The New Jersey Appellate Division reviewed the defendant’s conviction for violating the terms of his Community Supervision for Life (“CSL”). In 2002, the defendant was convicted of endangering the welfare of a child and thus subject to CSL. At the time, N.J.S.A. 2C:43-6.4(d) provided that a conviction for violating CSL was a fourth-degree crime. But in 2014, the statute was amended to a third-degree offense with the presumption of imprisonment. In 2018, the New Jersey Supreme Court in State v. Hester held that defendants placed on CSL prior to the 2014 amendment could not be charged with the third-degree offense because doing so would violate their right to be free of ex post facto laws. Based on Hester, the defendant moved to dismiss the charge, claiming that the 2014 amendment removed the fourth-degree charge from the crimes code. The Appellate Division disagreed and held that he could be prosecuted under the fourth-degree charge.
