State v. Hicks, A-4338-07T4; Appellate Division; opinion by Fuentes, J.A.D.; decided and approved for publication January 22, 2010. Before Judges Skillman, Fuentes and Gilroy. On appeal from the Law Division, Hudson County, No. 99-09-1516. DDS No. 14-2-6593 [10 pp.]
On May 29, 2002, defendant Mark Hicks pleaded guilty to one count of first-degree aggravated manslaughter, as a lesser-included offense of murder, for causing the death of a 2-year-old boy. Consistent with the terms of a negotiated plea agreement between defendant and the state, the court sentenced defendant to a term of 15 years, with an 85 percent period of parole ineligibility pursuant to the No Early Release Act (NERA). Defendant filed a direct appeal challenging the sentence as excessive. The Appellate Division affirmed the sentence in the context of an excessive sentence oral argument calendar. The Supreme Court denied defendant’s petition for certification.
