State v. Crawley

The opinion of the Court was delivered by

GARIBALDI, J.

In this appeal, we consider three questions: (1) whether defendants, as part of plea agreements, can waive their right to merge offenses; (2) if such waivers are allowed, did defendant voluntarily and intelligently waive his right to merger; and (3) if defendant did knowingly waive his right to merger, is he now prohibited from challenging that waiver? We reaffirm the position taken in State v. Truglia, 97 N.J. 513, 480 A.2d 912 (1984), and hold that defendants can waive their right to merger in plea agreements, that defendant did…