State v. Truglia

The opinion of the Court was delivered by

CLIFFORD, J.

This appeal and cross-appeal pose issues of merger of criminal convictions entered pursuant to guilty pleas, and of defendant’s waiver of any merger by virtue of his having pleaded guilty pursuant to a plea agreement. Defendant raised the merger issue for the first time on appeal.

The Appellate Division, in an unreported opinion, did not decide the issue of merger, nor did it conclude that defendant, by pleading guilty to both offenses, had waived his newly-raised contention that the convictions merged. Rather, the court below held that…