State v. Megargel

The opinion of the Court was delivered by

GARIBALDI, J.

N.J.S.A 2C:44-lf(2) (section 44-lf(2)) provides that where a sentencing court is clearly convinced that the mitigating factors outweigh the aggravating factors and the interest of justice demands, a court may sentence a defendant who had been convicted of a first or second degree crime to a term appropriate to an offense one degree lower. In this appeal, we must determine *488whether the court properly applied section 44-lf(2) when it sentenced defendant, convicted of first-degree kidnapping, as if he had been convicted of second-degree…