Lawyer: Sentencing rules are unduly harsh
BY LINDA STEIN
Star-Ledger
TRENTON, N.J. -- Although a senior corrections officer pleaded guilty to one count of official misconduct in exchange for a three-year prison sentence, her lawyer plans to challenge the constitutionality of a recent law requiring prison for corrupt officials.
Andrea Grice, 36, of Ewing, pleaded guilty before Superior Court Judge Marilyn Clark in Passaic County on Monday. Under the terms of her plea agreement, she will be required to serve two years in prison and a bribery charge will be dismissed.
Grice admitted accepting money from a prisoner’s family to give him cigarettes and fried chicken from a fast food restaurant, defense attorney Robin Lord said.
If Grice had waited until after she was indicted by a grand jury, she would have been required to serve a minimum of five years under a change in the law governing official corruption that was passed by the Legislature in April 2007, Lord said.
“The law is unduly harsh,” Lord said yesterday. “I’m challenging its constitutionality. It’s unduly harsh as to what she did. The statute was not intended for her conduct. She should just lose her job.”
Grice was in court with her 12-year-old son and her ill, elderly mother who she cares for, Lord said. All were crying.
“The Eighth Amendment protects against excessive punishment, cruel and unusual punishment,” she added. “Excessive and undue punishment is a violation of the Eighth Amendment for equal protection under the law.”
If not for the change in the statute, Grice would have been sentenced to probation or allowed to enter the Pretrial Intervention Program, a program for first-time, nonviolent offenders, Lord said.
The changed law “takes the sentencing guidelines as we know them and turns them on their head.”
The minimum prison sentence for official misconduct is now one-third to one-half of the total sentence, which is similar to a sentence imposed for a violent crime such as robbery or aggravated assault, Lord said.
“She could have committed a bank robbery without a gun and be facing less time than what she’s facing,” Lord added. “There are so many violent criminals and drug dealers getting probation. You’re taking a corrections officer, who is susceptible to abuse by other prisoners, and putting her in prison for an inordinate amount of time.
“Public corruption is not New Jersey’s problem,” Lord added. “Crimes of violence are New Jersey’s problem. The purported official corruption is in large part legislatively created, crimes such as taking a Christmas gift and not reporting it. It’s outrageous. You want to crack down on people who are in the streets robbing and shooting.”
Although the contraband smuggling occurred at the Central Reception and Assignment Facility in Ewing, Grice was prosecuted by Passaic County officials after they learned of her behavior through another investigation in Passaic.
The inmate’s relative told prosecutors there about the scheme after being arrested on another charge and served as a cooperating witness, Senior Assistant Prosecutor Paul Di Lella said when Grice was charged in May. Investigators then watched as Grice took orders for items and pocketed more than $1,000.
Cigarettes are like currency in prisons, Di Lella said.
Di Lella plans to oppose Lord’s motion and believes the changed law will pass constitutional muster.
“The Legislature saw fit to pass this law to focus on the punishment of public officials,” Di Lella said. “It’s clearly the will of the people. I believe it’s constitutional. Gov. (Jon) Corzine signed this into law in April 2007. It should be a wake-up call to any public official that this sentencing structure is in place.
“Here is a woman, a corrections officer who led a law-abiding life for the most part, and who is now going to be an inmate in one of the facilities she guarded,” he added.
If Clark, who is the presiding criminal judge in Passaic County, determines the law is unconstitutional, Grice’s sentencing would not go forward, Di Lella said.
“What (Lord is) challenging is the law itself and if Judge Clark determines it’s unconstitutional, it’s invalid and she can’t be sentenced,” said Di Lella. “Otherwise she has to seek her relief through the Appellate Division,” a lengthy process. Lord vowed to appeal the law all the way to the state Supreme Court if needed.
State Sen. Shirley Turner, D-Lawrence, said she supported the bill, voted for it and believes it’s necessary.
“When you’re a public official or an elected official, you are held to a higher standard in violating the public trust,” Turner said. “We should be held to a higher standard. It sends a message that you are in these positions to hold the public trust and you should not be breaking the law. It sends a powerful message.
“As a legislator, I wonder how these inmates get all these drugs and cell phones that are not supposed to be there. We’ve heard that gangs are gaining access to cell phones and conducting business from prison. It does send a message that we’re taking it seriously. You’re not supposed to be bringing anything into prisons -- even chicken.”
Meanwhile, Grice, a nine-year veteran corrections officer, was suspended without pay from her $64,000-per-year job when she was charged, said Dierdre Fedkenheuer, a spokeswoman for the Department of Corrections.
Grice is scheduled to be sentenced in April. If not for the plea bargain, she could have faced five to 10 years in prison. Grice remains free on $50,000 bail pending sentencing.
Copyright 2008 Newark Morning Ledger Co.