State v. Rodriguez

The opinion of the Court was delivered by

HANDLER, J.

In this case defendant was convicted of several serious crimes, including felony murder and robbery, and given separate custodial sentences on each of these convictions, which aggregated thirty years with fifteen years of parole ineligibility. The issue is whether, upon a merger of the convictions for felony murder and robbery following defendant’s appeal, double jeopardy precludes resentencing the defendant after he has begun to serve the sentence originally imposed.

I

At 8:00 P.M. on November 1, 1980, defendant, Angel Acosta Rodriguez,…