STATE OF NEW JERSEY VS. RAQUAN B. FRANK (16-03-0734, ESSEX COUNTY AND STATEWIDE)

NOT FOR PUBLICATION WITHOUT THE
APPROVAL OF THE APPELLATE DIVISION
This opinion shall not "constitute precedent or be binding upon any court ." Although it is posted on the
internet, this opinion is binding only on the 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-0809-19
STATE OF NEW JERSEY,
Plaintiff-Respondent,
v.
RAQUAN B. FRANK,
a/k/a RA'QUAN FRANK,
Defendant-Appellant.
________________________
Submitted October 6, 2021 – Decided December 1, 2021
Before Judges Fuentes and Gilson.
On appeal from the Superior Court of New Jersey, Law
Division, Essex County, Indictment No. 16-03-0734.
Joseph E. Krakora, Public Defender, attorney for
appellant (Laura B. Lasota, Assistant Deputy Public
Defender, of counsel and on the brief).
Theodore N. Stephens II, Acting Essex County
Prosecutor, attorney for respondent (Frank J. Ducoat,
Special Deputy Attorney General/Acting Assistant
Prosecutor, of counsel and on the brief).
PER CURIAM
This appeal presents one issue: whether N.J.S.A. 2C:44-1(b)(14), which
added a new mitigating factor for crimes committed by persons under the age of
twenty-six, should be applied retroactively to require the resentencing of a
defendant sentenced before the mitigating factor was added. We hold that it
does not. Accordingly, we affirm defendant's sentence that was imposed in
2017, more than three years before mitigating factor fourteen was added in 2020.
I.
In the early morning of March 29, 2015, T.T. was shot and killed as he
left a lounge in Newark. 1 Approximately a year later, in March 2016, defendant
Raquan Frank was indicted for the murder of T.T. The indictment charged
defendant with first-degree murder, N.J.S.A. 2C:11-3(a)(1) and (2); second-
degree conspiracy to commit robbery, N.J.S.A. 2C:5-2 and N.J.S.A. 2C:15-1;
first-degree felony murder, N.J.S.A. 2C:11-3(a)(3); and three weapons offenses.
In February 2017, defendant pled guilty to first-degree aggravated
manslaughter, N.J.S.A. 2C:11-4(a)(1), as an amended charge to the charge of
murder, and second-degree conspiracy to commit robbery. In pleading guilty,
defendant admitted that he conspired with another adult and two juveniles to rob
1
We use initials to protect the privacy interests of the victim's family.
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patrons as they were leaving the lounge. He also admitted that he was armed
with a handgun, he fired his gun at people leaving the lounge, and his actions
had a high probability of causing someone to be shot. Defendant was eighteen
years old at the time that he committed those crimes.
At sentencing on March 31, 2017, the court imposed the recommended
sentence that had been negotiated by the State in exchange for defendant's guilty
pleas. On the aggravated manslaughter conviction, defendant was sentenced to
twelve years in prison with eighty-five percent of that term ineligible for parole
as prescribed by the No Early Release Act (NERA), N.J.S.A. 2C:43-7.2.
Defendant was also sentenced to a concurrent term of ten years in prison for the
conviction of conspiracy to commit robbery. Both those sentences were run
concurrent to a separate sentence for a weapons conviction that defendant was
already serving.
In imposing the sentence, the court found three aggravating factors: factor
three, the risk of re-offense, N.J.S.A. 2C:44-1(a)(3); factor six, defendant's
criminal history, N.J.S.A. 2C:44-1(a)(6); and factor nine, the need to deter,
N.J.S.A. 2C:44-1(a)(9). In finding those aggravating factors, the court noted
defendant had a "significant" history of being adjudged delinquent as a juvenile
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and that as an adult he had already been convicted of a separate weapons offense.
The court found no mitigating factors.
Defendant did not appeal from his convictions or sentence. Instead, two
years after he was sentenced, in February 2019, defendant moved to reduce his
sentence under Rule 3:21-10(a). Defendant argued that he had matured since
committing his crimes and that he had benefitted from various rehabilitative
programs during his incarceration. In an order issued on April 11, 2019, the
trial court denied defendant's motion to reduce his sentence, finding that he had
not met the standards under Rule 3:21-10(a) and (b). Defendant appealed from
that order.
While that appeal was pending, defendant's judgment of conviction was
amended on April 28, 2020, to correct the jail and gap time credited to
defendant. Thereafter, we granted defendant's motion to amend his notice of
appeal to include an appeal from the amended judgment of conviction.
II.
On this appeal, defendant focuses his arguments on the sentence that was
imposed on him in March 2017. He contends that the matter should be remanded
for resentencing so that the court can consider mitigating factor fourteen, which
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was enacted more than three years after defendant was sentenced. Defendant
articulates his arguments as follows:
POINT I – THE LAW REQUIRING SENTENCING
MITIGATION FOR YOUTHFUL DEFENDANTS
DEMANDS RETROACTIVE APPLICATION
BECAUSE THE LEGISLATURE INTENDED IT,
THE NEW LAW IS AMELIORATIVE IN NATURE,
THE SAVINGS STATUTE IS INAPPLICABLE, AND
FUNDAMENTAL FAIRNESS REQUIRES
RETROACTIVITY.
A. The Legislature Intended Retroactive
Application.
1. The Legislature Did Not Express a Clear
Intent for Prospective Application.
2. The Other Language of the Statute
Establishing the Mitigating Factor
Indicates Retroactive Application; the
Presumption of Prospective Application is
Inapplicable; and the Law is Clearly
Ameliorative.
3. There is No Manifest Injustice to the State
in Applying the Mitigating Factor
Retroactively.
B. The Savings Statute Does Not Preclude
Retroactive Application Of Ameliorative
Legislative Changes Like The One At Issue Here.
C. Retroactive Application Of The Mitigating
Factor Is Required As A Matter Of Fundamental
Fairness.
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Initially, we clarify the issue on this appeal. Defendant did not file a
timely notice of appeal from his sentence imposed in March 2017. Instead, he
moved to reduce his sentence and appealed from the April 11, 2019 order
denying that motion. We did grant defendant's motion to appeal from the
amended judgment of conviction that was entered on April 28, 2020.
The argument presented on this appeal relates to defendant's original
sentence imposed on March 31, 2017. Nevertheless, we will consider
defendant's arguments on the merits. We do so, however, in the procedural
context where defendant did not seek the retroactive application of miti gating
factor fourteen while he had a pending appeal. Instead, defendant is seeking a
remand for resentencing more than three years after his sentence became final
and the Legislature added mitigating factor fourteen.
On October 19, 2020, the Legislature passed, and the Governor signed
into law, several recommendations of the Criminal Sentencing and Disposition
Commission. See L. 2020, c. 106; L. 2020, c. 109; L. 2020, c. 110. One of the
new laws added a new mitigating factor for a court to consider in imposing a
criminal sentence. L. 2020, c. 110. Specifically, mitigating factor fourteen was
added so that a court "may properly consider" the mitigating circumstance that
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"defendant was under 26 years of age at the time of the commission of the
offense." N.J.S.A. 2C:44-1(b)(14).
The question of whether a newly enacted law applies retroactively "is a
pure legal question of statutory interpretation" based on legislative intent. State
v. J.V., 242 N.J. 432, 442 (2020), as revised (June 12, 2020) (quoting Johnson
v. Roselle EZ Quick LLC, 226 N.J. 370, 386 (2016)). "To determine the
Legislature's intent, we look to the statute's language and give those terms their
plain and ordinary meaning." Id. at 442 (citing DiProspero v. Penn, 183 N.J.
477, 492 (2005)). If the language of the statute clearly reflects the Legislature's
intent, then courts apply the law as written, affording the terms their plain
meaning. Ibid. If the language is ambiguous, "we may resort to 'extrinsic
interpretative aids, including legislative history,' to determine the statute's
meaning." Id. at 443 (quoting State v. S.B., 230 N.J. 62, 68 (2017)).
"When the Legislature does not clearly express its intent to give a statute
prospective application, a court must determine whether to apply the statute
retroactively." Ibid. (quoting Twiss v. Dep't of Treasury, 124 N.J. 461, 467
(1991)). When considering criminal laws, courts presume that the Legislature
intended them to have prospective application only. Ibid. Consistent with the
presumption in favor of prospective application, the savings statute also
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"establishes a general prohibition against retroactive application of penal laws."
State v. Chambers, 377 N.J. Super. 365, 367 (App. Div. 2005); see also N.J.S.A.
1:1-15.
Our Supreme Court has recognized three exceptions to the presumption of
prospective application of statutes. J.V., 242 N.J. at 444. Those exceptions
apply when:
(1) the Legislature provided for retroactivity expressly,
either in the language of the statute itself or its
legislative history, or implicitly, by requiring
retroactive effect to "make the statute workable or to
give it the most sensible interpretation"; (2) "the statute
is ameliorative or curative"; or (3) the parties'
expectations warrant retroactive application.
[Ibid. (quoting Gibbons v. Gibbons, 86 N.J. 515, 522-
23 (1981)).]
An ameliorative statute "refers only to criminal laws that effect a
reduction in a criminal penalty." Perry v. N.J. State Parole Bd., 459 N.J. Super.
186, 196 (App. Div. 2019) (quoting Street v. Universal Mar., 300 N.J. Super.
578, 582 (App. Div. 1997)). To be afforded retroactive application, an
ameliorative statute "must be aimed at mitigating a legislatively perceived undue
severity in the existing criminal law." State in the Interest of J.F., 446 N.J.
Super. 39, 55 (App. Div. 2016) (quoting Kendall v. Snedeker, 219 N.J. Super.
283, 286 n. 1 (App. Div. 1987)).
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A curative change to a statute is limited to actions that "remedy a
perceived imperfection in or misapplication of a statute." Pisack v. B & C
Towing, Inc., 240 N.J. 360, 371 (2020) (quoting James v. N.J. Mfrs. Ins. Co.,
216 N.J. 552, 564 (2014)). A curative change does not "alter the act in any
substantial way, but merely clarifie[s] the legislative intent behind the [previous]
act." Ibid. (alterations in original) (quoting James, 216 N.J. at 564).
N.J.S.A. 2C:44-1(b)(14) is not curative because it did not remedy an
imperfection; rather, it added a new mitigating factor based on new concerns
regarding youthful offenders. See L. 2020, c. 110. Moreover, while the new
mitigating factor is ameliorative, the Legislature stated that the statute was to
"take effect immediately," L. 2020, c. 110, thereby signaling that it was not to
be given retroactive effect.
In two recent decisions, our Supreme Court held that statutes that have an
immediate or future effective date evidence the Legislature's intent to afford
prospective application only. See Pisack, 240 N.J. at 370 (statute "take[s] effect
immediately" on the day it is signed into law); J.V., 242 N.J. at 435 (statute
applies in the future when effective date is after date of statute's enactment). In
J.V., the Court explained that "[h]ad the Legislature intended an earlier date for
the law to take effect, that intention could have been made plain in the very
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section directing when the law would become effective." 242 N.J. at 445
(quoting James, 216 N.J. at 568). Because we presume that the Legislature was
aware of the judicial construction of its statutes, N.J. Democratic Party, Inc. v.
Samson, 175 N.J. 178, 195 n.6 (2002), we assume the Legislature was aware of
Pisack (issued on Jan. 16, 2020) and J.V. (issued on June 12, 2020), both of
which were issued before the enactment of N.J.S.A 2C:44-1(b)(14) on October
19, 2020.
Moreover, the Legislature did not express any intent for the statute to be
applied retroactively. Silence on the question of retroactivity may be "akin to a
legislative flare, signaling to the judiciary that prospective application is
intended." Olkusz v. Brown, 401 N.J. Super. 496, 502 (App. Div. 2008).
Accordingly, because defendant was sentenced in 2017, well before mitigating
factor fourteen was added, he is not entitled to a resentencing based purely on
that mitigating factor.
Our holding in that regard is consistent with the published cases that have
addressed whether mitigating factor fourteen should be applied retroactively.
We have discussed whether mitigating factor fourteen should be applied
retroactively in two published opinions. See State v. Bellamy, 468 N.J. Super.
29 (App. Div. 2021); State v. Tormasi, 466 N.J. Super. 51 (App. Div. 2021).
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In Tormasi, we held that the adoption of mitigating factor fourteen does
not provide a basis to grant a new sentencing hearing because the factor related
to the weight of the sentencing, which is a matter of excessiveness, not legality.
466 N.J. Super. at 67. In Bellamy, we held that when there is an independent
basis to order a new sentencing hearing, mitigating factor fourteen should be
applied in the new sentencing proceedings. 468 N.J. Super. at 47-48. We
explained:
This is not intended to mean cases in the pipeline in
which a youthful defendant was sentenced before
October 19, 2020, are automatically entitled to a
reconsideration based on the enactment of the statute
alone. Rather, it means where, for a reason unrelated
to the adoption of the statute, a youthful defendant is
resentenced, he or she is entitled to argue the new
statute applies.
[Id. at 48.]
Here, defendant has not argued that there is any independent basis
unrelated to mitigating factor fourteen warranting a resentencing. Moreover,
pipeline retroactivity does not apply to defendant's case because he did not seek
retroactive application of mitigating factor fourteen while he had a pending
appeal. See State v. G.E.P., 234 N.J. 362, 370 (2020) (pipeline retroactivity
refers to the retroactive application of a new law to a case in the direct appeal
process when the new law became effective). As defendant was sentenced in
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March 2017, we hold that he is not entitled to a resentencing based on the
addition of mitigating factor fourteen, which was made effective on October 19,
2020.
Affirmed.
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