STATE OF NEW JERSEY VS. R.J.M.
A-5306-15T1
The court construed N.J.R.E. 609(b), which addresses the admissibility, for impeachment purposes, of remote convictions, i.e., those over ten years old. The ten-year period is calculated from the date of the conviction or release from confinement for it, whichever is later. The court held that civil commitment, pursuant to the Sexually Violent Predator Act, is not "confinement for" a criminal conviction. Therefore, a period of civil commitment may not be excluded in calculating whether a conviction is more than ten years old.
Defendant, a resident of the Special Treatment Unit (STU), was on trial for assaulting a corrections officer at the STU. Defendant had been convicted of a sexual assault in 1990, completed his sentence in 2000, and was then civilly committed to the STU. The trial court erred in determining that, due to defendant's ongoing civil commitment, his 1990 sexual assault conviction was not remote under N.J.R.E. 609(b).
