SUPERIOR COURT OF NEW JERSEY

APPELLATE DIVISION

DOCKET NO. A-2516-18T2

STATE OF NEW JERSEY,

Plaintiff-Respondent,

v.

FAHEEM K. COOK,

Defendant-Appellant.

____________________________

Submitted December 16, 2019 – Decided

Before Judges Ostrer and Vernoia.

On appeal from the Superior Court of New Jersey, Law 

Division, Essex County, Indictment Nos. 11-02-0325 

and 12-04-1051.

Joseph E. Krakora, Public Defender, attorney for 

appellant (Andrew Robert Burroughs, Designated 

Counsel, on the brief).

Theodore N. Stephens II, Acting Essex County 

Prosecutor, attorney for respondent (Frank J. Ducoat, 

Special Deputy Attorney General/Acting Assistant 

Prosecutor, of counsel and on the brief).

PER CURIAM

NOT FOR PUBLICATION WITHOUT THE

APPROVAL OF THE APPELLATE DIVISION

This opinion shall not "constitute precedent or be binding upon any court." Although it is posted on the 

internet, this opinion is binding only on the parties in the case and its use in other cases is limited. R. 1:36-3.

January 7, 2020
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A-2516-18T2

Defendant Faheem Cook appeals from the court's order denying, without 

an evidentiary hearing, his petition for post-conviction relief. Cook contends 

his trial counsel was ineffective by failing to challenge the court's award of gaptime and jail credits in connection with his sentence on three indictments. He 

argues:

AS FAIR PLAY AND EQUITABLE 

CONSIDERATIONS REQUIRE THAT MR. COOK 

RECEIVE 501 DAYS OF JAIL TIME CREDIT 

INSTEAD OF GAP-TIME CREDIT, THE PCR 

COURT SHOULD HAVE GRANTED HIS PETITION.

We affirm.

On September 19, 2011, after a jury found Cook guilty of an August 28, 

2009 robbery and conspiracy to commit robbery, the court imposed an aggregate 

seven-year sentence subject to the No Early Release Act (NERA), N.J.S.A. 

2C:43-7.2, and awarded 353 days of jail credit. The jail credit covered a brief 

period of incarceration in 2009, and his subsequent incarceration beginning

November 19, 2010. 

Over a year later, on December 5, 2012, Cook pleaded guilty to three 

counts of third-degree theft committed on July 11, 2010, under a second 

indictment. Also on that day, Cook pleaded guilty to an August 8, 2010 firstdegree armed robbery, and related charges, under a third indictment. On 
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A-2516-18T2

February 1, 2013, the court sentenced Cook to an aggregate five years under the 

second indictment, and an aggregate twelve years subject to NERA under the 

third indictment. In connection with both sentences, the court awarded 304 days 

of jail credit and 501 days of gap time. The jail credit covered the period 

between his November 2010 arrest and his September 2011 sentencing.

Defendant's appeal lacks sufficient merit to warrant discussion in a written 

opinion. R. 2:11-3(e)(2). He was only entitled to gap time for the 501 days, 

because he was already sentenced and serving time in prison on the first 

indictment when he was sentenced under the second and third indictments for 

crimes committed before the first sentence. See N.J.S.A. 2C:44-5(b)(2); State 

v. Joe, 228 N.J. 125, 131 (2017). His plea counsel was not ineffective by 

withholding a meritless argument for jail credit. See State v. O'Neal, 190 N.J. 

601, 619 (2007).

Affirmed.