10-15-09 STATE V. LEONARD

10-15-09 STATE V. RAAFIQ LEONARD
A-4330-07T4
The trial court properly precluded defense counsel from
confronting the victim with a fifteen-year-old conviction for
third-degree aggravated assault. Vasquez v. Jones, 496 F.3d 564
(6th Cir. 2007) is distinguishable.

Assistant Editor: Umair Hussain

STATE OF NEW JERSEY V. L.V.

DATE NAME OF CASE (DOCKET NUMBER)
10-08-09 STATE OF NEW JERSEY V. L.V.
A-3149-07T4
Defendant pled guilty to second-degree manslaughter and
second-degree aggravated assault on her two newborn infants and
was sentenced to two concurrent five-year terms of imprisonment,
subject to the No Early Release Act, N.J.S.A. 2C:43-7.2. The
matter came before the panel on the Sentence Oral Argument
calendar with defendant arguing the judge erred in sentencing
her as a second-degree offender. Because the judge erred in not
finding all the mitigating factors supported by the record, we
reversed. We considered defendant's long history of horrific
sexual and psychological abuse by her father, who twice
impregnated her; her significant mental retardation; the
significant role her father played in the death of her first
child and the assault of the second; the presence of a duress
defense; the absence of any prior history of delinquency or
criminal activity; the likelihood her conduct would not recur
because her father had been sentenced to an aggregate thirtyfive
year term; her character and attitude making it unlikely
she would commit another offense; and her cooperation with the
prosecution of her father. Thus, we concluded that the
mitigating factors substantially outweighed aggravating factors
(1), (2), and (9) and resentenced defendant as a third-degree
offender to two concurrent terms of four years, subject to NERA,
with three years of parole supervision.

Edited by Umair Hussain