STATE OF NEW JERSEY VS. ALEXANDER A. ANDREWS (17-09-1005, MIDDLESEX COUNTY AND STATEWIDE) (A-1348-19T1)
This appeal requires the court to determine whether the assignment judge correctly granted defendant's motion to overrule the State's rejection of his petition for a Graves Act waiver pursuant to N.J.S.A. 2C:43-6.2, "which embodies the so called 'escape valve' to the mandatory sentence requirements otherwise embodied in the Graves Act," N.J.S.A. 2C:43-6(c). State v. Alvarez, 246 N.J. Super. 137, 139 (App. Div. 1991). In granting defendant's application, the assignment judge concluded that based on the disparity in the prosecutor's treatment of similarly situated defendants and the discrepancy in the State's assessment of defendant's criminal record, defendant demonstrated "'arbitrariness constituting an unconstitutional discrimination or denial of equal protection' in the prosecutor's decision," State v. Benjamin, 228 N.J. 358, 372 (2017) (quoting Alvarez, 246 N.J. Super. at 148), that fell within the Alvarez proscription. The judge explained that while Benjamin precluded defendants challenging the denial of a Graves Act waiver from obtaining discovery of prosecutorial decisions in cases other than their own, as the judge responsible for reviewing all waiver cases, he was in the best position to determine whether the Alvarez standard had been violated. The court affirms the judge's decision and rejects the State's challenge. The court is satisfied that the judge's robust review and analysis were sound, and fulfilled the role contemplated in Benjamin, to "ensure[] that prosecutorial discretion is not unchecked." 228 N.J. at 373.
