06-04-08 A-3579-07T4
Defendant convicted of capital murder committed in 1994 cannot be sentenced to life-without-parole because at the time of offense the maximum parole ineligibility term was thirty years and under the December 17, 2007 amendments to the murder statute the defendant can no longer present mitigating factors to reduce the sentence to such term if not outweighed by aggravating factors. The State did not advocate trying the matter as a capital case would have been tried to achieve a sentence of life-without-parole. Moreover, the holding is narrow as amendments such as the life-without-parole provisions of N.J.S.A. 2C:11-3 and No Early Release Act statutes would affect the sentences of capital murders after those statutes took effect.
