STATE OF NEW JERSEY v. CAMERON DEJESUS

 

NOT FOR PUBLICATION WITHOUT THE

APPROVAL OF THE APPELLATE DIVISION

SUPERIOR COURT OF NEW JERSEY

APPELLATE DIVISION

DOCKET NO. A-4495-04T44495-04T4

STATE OF NEW JERSEY,

Plaintiff-Respondent,

v.

CAMERON DEJESUS,

Defendant-Appellant.

______________________________

 

Submitted May 23, 2006 - Decided June 16, 2006

Before Judges Hoens and Seltzer.

On appeal from the Superior Court of

New Jersey, Law Division, Criminal

Part, Atlantic County, 98-04-0840.

Yvonne Smith Segars, Public Defender,

attorney for appellant (David A. Snyder,

Designated Counsel, on the brief).

Jeffrey S. Blitz, Atlantic County

Prosecutor (James F. Smith, Assistant

County Prosecutor, of counsel and

on the brief).

PER CURIAM

Defendant appeals from the denial of his post-conviction relief (PCR) application. We affirm.

This is the procedural history of the application. After a jury trial, defendant was convicted, on December 7, 1998, of conspiracy to commit murder, N.J.S.A. 2C:11-3 and N.J.S.A. 2C:5-2 (Count One); knowing or purposeful murder, N.J.S.A. 2C:11-3a(1) and (2) (Count Two); unlawful possession of a firearm, N.J.S.A. 2C:39-4a (Count Three); and possession of a firearm for an unlawful purpose, N.J.S.A. 2C:39-5b (Count Four). The sentencing judge merged Count One into Count Two and imposed a term of life imprisonment with a thirty-year period of parole ineligibility. The judge also imposed terms of ten years with a five-year parole ineligibility period on Count Three and five years with two and one-half years of parole ineligibility on Count Four, concurrent with each other and with Count One.

Defendant appealed and we affirmed. State v. DeJesus, No. A-5246-98T4 (App. Div. October 3, 2000). The Supreme Court denied certification. 167 N.J. 88 (2001). Thereafter, defendant filed a timely PCR petition. The petition advanced several claims for relief, one of which asserted that defendant had received ineffective assistance of counsel at trial. Specifically, defendant claimed that his trial counsel had advised him to reject a plea offer of thirty years with a fifteen-year period of parole ineligibility because counsel thought defendant had a viable duress defense. Defendant claimed he was told that if he rejected the plea offer, he might expect a manslaughter conviction and serve only ten years.

The petition was denied without an evidentiary hearing. Defendant appealed and, although we affirmed the denial of the other claims, we remanded "for an evidentiary hearing on whether defendant received the effective assistance of counsel with respect to acceptance of the plea offer." State v. DeJesus, No. A-3915-02T4 (App. Div. March 2, 2004) (slip op. at 8).

The hearing on remand was conducted on March 17, 2005. Defendant testified consistently with allegations made in his petition. Trial counsel testified in response that he not only conveyed the plea offer but recommended that defendant accept it. The recommendation was based on a belief that the State's case was very strong and that defendant "should have grabbed that thirty do fifteen, and I even told him, 'You'll see the light of day if you take it' but for some reason he didn't want to take it." Although told that his duress defense was "very specious and spurious," defendant insisted that he would "not enter a plea unless he had a recommendation of a twenty-year term with a ten-year parole ineligibility."

The PCR judge was faced with a classic credibility conflict and he resolved that conflict against defendant. The judge appropriately considered the indicia by which credibility is determined and concluded that the testimony of defendant "flies in the face of logic, reason, common sense . . . [and] I don't accept it for a minute." He accepted counsel's recitation of the communications with defendant respecting the plea. The judge's credibility determination is supported by the record and we have no reason to disturb it. State v. Watson, 261 N.J. Super. 169, 177 (App. Div. 1992), certif. denied, 133 N.J. 441 (1993); State v. Boone, 114 N.J. Super. 521, 525 (App. Div.), certif. denied sub nom. State v. Terry, 58 N.J. 595 (1971).

Affirmed.

 

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A-4495-04T4

June 16, 2006