Kenneth Vercammen & Associates, P.C.
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Sunday, November 18, 2018

STATE OF NEW JERSEY VS. CALVIN BASS (83-06-2420, ESSEX COUNTY AND STATEWIDE) (A-0407-17T4)

Defendant challenges the denial of his fourth petition for post-conviction relief (PCR), arising from a 1984 murder conviction. He contends that the revised waiver statute, N.J.S.A. 2A:4A-26.1(c)(1), effective March 1, 2016, should have been retroactively applied by the PCR judge pursuant to our holding in State in Interest of J.F., 446 N.J. Super. 39 (App. Div. 2016). Although defendant was fourteen years and one month of age at the time he committed the crime, we hold N.J.S.A. 2A:4A-26.1(c)(1), which does not authorize waiver to adult court of a juvenile under the age of fifteen, has no retroactive application where a defendant's conviction and sentence have been adjudicated with finality.