Opinion ID: 1536017
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 24

Heading: Constitutionality of the Death-Penalty Statute

Text: Defendant claims that New Jersey's Death Penalty Act, N.J.S.A. 2C:11-3c to -3i, violates the Eighth Amendment. The basis for this claim is that the deathpenalty statute fails to adequately narrow and define the class of individuals eligible for death and fails to provide for a system of meaningful appellate review. Thus, defendant insists that his death sentence should be reduced to a term of imprisonment. This Court has repeatedly rejected this claim and has upheld the constitutionality of the death-penalty statute. Loftin, supra, 146 N.J. at 333, 680 A. 2d 677; Martini I, supra, 131 N.J. at 221-22, 619 A. 2d 1208; Ramseur, supra, 106 N.J. at 185-97, 524 A. 2d 188. Defendant has presented no persuasive reason for retreating from that view. We, therefore, reaffirm our decisions upholding the constitutionality of the Death Penalty Act.