State v. Visconti
State v. Visconti
Opinion of the Court
The opinion of the court was delivered
Defendants were convicted of bookmaking in violation of N. J. S. 2A:112-3, and each was sentenced to serve two to four years in State’s prison and fined $1,000.
They raise a number of issues, only some of which need be mentioned.
Defendants moved to suppress evidence seized upon a search under a warrant. The supporting affidavits were
With respect to the sentence, defendants make the same attack we rejected in State v. DeStasio, 49 N. J. 247 (1967), decided this day. The record reveals that counsel for defendant rested his objection upon an assumption that there was a directive requiring the sentencing judge to jail defendants unless they offered to testify against their superiors. The sentencing judge, who presided at the trial, said he had not seen the directive. There is some obscurity in the dialogue as to whether the sentencing judge assumed defense counsel was correct in his claim concerning the content of the directive, but we cannot find that the sentencing judge did anything other than exercise his own discretion. This seems evident from the fact that the sentencing judge imposed a jail term above the statutory mandatory minimum, a course he would not have followed if he thought that a jail term was not warranted. Further, since the presentence reports show that both defendants had criminal records, including as to each a lengthy prison term for traffic in heroin, we should not assume the trial judge did anything other than what he believed sound judgment demanded of him. Nonetheless, to obviate the chance that we misread the record, our action in affirming the judgment is without prejudice to a prompt application by defendants to the sentencing judge for resentenee, which of course should
The judgments are affirmed.
For affirmance—Chief Justice Weintraub and Justices Jacobs, Erancis, Hall, Schettino and Haneman—6.
For reversal—None.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- STATE OF NEW JERSEY, PLAINTIFF-RESPONDENT v. RALPH J. VISCONTI, DEFENDANT-APPELLANT STATE OF NEW JERSEY, PLAINTIFF-RESPONDENT v. ANDREW F. BUTZ
- Cited By
- 2 cases
- Status
- Published