State v. Thomas

The opinion of the Court was delivered by

COLEMAN, J.

This appeal raises questions concerning the scope of the mandatory sentencing provisions of the No Early Release Act (NERA), N.J.S.A. 2C:43-7.2. Specifically, we must decide whether NERA may be applied to a defendant who pled guilty to second-degree sexual assault, N.J.S.A. 2C:14-2b, for touching an eleven-year-old victim in her vaginal area. To answer that question, we must interpret the meaning of the term “physical force” as used in NERA. In a published opinion, the Appellate Division concluded that, based on its legislative history, NERA…