State v. Ferguson

The opinion of the court was delivered by

KLEINER, J.S.C.

(temporarily assigned)

In this appeal we are required to determine the circumstances in which a court may impose a sentence upon a youthful offender, N.J.S.A 2C:43-5, in excess of the mandated presumptive sentence set forth in N.J.S.A. 30:4-148.

Defendant James Ferguson, who was arrested at age fourteen, entered a plea of guilty at age eighteen to one count of aggravated manslaughter, N.J.S.A 2C:ll-4c, and was sentenced as a youthful offender, N.J.S.A 2C:43-5, to an indeterminate term not to exceed eighteen years at the Youth Reception and…