State v. Maguire

The opinion of the Court was delivered by

WILENTZ, C. J.

We are asked to decide whether the Legislature, in passing the New Jersey Code of Criminal Justice, N.J.S.A. 2C:1-1 et seq. (Code), intended that persons serving mandatory life sentences for first degree murder under former law should be automatically entitled to reconsideration and possible reduction of their sentences. The answer is no. Necessarily involved in this decision is whether the Legislature intended to reduce the maximum sentence for murder to a term of 30 years imprisonment and to authorize a life sentence only in cases where…