STATE OF NEW JERSEY VS. DAMEAN BATES(11-05-0832, 11-12-2154, 13-06-1211 AND 12-06-0370, HUDSON COUNTY AND STATEWIDE) ( 2017 )

NOT FOR PUBLICATION WITHOUT THE
APPROVAL OF THE APPELLATE DIVISION
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parties in the case and its use in other cases is limited. R.1:36-3.
SUPERIOR COURT OF NEW JERSEY
APPELLATE DIVISION
DOCKET NO. A-4066-15T1
STATE OF NEW JERSEY,
Plaintiff-Respondent,
v.
DAMEAN BATES,
Defendant-Appellant.
_____________________________
Submitted August 8, 2017 – Decided August 16, 2017
Before Judges Sabatino and Whipple.
On appeal from Superior Court of New Jersey,
Law Division, Hudson County, Indictment Nos.
11-05-0832, 11-12-2154 and 13-06-1211 and
Accusation No. 12-06-0370.
Joseph E. Krakora, Public Defender, attorney
for appellant (Joseph Anthony Manzo,
Designated Counsel, on the brief).
Esther Suarez, Hudson County Prosecutor,
attorney for respondent (Roseanne Sessa,
Assistant Prosecutor, on the brief).
PER CURIAM
Defendant appeals from an April 7, 2016 order recalculating
jail credits pursuant to defendant's post-conviction relief (PCR)
petition. We affirm.
We discern the following relevant facts from the record.
Defendant was charged under three separate Hudson County criminal
indictments, as well as an accusation, with numerous criminal
charges, including but not limited to burglary, eluding, weapons
offenses, various drug offenses, and endangering the welfare of a
child. On June 12, 2012, defendant pled guilty to eluding,
N.J.S.A. 2C:29-2(b), two counts of certain person not to have
weapons, N.J.S.A. 2C:39-7, obstructing the administration of law,
N.J.S.A. 2C:29-1, and possession with intent to distribute
controlled dangerous substances (CDS) in a school zone, N.J.S.A.
2C:35-7. On August 5, 2013, defendant also pled guilty to
burglary, N.J.S.A. 2C:18-2.
On August 24, 2012, defendant received a concurrent sentence
of seven years for eluding and nine years with a five-year period
of parole ineligibility under certain person not to have weapons.
He received jail credit for seventy-eight days. Defendant received
an eighteen-month concurrent sentence for obstructing the
administration of the law. He received jail credit of sixty-eight
days. Defendant was sentenced to a concurrent nine years with a
five-year period of parole ineligibility for the second certain
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person charge and eight years for distribution of CDS in a school
zone. He received jail credit of thirty-nine days.
On October 10, 2013, defendant was sentenced to five years
with an eighty-five percent term of parole ineligibility, subject
to the No Early Release Act, N.J.S.A. 2C:43-7.2 to -9, and three
years of parole supervision. He received no jail credit but
received 412 days of gap-time credit.
On September 11, 2015, defendant filed a pro se PCR petition.
In his petition, defendant asserted his sentence was illegal
because the sentencing judge erroneously applied gap-time credits
instead of jail-time credits and asked the court to convert the
412 days awarded as gap-time credits into jail credits. On April
7, 2016, the PCR judge entered an order granting the relief
requested and amending the judgments of conviction on the three
indictments as follows: 185 days jail credit on indictment 11-05-
0832 for periods from 1/24/11–3/4/11, 8/9/11-10/15/11, and 6/8/12–
8/23/12; 145 days jail credit on indictment 11-12-2154 for periods
from 8/9/11–10/15/11 and 6/8/12–8/23/12, and 77 days jail credit
and 412 days of gap-time credit on indictment 13-06-1211 for
periods from 6/8/12-8/23/12 and 8/24/12-10/9/13. The judge did
not amend accusation number 12-06-0370. This appeal followed.
On appeal, defendant raises the following arguments:
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POINT I.
BECAUSE COUNSEL DID NOT CORRECTLY EXPLAIN TO
HIS CLIENT THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN JAIL CREDIT
AND GAP-TIME CREDIT AND THE EFFECT EACH WOULD
HAVE ON THE SENTENCE TO BE SERVED, PERFORMANCE
OF TRIAL COUNSEL WAS INEFFECTIVE.
POINT II.
BECAUSE DEFENDANT MADE A PRIMA FACIE SHOWING
OF INEFFECTIVE ASSISTANCE OF TRIAL COUNSEL,
THE COURT MISAPPLIED ITS DISCRETION IN DENYING
[PCR] WITHOUT CONDUCTING A FULL EVIDENTIARY
HEARING.
We note at the outset, defendant concedes the PCR judge
correctly adjusted each judgment of conviction to reflect correct
jail credit. Defendant asserts he was entitled to an evidentiary
hearing on whether his counsel was ineffective. We disagree.
A court reviewing a PCR petition based on claims of
ineffective assistance of counsel should grant an evidentiary
hearing if a defendant establishes a prima facie showing in support
of the relief requested. State v. Preciose, 129 N.J. 451, 462
(1992). In order to establish a prima facie case of ineffective
assistance of counsel, a defendant must demonstrate the
"reasonable likelihood" his claim will succeed on the merits. Id.
at 463.
To prevail on a claim of ineffective assistance of counsel,
defendant must meet a two-prong test. Ibid. (citing Strickland
v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668, 694, 104 S. Ct. 2052, 2068, 80 L. Ed.
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2d 674, 698 (1984); State v. Fritz, 105 N.J. 42, 58 (l987)).
Defendant must first prove counsel's performance was deficient,
and he or she made errors that were so egregious that counsel was
not functioning effectively as guaranteed by the Sixth Amendment
to the United States Constitution. Strickland, supra, 466 U.S.
at 687, 104 S. Ct. at 2064, 80 L. Ed. 2d at 693; State v. Fritz,
105 N.J. 42, 52 (l987). The second prong requires defendant to
show the defect in performance prejudiced defendant's rights to a
fair trial such that there exists a "reasonable probability that,
but for counsel's unprofessional errors, the result of the
proceeding would have been different." Strickland, supra, 466
U.S. at 694, 104 S. Ct. at 2068, 80 L. Ed. 2d at 698; see also
Fritz, supra, 105 N.J. at 52-53. "In the specific context of
showing prejudice after having entered a guilty plea, a defendant
must prove 'that there is a reasonable probability that, but for
counsel's errors, [he or she] would not have pled guilty and would
have insisted on going to trial.'" State v. Gaitain, 209 N.J.
339, 351 (2012) (quoting State v. Nuñez-Valdéz, 200 N.J. 129, 139
(2009)); see also Lee v. United States, 582 U.S. __, __ S. Ct. __,
__ L. Ed. 2d __ (2017).
Defendant's petition does not assert a claim for ineffective
assistance of counsel. Defendant argues his trial counsel did not
correctly or clearly explain the differences between gap-time
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credit and jail credit and the critical effect each would have on
the actual sentence to be served. However, defendant did not
raise this argument in his petition. Moreover, the PCR judge
specifically noted defendant did not raise the argument his
attorney's misinformation caused him to plead guilty.
Even if defendant had raised this issue in his petition,
defendant has failed to present a prima facie claim of ineffective
assistance. Defendant has not presented evidence counsel was
deficient or that he would have proceeded to trial if counsel had
not been deficient. Defendant does not present evidence to support
his claim that plea counsel failed to explain the differences
between gap-time and jail credit to him, and defendant merely
argues "the effect of this error that [defendant] now has to serve
a longer time in prison before he is eligible for parole," which
is not sufficient to satisfy the Strickland/Fritz standard.
Therefore, defendant has failed to present a prima face claim of
ineffective assistance of counsel, and the trial court was not
required to conduct an evidentiary hearing on this matter.
Affirmed.
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