People v. Thompson

Judge Ciparick and I respectfully dissent and vote to affirm the order of the Appellate Division which upheld the sentence imposed on defendant by the trial court. By reversing the sentence, the Court of Appeals today compels the resentence of defendant to a mandatory minimum of 15 years to life imprisonment. The Court rules that this more severe sentence is required to effectuate the will of the Legislature, expressed more than 20 years ago as part of the frustratingly decried, yet intractably operative, Rockefeller Drug Sentencing Laws.

We agree with the courts below that this new fate…