STATE OF NEW JERSEY VS. VANCLEVE ASHLEY
A-0403-12T2
When there has been a plea agreement and a defendant seeks to withdraw his guilty plea to multiple counts after providing an inadequate factual basis to support the plea, the remedy is to vacate the plea in its entirety, reinstate the dismissed charges and restore both the State and the defendant to their positions prior to the guilty plea. State v. Campfield, 213 N.J. 218, 232 (2013) (citing State v. Barboza, 115 N.J. 415, 420 (1989)). In this case, we consider whether the same remedy applies when the guilty plea, lacking an adequate factual basis for two of three charges, is entered without a plea offer from the prosecutor, but after the defendant has been advised by the trial court regarding the maximum sentence the judge was "inclined" to impose. Because it was intended that the maximum ten-year sentence the judge was inclined to impose would globally address all charges and defendant provided an inadequate factual basis for the most serious offenses, it was error to deny his motion to vacate his plea and sentence him to the ten year term.
