Court Opinion

ID: 9710851
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 04:19:01.088765+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:23:00.356364
License: Public Domain

HANDLER, J.,
dissenting.
In this case, as the majority states, the Court is dealing with a defendant, who “arranged to have his automobile stolen so that he could collect insurance.” Ante at 682. By his own admission, corroborated by extraneous circumstances, defendant implicated himself in a criminal scheme that involved the contrived theft and destruction of his automobile and the filing of a false police report and insurance claim for the purpose of collecting the proceeds of insurance on the automobile. The *716defendant thus clearly exposed himself to criminal prosecution for several offenses arising out of essentially a single criminal episode. Armed with solid evidence of two of these offenses— those involving the filing of false documents to defraud the insurance company — and enough evidence to engender strong suspicion of a third offense — the arson of the car — the State accepted the defendant’s guilty plea for the offense of filing a false police report. The evidence that was presented to support this guilty plea was the filing of false reports both with the police and the insurance carrier in order to collect insurance for the faked loss of the car.
Thereafter, as noted by the Court, the State proceeded to indict defendant for both attempted theft by deception — this based on the pre-existing evidence of defendant’s false claim to collect insurance — and third-degree arson — this based on evidence that defendant was connected with the actual destruction of the car following its contrived theft. The defendant, while objecting to being subjected to continuing prosecution following his earlier conviction for filing a false report, entered a plea bargain involving these charges under which he pled guilty to the theft in exchange for the dismissal of the charge of arson.
The Court now countenances this multiplicity of prosecutions and convictions notwithstanding the indisputable fact that the charges underlying the two successive guilty pleas are based on the same evidence and that the outstanding charge of arson is based on evidence that was or could have been available when defendant was initially prosecuted.
The principal reason advanced by the majority in sustaining multiple prosecutions of the defendant appears to be its determination that defendant had no reasonable expectation based on his initial guilty plea to the filing of a false police report that he would not be exposed to subsequent criminal sanctions for the crimes of attempted theft by deception and third-degree arson. The majority, however, imputes to the defendant “reasonable expectations” that are unwarranted by this record and *717are inconsistent with principles of double jeopardy and fundamental fairness.
Specifically, the majority’s view of the record and its conclusion can be challenged because: (1) the State had sufficient evidence and knowledge to bring the theft-by-deception charge at the time it charged defendant with filing a false police report; the State in fact made use of the same factual evidence in obtaining the convictions on the theft-by-deception charge and the filing-of-the-false-police-report charge; (2) the State had sufficient evidence and knowledge to suspect defendant of involvement with the arson, and, therefore, the State should have borne the burden of either investigating the arson in order to bring all charges relating to the single scheme at the same time, or, if that were not possible, the State should have explained clearly to defendant at the time of his earlier exposure to criminal jeopardy that if it were found later that he was involved with the plan to commit arson to any extent, he remained at risk of further prosecution; (3) differences between the respective jurisdictions governing the disorderly persons offense of filing a false police report and the criminal offenses of arson and theft by deception are not determinative in assessing the fairness of successive prosecutions or defendant’s reasonable expectations regarding the disposition of multiple charges; fundamental fairness requires in such circumstances that the State coordinate law-enforcement activities involving a single defendant for a single criminal episode; and (4) protection of a defendant’s “reasonable expectations” under the doctrine of fundamental fairness is not “spare” {ante at 705, nor is a showing of “serious injury” or “egregious deprivation” necessary {ante at 707) to prove the violation of protectable rights under this doctrine; instead, fundamental fairness protects against arbitrary governmental action in the form of fragmented multiple prosecutions that result in unjustified harassment, vexation, anxiety, or expense to individual defendants.
*718I am impelled by these considerations to differ from the Court’s reasoning. I can agree with the Court that the defendant’s subsequent prosecutions are not barred by our current rule on mandatory joinder. Under the circumstances, however, we cannot sanction penal consequences that are violative of double jeopardy and principles of fundamental fairness. I therefore dissent.
I.
The facts are largely undisputed. The significance of the facts and the inferences to be drawn, however, are not. I begin therefore with a slight restatement of the facts in order to demonstrate and emphasize that at the time that defendant was charged with filing a false police report, the police had sufficient knowledge to charge defendant with attempted theft by deception, and to suspect and investigate him for arson. Indeed, as the Appellate Division states, and as I read the record, “[t]he burning of the car triggered further police action on his theft report, and the theft report alerted the prosecution to the possibility that burning the car was one step in a scheme to defraud the insurance company.” 224 N.J.Super. 375, 382 (1988).
It was only after the car was discovered completely burnt that the police in both Livingston and Union County (Livingston is where defendant filed the false police report, Union is where the car was found burnt) first suspected defendant of attempt ing to defraud the insurance company. On discovering the suspected arson, the Livingston Detective immediately informed Allstate that the car had been found completely burnt and that arson was suspected. The detective then learned that defendant had filed a claim with the insurance company. Allstate's records show that where Allstate recorded this police report, they also made a notation not to pay defendant, obviously also suspecting defendant of fraud related to the suspected arson.
*719The investigators from both Union County and Livingston proceeded to call defendant into the Union County police station for questioning, upon which defendant admitted that he “was looking for the insurance money.” Although defendant had been called into the Union County police station, the Livingston police ultimately signed the complaint relating to the filing of the false police report. The Union County police then retained responsibility for investigating the arson.
Allstate’s records contain a further notation, dated only one day after defendant made his confession to the police, which states that the Union County Detective called Allstate to tell them that he had a statement from the insured “saying he had someone burn his car for him.” This notation is confusing in that there is no other evidence in the record showing that defendant had made this admission of knowing the car would be burnt at this early date. However, it does suggest that at least the Union County police at this time had suspected him of participating in the arson of his car. Nevertheless, the State refuses to acknowledge that defendant was under suspicion for involvement in the arson at this time, and instead claims it did not have sufficient facts to prosecute defendant on the arson charge until months later when a Mr. Stewart Kaiser came in to tell them defendant had admitted to knowledge of the arson.
These facts demonstrate that at the time of defendant’s initial guilty plea, the investigators jointly had sufficient knowledge to charge defendant with both filing the false police report and theft by deception, and to suspect and therefore to conduct further investigation into his involvement in the arson.
Further, it is readily inferable from these circumstances that defendant could reasonably expect that the entire matter encompassing his criminal liability for this incident would be addressed and disposed of when he was prosecuted and pled guilty to the initial charge of filing a false police report. First, when he made his initial statement to the police and then provided a factual basis in open court in support of the plea, the *720entire criminal episode was implicated. Defendant’s statement to the police reads, “I told Andy I was looking for the insurance money.” Defendant, therefore, made it perfectly clear that his underlying motive behind the filing of the false police report was to collect on a fraudulent claim to the insurers. Second, in his plea he stated, “I talked to some guy and I gave him some money to take the car. I just, I guess I wanted to collect on the insurance.” Third, at that time, he knew that the police of both jurisdictions were aware of his submission of a false claim to the insurance company. Finally, at defendant’s plea hearing, the sentencing judge specifically elicited this information and clearly understood that defendant’s purpose was to defraud the insurance company. In imposing sentence, the court considered defendant’s purpose and then gave defendant the distinct impression that he would be treated leniently this time for this scheme, but if he attempted any other misdeeds, he could expect to go to jail. This is what the court said:
You were going to beat the insurance company? Is that what you did? You were going to report it stolen, have your buddy take it away and then try and collect from your insurance carrier.
I’ll tell you what I’m going to do, Mr. Yoskowitz. Since I have nothing before me to contradict your statement that this is the first offense i’ll (sic) give you another bite at the apple. I almost always do with first offenders____ Your future is going to be in your hands because I am going to place you on probation. If you violate the probation you’re going to jail. You’re not going to pass go and you’re not going to collect $200., you’re going straight to the can. If you come back before me and plead guilty or be found guilty of any other offense you’re going to jail. All you have to do is keep your nose clean and stay out of trouble ... and you’ll be allright (sic).
It is obvious that the court did not anticipate that defendant would be subjected to further prosecution arising from this criminal episode. It is just as obvious that defendant himself would reasonably believe that he would get in no further trouble related to this single scheme.
When defendant was later charged with attempted theft by deception and arson with the purpose of collecting insurance, he entered a plea agreement in which he pled guilty to the theft *721charge in exchange for the State dropping the arson charge. However, no one suggests that defendant in any sense acquiesced in these successive prosecutions or waived his objections to them. Thus, this sequence of events poses squarely the issues of whether, as a result of the earlier plea to filing a false police report, double jeopardy and fundamental fairness bar a subsequent prosecution for either of the subsequent charges.
II.
The Court finds no double jeopardy obstacle to a subsequent prosecution in this case. I disagree. In my opinion, double jeopardy bars the second prosecution on attempted theft by deception. This result is dictated under the same-evidence test of State v. Dively, 92 N.J. 573 (1983), which was further interpreted by State v. DeLuca, 108 N.J. 98 (1987). This test involves an examination of whether a subsequent conviction is based on the same evidence that was used in obtaining the prior conviction.
In this case the Court’s description of the evidence that was actually used in the municipal court proceeding, however, is misleading: “The evidence used to establish that defendant was guilty of filing a false police report was the filed police report and his admission that it was false because his car was not stolen. This was the only evidence actually before the municipal court when it accepted defendant’s plea of guilty to the charge of filing a false police report.” Ante at 694. To the contrary, the record discloses that this was not the only evidence used: when the trial court obtained the factual basis for the initial plea, defendant’s admission also included the fact that the reason he filed the false police report was that he “wanted to collect on the insurance.” Ante at 694. This admission did not constitute merely “gratuitous” statements, ibid., but constituted probative and relevant “evidence” of his intent.
*722Moreover, this evidence actually constituted the factual basis used by the court to accept the plea and thus determine defendant’s guilt. It was considered by the trial court in accepting defendant’s guilty plea, it was a basis for the court’s determination of guilt, and it assuredly was considered by the trial court in the imposition of sentence. A fact-based determination that adjudicates criminal liability invokes the protections of double jeopardy regardless of whether there is legal error. See State v. Lynch, 79 N.J. 327 (1979) (judgment of acquittal based on prosecutor’s opening statement reciting evidence that would be insufficient to support criminal charges raises double jeopardy bar to second prosecution).
The operative test for applying double jeopardy is explicated by our decisional law. In State v. Dively, supra, 92 N.J. at 581, the Court held that the double jeopardy test is “two-pronged” and involved both a “same elements” and “same evidence” test. The “same elements” test is satisfied when the lesser-included offense proved also establishes an essential component of a greater offense, and proof of the greater offense would also establish the lesser offense; the “same evidence” test is satisfied when the evidence used to establish the initial offense is also relied on to prove the subsequent charge. Id. 92 N.J. at 581-82.1
State v. Dively, however, was later amended by State v. DeLuca, supra, 108 N.J. 98, because Dively had suggested the *723two tests were cumulative in that both must be satisfied to invoke double jeopardy. Instead, DeLuca held that the two tests were alternative tests, either of which could provide a double jeopardy bar against a subsequent prosecution. Id. 108 N.J. at 107. The Court in DeLuca further refined the same evidence test. It said: “[The same evidence test] is a new test based on the evidence actually adduced in the first prosecution____it enhance[s] the protection offered a defendant facing a second prosecution on the same facts.” Id. at 107.2
Therefore, following these two decisions, the appropriate question is whether the evidence used to support defendant’s plea to the charge of filing a false police report is the same that was used to find defendant guilty of third-degree theft by deception. As noted earlier, a fair reading of the record forcefully demonstrates that the same evidence was used. Supra at 721-22.
To escape this conclusion the majority reinterprets our case law by narrowing the DeLuca standard. The Court in DeLuca did not purport to change the earlier formulation of the same evidence standard that had been earlier adopted in Dively. *724Eather, it held that this standard constituted an alternative, rather than a cumulative test of double jeopardy. Thus, according to Dively and DeLuca, the same evidence test is “whether the evidence actually used to establish guilt in the first prosecution is identical to that that will be used in the second prosecution.” Deluca, supra, 108 N.J. at 105-106 (paraphrasing Dively)-
In applying this standard, the Court in DeLuca further observed that “[i]f the same evidence used in the first prosecution is the sole evidence in the second, the, prosecution of the second offense is barred,” ibid., and indicated, with respect to the facts before it, that, “[i]f the State relied solely on intoxication as evidence of recklessness in the death-by-auto case [the first case], double jeopardy would bar the DWI prosecution [the second case].” Id. at 109.
The majority construes these passages to reinterpret the same evidence test to mean that only if the evidence actually necessary to support the initial conviction is also necessary to support the second prosecution will double jeopardy apply. To put it somewhat more clearly: only if the evidence actually used to support both convictions is necessary to establish both will double jeopardy bar the second prosecution. Therefore, the majority reasons to two conclusions: (1) if evidence used to prove an initial offense is unessential or unnecessary to prove that offense, that evidence can be used again to prove the second offense; and (2) if evidence used in the first prosecution is unnecessary or unessential with respect to its use in proving a second offense, its prior use in an earlier prosecution will not trigger jeopardy if used again in the second. This is the sense of the Court’s assertion that with respect to the second prosecution “[because there existed additional evidence which was] in and of itself ... more than sufficient to establish [theft by deception], ... it strains credulity to argue that the State would rely solely on the evidence admitted at the municipal court to *725establish defendant’s guilt in filing a false police report to prove ... attempted theft by deception.” Ante at 695.
In its recasting of the same evidence test, the Court ignores DeLuca’s summary of the appropriate standard, which is whether the evidence marshalled to support both prosecutions is the same. Hence, as long as the evidence is the same or “identical,” it does not matter that some of the evidence in one prosecution may be more or less probative than in the other, or is essential in one and cumulative or superfluous in the other, or relevant to substantive criminal liability in one but only to credibility in the other. DeLuca makes it clear that it is immaterial whether an additional fact is required to be proved for either offense when the same evidence is actually used to prove both offenses.3
It is problematic whether the Court’s reformulation of the same evidence test squares with the federal experience which it purports to follow. This test was first enunciated in In re Nielsen, 131 U.S. 176, 188, 9 S.Ct. 672, 676, 33 L.Ed. 118 (1889), in which the United States Supreme Court approached the problem of double jeopardy by asking whether “the evidence required to warrant a conviction upon one of the [prosecutions] would have been sufficient to support a conviction upon the other.” In re Nielsen involved a defendant who was initially convicted of unlawfully cohabiting with two wives, and then subsequently was convicted of adultery involving one of those wives. The Court found that the evidence required to prove the first prosecution was sufficient to support the second, even if *726the elements of the crimes were different (adultery required proof of sexual intercourse while unlawful cohabitation did not). Id., 131 U.S. at 188, 9 S.Ct. at 676.
Later federal decisions enunciated the “same evidence” test in the same way: whether the evidence necessarily used by the State in the first charge would suffice to establish the second. Jordan v. Com. of Va., 653 F.2d 870, 874 (4th Cir.1980) (“[analysis of the proof in the instant case similarly reveals that the evidence necessarily used by the government in prosecuting the earlier misdemeanor charge would totally have sufficed to sustain the later felony conviction.”); United States v. Sabella, 272 F.2d 206, 212 (2d Cir.1959) (defendant may not later be tried again on same fact situation, where no significant additional fact need be proved, even though he is charged under a different statute).4
The test has engendered some dispute as a matter of federal law. See Thomas, “The Prohibition of Successive Prosecutions for the Same Offense,” 71 Iowa L.Rev. 323, 363-63 (1986) (hereinafter “Successive Prosecution”). In Illinois v. Zegart, 452 U.S. 948, 101 S.Ct. 3094, 69 L.Ed.2d 961 (1981), a defendant, who drove her car over a median and killed two passengers traveling in an oncoming vehicle, first pled guilty to crossing a median, and then was subsequently charged with reckless manslaughter arising out of the same incident. A divided state court affirmed a double jeopardy bar to the second prosecution, reasoning that the same factual basis would be *727used in both.5 The Supreme Court denied certiorari, permitting the double jeopardy bar to stand.
In Rivera v. Ohio, 459 U.S. 957, 103 S.Ct. 271, 74 L.Ed.2d 211 (1982), however, the Supreme Court took an opposite turn. This case involved a defendant who, at knifepoint, took a victim’s motorcycle, along with its title and some cash. After this defendant pled guilty to receiving stolen property, he was then charged with aggravated robbery. The State Supreme Court allowed the subsequent prosecution and the Supreme Court denied the petition for certiorari. Justices Brennan and Marshall, however, dissented, arguing that this clearly violated the same evidence test of Vitale because in order to prove aggravated robbery, the State would have to prove every fact necessary in convicting defendant for the first crime of receiving stolen property.6
*728The Supreme Court’s latest word on the same evidence test came in Borchardt v. United States, 469 U.S. 937, 105 S.Ct. 341, 83 L.Ed.2d 276 (1984), in which it held that where a defendant had been convicted of a conspiracy to import marijuana, the State was not barred from subsequently prosecuting defendant based on the same evidence for smuggling large sums of currency out of the country in furtherance of an illegal scheme, the underlying scheme being the already-proved illegal smuggling of marijuana. The Supreme Court affirmed, again with a dissent by Justices Brennan and Marshall, who argued that the same evidence test was definitely satisfied and should have barred the second prosecution.
However, under the federal doctrine, which has already enunciated a “same evidence” test as separate and distinct from a “same elements” test (In re Nielsen, supra, 131 U.S. 176, 9 S.Ct. 672, 33 L.Ed. 118; Jordan v. Com. of Va., supra, 653 F.2d 870; United States v. Sabella, supra, 272 F.2d 206), the relevant question in this case would be whether the evidence in the second prosecution (the filing of the false insurance claim and defendant’s admission of his intent to defraud the insurer) was “necessary” to establish the first prosecution (the filing of the false police report). The majority argues that insofar as this evidence proves only defendant’s intent to defraud, it was not “necessary” to prove the defendant filed a false police report. However, the record inescapably demonstrates that it was definitely relied on in the first proceeding in which defendant was convicted for filing a police report and, therefore, this evidence was necessarily used. See Jordan v. Com. of Virginia, supra, 653 F.2d at 874 (same evidence test applied to all evidence necessarily used in the first prosecution). Furthermore, intent to defraud was clearly probative of knowledge or motive in establishing that defendant filed the false police report, and was actually used for this purpose. See Evid.R. 55.
*729Another question posed by the federal approach is whether the same evidence necessary in the first prosecution was sufficient to prove the second. As noted, the majority and concurring opinions express the view that the question is whether such evidence is necessary in the second prosecution. Ante at 728. However, this is not supported by the federal enunciation of this test, as discussed above, which explicitly states the evidence need only be sufficient. See, e.g., In re Nielsen, supra, 131 U.S. at 188, 9 S.Ct. at 676; Jordan, supra, 653 F.2d 874; Sabella, supra, 272 F.2d at 212. When these courts employed double jeopardy analysis, they did not consider whether alternative proofs might have been used when the same evidence was actually used. In fact, Vitale suggests this would be impermissible because courts must evaluate actual use:
[I]t may be that to sustain its manslaughter case the State may find it necessary to prove a failure to slow or to rely on conduct necessarily involving such failure; it may concede as much prior to trial. In that case, because Vitale has already been convicted for conduct that is a necessary element of the more serious crime for which he has been charged, his claim of double jeopardy would be substantial. [447 U.S. at 420-421, 100 S.Ct. at 2267, 65 L.Ed.2d at 238.]
The question concerning whether the evidence is necessary is implicated when the second offense actually requires proof of an additional element. DeLuca enunciated a narrowing process to be used when one crime conceivably requires proving a fact not required for the other, such that courts must compare the relevant elements of both charges to see whether the factual basis for establishing one will necessarily be reused.7 Com*730pare Thomas, “Successive Prosecutions,” supra, 71 Iowa L.Rev. at 386 (calling Vitale's “same evidence” test the “necessary element” test: “Successive prosecutions would be barred in other situations based on a case-by-case analysis of whether the two offenses required proof of the same conduct to satisfy a necessary element.”).
In the present case, even though the theft prosecution involved an additional element — intent to defraud — no additional facts were necessary to prove the second offense. The evidence of intent to defraud was also used to prove knowledge and motive in establishing the offense of the false police report. Thus, in fact, the same and sole facts used to prove the filing of the false police report were sufficient to prove the entire crime of attempted theft by deception, with no additional facts necessary to be proved. Again, even if alternative facts would have proved the second crime, the fact that they were not introduced or accepted as part of the second plea should preclude the second conviction.
In sum, double jeopardy prevents the recycling of the same evidence in order to gain another conviction. Therefore, because the same evidence was used in this case, double jeopardy should bar defendant's subsequent prosecution and conviction for attempted theft by deception.
III.
In addition, fundamental fairness in these circumstances should bar prosecution for both theft by deception and arson. This doctrine governs important aspects of this case in two important ways: first, the State has a duty, pursuant to State v. Gregory, supra, 66 N.J. 510, to resolve in one disposition the several offenses arising from a single scheme to the extent the State has sufficient facts to bring the indictments at one time; *731and second, both the State and the trial court have an obligation to ensure the fairness of the plea bargain, particularly the duty to inform defendant of all material consequences of the plea agreement, including any remaining penal risks to which defendant will be exposed.
Fundamental fairness is a doctrine that is an integral part of due process, and is often extrapolated from or implied in other constitutional guarantees. See, e.g., Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83, 83 S.Ct. 1194, 10 L.Ed.2d 215 (1963); State v. Ramseur, 106 N.J. 123, 379 (1987) (Handler, J., concurring); State v. Abbati, 99 N.J. 418, 429-30 (1986); N.J. Parole Bd. v. Byrne, 93 N.J. 192 (1983); State v. Gregory, supra, 66 N.J. 510. The doctrine effectuates imperatives that government minimize arbitrary action, State v. Ramseur, supra, 106 N.J. at 379, and is often employed when narrowed constitutional standards fall short of protecting individual defendants against unjustified harassment, anxiety, or expense. See generally Greenberg, “New Jersey’s ‘Fairness and Rightness’ Doctrine,” 15 Rutgers L.J. 927 (1984).
The doctrine of fundamental fairness has been employed consistently to enhance the underlying principles of double jeopardy. See State v. Abbati, supra, 99 N.J. 418; State v. Gregory, supra, 66 N.J. 510; State v. Currie, 41 N.J. 531 (1964). The standard for applying this doctrine is whether a defendant held a reasonable expectation that further prosecution would be pursued and whether it would be fair to subject a defendant to additional prosecution. See State v. Gregory, supra, 66 N.J. at 518 (“stress [is] not on the various tests but on the underlying consideration of fairness and reasonable expectations”); State v. Abbati, supra, 99 N.J. at 430 (“The anxiety, vexation, embarassment, and expense to the defendant of subsequent reprosecution where no new evidence exists is a proper subject for the application of traditional notions of fundamental fairness and substantial justice.”). Fundamental fairness is used to extend the underlying goals of double jeopardy, which are to prevent vexation, anxiety, and harass*732ment to the defendant, see Green v. United States, 355 U.S. 184, 187-88, 78 S.Ct. 221, 223, 2 L.Ed.2d 199, 204 (1957) whether or not the State intended its actions to have that effect. See State v. Gregory, supra, 66 N.J. at 511, 518 (court stated that whether police action was “deliberate” or “inadvertent,” “[s]uch withholding and later prosecution smacks of harassment and oppression and should be barred.”)
Because the double jeopardy test is narrow and often applied apart from circumstances bearing primarily on the reasonable expectations that we impute to defendants, fundamental fairness has provided courts added flexibility to ameliorate criminal procedures in the interests of “rightness” and “fairness.” See generally Greenberg, “New Jersey’s ‘Fairness and Rightness’ Doctrine,” supra, 15 Rutgers L.J. 92. This flexibility, as it relates to double jeopardy, originated in State v. Currie, supra, 41 N.J. 531, which, although it did not use fundamental fairness to bar a criminal indictment following conviction on a motor-vehicle offense, foreshadowed the possibility that under some circumstances, defendants could reasonably expect a single disposition of offenses arising from the same criminal episode, even if not required under double jeopardy analysis. That opportunity was taken in State v. Gregory, supra, 66 N.J. 510.
In Gregory, this Court held that where a prosecutor was fully aware of the facts necessary to bring an indictment against a defendant for the sale of heroin and possession with intent to distribute, but indicted and convicted defendant only of the sale charge, a subsequent prosecution for possession with intent to distribute would be barred on fundamental fairness grounds. Applying the Gregory analysis to the present case, it is clear the police had sufficient facts to bring both the charges of filing a false police report and attempted theft by deception at the same time. In fact, the prosecutor did not require or obtain any additional facts to seek the second indictment. Therefore, the indictment on the theft-by-deception charge falls squarely within Gregory’s prohibitions — that is, *733the police had sufficient facts to bring both the charges of filing a false police report and attempted theft by deception at once, and as in Gregory, the police obtained no new facts to justify its bringing the attempted theft by deception charge later.
It is not clear the police had sufficient facts to indict defendant on the third-degree arson charge at the time they filed the complaint for filing a false police report. However, there was enough evidence to engender a strong suspicion that defendant might be implicated in the arson. The police could have taken steps at that time to investigate such a charge, even if simply to have questioned defendant on his participation at that point. The record does not indicate that any such questioning took place, even though when he was questioned on the other aspects of the scheme to defraud by detectives from both counties together, the Union County detective had already taken responsibility for investigating the arson.
It seems reasonable that an eighteen-year-old (and obviously, an immature one) who admitted to attempting to defraud the insurance company but who knew that he had not helped carry out the plan of arson could readily believe “the matter would be over,” (which is what he claims was explicitly promised to him) and therefore would not be subject to any further criminal liability. Although the police might not have had sufficient factual knowledge of defendant’s involvement in the arson to bring an indictment at that time, they surely understood better than he the subtler shades of criminal liability to which he was then exposed — namely, that if they learned that defendant even suspected Andy “would probably burn” the car, he could be subject to an arson charge. Therefore, in giving him the impression that his admissions would mean the whole matter would be “over,” it is reasonable to impute to the defendant the expectation that short of the police discovering any deeper involvement in the matter (such as actually planning or participating in the arson), he would not be subject to further criminal liability.
*734This conclusion should not be altered by the circumstance that some of the offenses generated by this single course of criminal conduct are disorderly-persons offenses cognizable in a municipal court while others are crimes. On several occasions, this Court has evoked double jeopardy and fundamental fairness principles to hold that State law-enforcement authorities shall bear the burden for coordinating its response, regardless of differences in jurisdiction, venue, or the magnitude of the crimes. For example, on several occasions this Court has ruled that convictions on quasi-criminal motor vehicle violations can give rise to double jeopardy violations when subsequent criminal charges are brought, despite the differences in the magnitude of the offenses. See State v. DeLuca, supra, 108 N.J. 98; State v. Dively, supra, 92 N.J. 573 (undercutting State v. Currie’s theory that motor-vehicle violations and criminal offenses can be distinguished for the purposes of determining a defendant’s reasonable expectations (supra, 41 N.J. 541-44)); State v. Tropea, 78 N.J. 309 (1978). These cases demonstrate that even when the violations are of a different magnitude, this Court will acknowledge and maintain that defendant’s expectations of a single disposition for crimes arising out of a single criminal episode are reasonable. Further, they are not only reasonable but necessary for the minimization of arbitrary government conduct and for the orderly administration of justice:
An effective, orderly procedure dictates the necessity of an arrangement whereby more serious crimes are tried in the court of plenary jurisdiction as intended, rather than disposed of in the municipal court for an infraction of a substantially minor nature____ Accordingly, it is necessary that there be effective cooperation between the municipal courts and the county prosecutor. [State v. Dively, supra, 92 N.J. at 589.]
See also State v. Abatti, supra, 99 N.J. at 431: (The Court has “general responsibility to assure the overall efficient administration of the criminal justice system”).
Furthermore, the State cannot escape this consequence because its officers acted in good faith. Cf. State v. Novembrino, 105 N.J. 95 (1987) (State is obligated to act with objective *735reasonableness in search and seizure); State v. Bruzzese, 94 N.J. 210 (1983) (same). Double jeopardy constraints are not lessened because state law-enforcement officers may have proceeded in error. See State v. Lynch, supra, 79 N.J. 327. The failure of the State to coordinate its prosecutorial response to a single defendant will not be excused because some of its agents were under a misapprehension concerning their respective responsibilities. Differences in jurisdiction and venue cannot validate a fragmented and haphazard approach in prosecuting a person who is charged with offenses arising from a single criminal scheme or episode. The underlying principles served by double jeopardy protection and its extension through the fundamental fairness doctrine are that individual defendants must be protected against the “State” from abusing its much greater power and resources in relation to individuals. See Green v. United States, supra, 355 U.S. at 187-88, 78 S.Ct. at 223, 2 L.Ed.2d at 204.
The majority states that defendant entertained no reasonable expectation to such coordination. It thus excuses the State’s laxity in this case by narrowly defining and limiting what expectations are “reasonable.” Instead, the Court should recognize that the “reasonable expectation” standard is two-fold: first, it relates “descriptively” to an objective assessment of what an ordinary defendant is entitled to expect as a result of prosecutorial action and does not turn on a subjective standard that focuses on the subjective state of mind of the individual defendant or the good or bad faith of the State; second, it arises “prescriptively” in that it is employed to impose duties on the State in order to guide the future conduct of law-enforcement authorities, thereby setting standards on what expectations are reasonable.
To measure a defendant’s reasonable expectations in descriptive terms, an objective standard is used that looks strictly at the reasonably anticipated or foreseeable effects on the defendant. See State v. Abbati, supra, 99 N.J. at 428-429 (double jeopardy rejected because no bad faith was attributed to the *736prosecutor in seeking a mistrial; however, the “anxiety, vexation, embarrassment, and expense to the defendant” precluded retrial on grounds of fundamental fairness); State v. Gregory, supra, 66 N.J at 511 (fundamental fairness precluded subsequent prosecution whether police actions were deliberate or inadvertent). No “bad faith” is required. Thus, in a case presenting the threat of fragmented successive prosecutions, all that is necessary is that defendant have a reasonable expectation that the entire matter of criminal liability has been resolved by an initial concluded prosecution. Id. at 518. I would reject the majority’s criterion that a “serious injustice” or “egregious deprivation” is required before defendant can show harm. See ante at 707. We do not insist on that degree of injury in order to demonstrate the violation of important constitutional rights. See, e.g., State v. Novembrino, supra, 105 N.J. 95; State v. Bellucci, 81 N.J. 531 (1980). Instead, fundamental fairness, as a constitutional enhancer, is used to protect against unjustified harassment, anxiety, vexation, and expense to individual defendants. In this case, the facts show that defendant had a reasonable basis for believing the theft-by-deception charge would have been disposed once he pled guilty to filing a false police report in that the police needed no further information to bring such a charge. Further, he had no reasonable basis for believing that further evidence regarding even his limited suspicion that Andy “would probably burn” the car would expose him to further criminal liability.
Second, in prescriptive terms, this Court maintains a continuing responsibility to set standards of reasonableness to guide future conduct, irrespective of a defendant’s actual expectations. See, e.g., State v. Abatti, supra, 99 N.J. 418. In this case, the majority, I believe, fails to apply the reasonable-expectation standard “prescriptively” with the goal of preventing arbitrary conduct that “smacks of harassment.” See, e.g., State v. Gregory, supra, 66 N.J. at 518. The Court should recognize that under these circumstances the State had a duty to bring the theft-by-deception charge along with the initial *737filing-of-the-false-police-report charge, and should have either begun its investigation into the arson charge or, in the alternative, have taken responsibility to warn defendant that notwithstanding his guilty plea, arson was still suspected as it related to the scheme to defraud such that defendant might be subject to further criminal liability.
IV.
There are still several loose ends. I believe the remedy is to set aside and reverse defendant’s conviction on the charge of attempted theft by deception. This charge should be deemed barred by his earlier conviction for filing a false report. I also believe that he should not be subject to the charge of arson because that charge should also be deemed barred by the earlier conviction, and, consequently, that indictment should remain dismissed.
The State, however, seemingly objects to the earlier guilty plea to filing a false report, suggesting that it ought to be withdrawn if defendant’s subsequent prosecutions are to be negated. I also question the validity of this plea bargain, given the fact that the trial court did not advise defendant of pending risks of future prosecution resulting from the same criminal episode. Due process protects a defendant’s reasonable expectations in a plea bargain. See Santobello v. New York, 404 U.S. 257, 262, 92 S.Ct. 495, 499, 30 L.Ed.2d 427, 433 (1971); State v. Warren, 115 N.J. 433 (1989); State v. Taylor, 80 N.J. 353 (1979); State v. Thomas, 61 N.J. 314 (1972). The “touchstone is basic fairness to the defendant.” Taylor, supra, 80 N.J. at 363. This means all material terms must be clearly disclosed, fully understood, and knowingly and voluntarily accepted by the defendant. State v. Warren, supra, 115 N.J. 433; State v. Taylor, supra, 80 N.J. at 364.
The remedy for the court’s failure to satisfy the “knowing and voluntary” requirement is to allow the defendant to vacate *738the plea agreement. R. 3:9-3(e); State v. Taylor, 80 N.J. at 364; State v. Thomas, supra, 61 N.J. at 322. However, the State’s expectations, namely, the freedom to continue to prosecute defendant, were not expressed or included as part of the plea bargain. Under these circumstances, therefore, the State would not be entitled to withdraw from or vacate the guilty plea. Cf. State v. Warren, supra, 115 N.J. at 437 (prosecutor cannot withdraw from plea bargain if the State’s sentencing expectations are disappointed). If the defendant were to seek to withdraw the guilty plea to filing a false police report on the ground that it was not knowingly and voluntarily given, then he would be exposed again to prosecution for all of the offenses arising out of the criminal episode.
In sum, I would now reverse defendant’s conviction for attempted theft by deception and affirm the dismissal of the indictment for third-degree arson. I would stay this judgment and remand the matter to the Superior Court, Law Division, Essex County, as a municipal court, with leave to defendant to bring a motion to set aside his guilty plea and conviction of the disorderly-persons offense of filing a false police report. If defendant declines to bring such a motion, I would affirm that conviction and remove the stay of judgment vacating and dismissing, respectively, the subsequent conviction and indictment. If such a motion is brought, I would direct the Superior Court to vacate the guilty plea and set aside the conviction of the disorderly persons offense with leave to the State to reinstate all three charges in the Superior Court.
For reversal and remandment — Justices CLIFFORD, POLLOCK, O’HERN and STEIN — 4.
For reversal — Justice GARIBALDI — 1.
Opposed —Justice HANDLER — 1.

In Dively, supra, 92 N.J. 573, the Court held that where a defendant had pled guilty to drunk driving, which included findings of the merged offenses of reckless driving and failure to stay right, double jeopardy barred subsequent prosecution for causing death by auto, arising out of the same incident. The Court found both prongs had been met: (1) the "same elements” prong had been met because the prosecutor had proved an essential element of the greater offense; proving death by auto necessarily includes a finding of reckless driving, and since the prosecutor had established reckless driving, the prosecutor needed only to prove the additional element of resulting death to establish death by auto; (2) the "same evidence” test had been met because the same evidence to establish drunk driving — namely, reckless driving and failure to keep right — would also be used to prove death by auto. Id. at 582-83.

In DeLuca, the Court found that a driving while intoxicated charge would be barred by an acquittal on a death-by-auto charge provided the prosecutor's only evidence of recklessness to support death by auto was defendant’s alleged intoxication. The Court found that the same elements test was not satisfied because the element of "recklessness" is subject to many possible meanings, such as "failure to slow” or "driving while intoxicated." For example, an acquittal on the element of recklessness involving failure to slow did not necessarily reach alternative factual bases for finding reckless death by auto, such as proving the defendant was driving while intoxicated. After a narrowing of the elements of the offense to the facts relevant to the charge, the same evidence test can be used to determine whether the evidence used to prove the first offense will be unconstitutionally relied on to prove the second. 108 N.J. at 110. Hence, the Court stated that if other evidence relating to defendant’s recklessness was adduced at the trial on death by auto such that the acquittal was not dispositive on a finding of defendant's intoxication, then defendant was not protected on double jeopardy grounds from having the issue of his intoxication examined again. Id. at 111.

DeLuca explained this point as follows:
Comparing the elements of the statutory offenses in their abstract form is virtually meaningless: a death-by-auto statute that requires recklessness will never specifically include failure to slow as a lesser included offense____ A court considering double jeopardy would narrow the elements of the offense to include only the alternatives or meanings relevant to the particular case. After that narrowing process has been completed, the statutory elements, as narrowed, can be compared____ [108 N.J. at 110]

In Jordan, the case involved an initial misdemeanor conviction for obtaining a controlled substance with a forged prescription and a subsequent felony conviction for possession of a controlled substance. The court found the sole evidence used in the first conviction would suffice to support the second conviction. In Sabella, the defendant had been initially charged with selling heroin without a written order, and then subsequently charged with selling illegally imported heroin. The Court found that the “self-same” evidence needed to prove the first indictment could sustain the second indictment.

This mirrored very closely the analysis used in Illinois v. Vitale, 447 U.S. 410, 100 S.Ct. 2260, 65 L.Ed.2d 228 (1980), in which the United States Supreme Court held that if the element of recklessness in the second proceeding were based on failure to slow, an4 failure to slow ha4 already been proved in the first proceeding, the second prosecution was barred. Similarly, the State Supreme Court found in the above case (Illinois v. Zegart) that if the recklessness in the second prosecution depended on proving the defendant illegally crossed a median, and that had been proved already in the first proceeding, the second prosecution would be barred. Although the Supreme Court denied the petition for certification, Justices Burger, Blackmun, and Rehnquist dissented, denying that Vitale ever created a "same evidence” test as an alternative to the same elements test. Id., 101 S.Ct. at 3096. But see "Successive Prosecutions” at 362-63 (arguing Justice Rehnquist misanalyzed previous case law in order to arrive at this conclusion). ,,

In another case in which the Supreme Court denied certiorari, Thigpen v. Roberts, 468 U.S. 27, 104 S.Ct. 2916, 82 L.Ed.2d 73 (1984), the majority declined to decide the case on the "same evidence” test, finding instead evidence that gave rise to a presumption of prosecutorial vindictiveness in bringing the second prosecution; Justice Rehnquist dissented, however, because he believed the Court was misguided in not reviewing the double jeopardy question. He then took the opportunity of dissenting to restate his theory that the "same evidence” test does not exist. Nevertheless, our Court in DeLuca rejected this approach and decided a same evidence test does exist as an alternative to the same elements test. See also "Successive Prosecutions" at 362-63 (arguing *728again that Justice Rehnquist’s denial of a separate same evidence test rests on an inaccurate characterization of previous case law).

Following Blockburger v. United States, 284 U.S. 299, 304, 52 S.Ct. 180, 182, 76 L.Ed. 306, 309 (1932), there is no double jeopardy bar when each crime requires proof of an additional fact, but if one crime is necessarily established by proving the other, double jeopardy will bar the subsequent prosecution. Thus, for example, in Vitale, supra, 447 U.S. 410, 100 S.Ct. 2260, 65 L.Ed.2d 228, a prosecution on death by auto would have been barred if after prosecuting defendant for failure to slow, proving the element of recklessness would have depended on using the same facts that proved failure to slow, because *730then proving the additional element of death would have necessarily established the lesser offense.