. 603 (decided June 28, 1996), our Supreme Court held that mentally competent defendants in death penalty cases could not voluntarily waive post-conviction relief procedures. This proposed constitutional amendment would provide that nothing in New Jersey's Constitution shall be deemed to require that post- conviction relief proceedings and proportionality review be conducted in a death penalty case when a defendant who is determined to be mentally competent knowingly and voluntarily chooses not to pursue these procedures.

      Post-conviction relief refers to motions made after a criminal conviction has been upheld on direct appeal seeking reversal of that conviction on grounds such as ineffective counsel or new evidence. Proportionality review is part of the appellate process in death penalty cases in which a defendant's death sentence is compared to the sentences imposed in similar cases in order to determine whether the sentence was disproportionate.

      This concurrent resolution is identical to Senate Concurrent Resolution No. 97/96 (SCS).