In State v. Steingraber, the State appealed the lower court’s grant of PCR relief. The lower court ruled that the sentencing court’s imposition of parole supervision for life (PSL)–in the absence of a motion by the prosecutor as required under the PSL statute–constituted an illegal sentence. The Appellate Division reversed, holding that the defendant’s sentence was not illegal because neither the plea agreement nor the sentencing court indicated that the defendant waived the court’s ability to “find[] on the record that the special sentence [wa]s not needed to protect the community or deter . . . defendant from future criminal activity.” N.J.S.A. 2C:43-6.4. The Appellate Division remanded and ordered the lower court to determine the applicability of the PSL provision from the vantage point of the original sentencing and not considering crimes the defendant subsequently committed.
