State v. Dalziel

This appeal provides us with an opportunity to revisit the aggravating and mitigating factors prescribed in our Code of Criminal Justice and to assess the propriety of their use under the particular facts presented.

I

On March 1, 2002,19-year-old defendant, Daniel Dalziel and his co-defendant Brad DeBlasi committed a robbery. DeBlasi was armed with a pellet gun, and Dalziel with an eighteen-inch wooden souvenir bat. The two concealed their faces with dark bandanas and went to the Larsen Shell Gas Station in Toms River. Villem Vainjoe, the station attendant, was watching television in the booth…