STATE OF NEW JERSEY v. KEITH BASS

NOT FOR PUBLICATION WITHOUT THE

APPROVAL OF THE APPELLATE DIVISION

SUPERIOR COURT OF NEW JERSEY

APPELLATE DIVISION

DOCKET NO. A-0

STATE OF NEW JERSEY,

Plaintiff-Respondent,

v.

KEITH BASS,

Defendant-Appellant.

________________________________

November 30, 2015

Submitted November 10, 2015 Decided

Before Judges Reisner and Hoffman.

On appeal from the Superior Court of New Jersey, Law Division, Mercer County, Indictment No. 11-08-0804.

Joseph E. Krakora, Public Defender, attorney for appellant (Kevin G. Byrnes, Designated Counsel, on the brief).

AngeloJ. Onofri, ActingMercer County Prosecutor, attorney for respondent (Dorothy Hersh,Special DeputyAttorney General/Assistant Prosecutor, of counsel and on the brief).

PER CURIAM

Defendant Keith Bass appeals from a March 4, 2014 order denying his petition for post-conviction relief (PCR). We affirm, substantially for the reasons stated by Judge Robert C. Billmeier in his comprehensive written opinion issued with the order.

Because Judge Billmeier's opinion thoroughly and correctly addressed all of defendant's PCR issues, a brief summary will suffice here. In 2012, defendant pled guilty to three offenses: second-degree possession of a weapon by a convicted felon, third-degree possession of a controlled dangerous substance in a school zone, and a violation of probation (VOP) for a third-degree drug offense. The weapons charge arose from an incident in which the police stopped a car occupied by defendant and two other men, and a search revealed a handgun in the vehicle. During the plea hearing, defendant was permitted to exonerate his two companions. In that context, he testified that "it was my gun" and his companions did not know he was in possession of the weapon or that it was present in the car.

Although he faced a potential maximum sentence of fifteen years, pursuant to the terms of the plea agreement defendant was sentenced to five years in prison, to be served without parole, for the weapons conviction; a concurrent term of five years, three without parole, for the drug offense; and a concurrent term of four years for the VOP. He also received 501 days of jail credit.

Defendant did not file a direct appeal, but in 2013 he filed a PCR petition, asserting that his attorney was ineffective in various respects. Among other things, he argued that all three defendants in the case were represented by attorneys from the Office of the Public Defender, and he was afraid that his attorney would share some unspecified information with the attorneys for his co-defendants. Defendant also contended that the trial court should have granted his suppression motion and would have done so, had his trial attorney been more effective in presenting the motion. Defendant also sought to withdraw his guilty plea, although he did not claim to be innocent of any of the charges to which he pled guilty. Judge Billmeier rejected all of defendant's PCR claims in a twenty-three page opinion.

On this appeal, defendant presents the following points of argument for our consideration

POINT I

THE DEFENDANT IS ENTITLED TO AN EVIDENTIARY HEARING ON HIS POST-CONVICTION RELIEF CLAIMS.

POINT II

THE DEFENDANT WAS DENIED THE RIGHT TO EFFECTIVE ASSISTANCE OF COUNSEL AS GUARANTEED BY THE SIXTH AMENDMENT TO THE UNITED STATES CONSTITUTION AND ART. I, PAR[A]. 10 OF THE NEW JERSEY CONSTITUTION.

POINT III

THE DEFENDANT'S PLEA MUST BE SET ASIDE, AS THERE IS NO CREDIBLE FACTUAL BASIS TO SUPPORT THE GUILTY PLEA.

Having reviewed the entire record presented to us, we conclude that those arguments are without sufficient merit to warrant discussion in a written opinion. R. 2:11-3(e)(2). We add only the following comment. In the portion of the plea hearing in which defendant was permitted to exculpate his co-defendants, he was asked whether they knew he had the gun in the car. Defendant responded with a series of statements: "Yes. I don't know. How would I I don't know what I possessed." Thereafter, his attorney asked him a series of more specific questions, the answers to which made clear that defendant knowingly possessed the gun and attempted to hide it when the police stopped the car, but his companions did not know that he possessed the weapon or that it was in the car.

Affirmed.