SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE

STATEMENT TO

SENATE COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR

SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION Nos. 97 and 96

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

DATED: FEBRUARY 10, 1997

      The Senate Judiciary Committee reports favorably a committee substitute for Senate Concurrent Resolution Bill Nos. 97 and 96.

      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.