State v. Newman

The opinion of the Court was delivered by

STEIN, J.

This appeal concerns the validity of a sentence of restitution imposed to recover “drug buy money” that defendant had received from an undercover investigator. We also address the adequacy of the inquiry conducted by the sentencing court in setting the amount of restitution and in determining defendant’s ability to pay.

In February 1991, an Atlantic County Grand Jury returned a seventeen-count indictment against defendant, charging him with offenses stemming from cocaine sales to undercover investigators of the Atlantic County Prosecutor’s…