The case centered on Judge Robert Billmeier's comment that he "always" gives murder defendants a 60-year sentence.
TRENTON -- A judge's comment in a separate case that he "always" hands out a certain prison term will get a convicted killer a new sentencing before a different judge, the New Jersey Supreme Court ruled Thursday.
The high court said it was acting to "preserve public trust" in the sentencing process.
Patrick McFarlane was sentenced to 60 years in prison in 2013 by Mercer County Superior Court Judge Robert Billmeier for shooting 44-year-old Richard Mason in the back while robbing a North Trenton dice game in 2008.
The sentence qualified under the No Early Release Act, or NERA, a state law that requires a defendant serve 85 percent of their sentences when convicted of certain violent crimes.
In early 2015, McFarlane's appeals lawyer found an unrelated case in which Billmeier made the comment: "I always give defendants convicted by a jury [of first-degree murder] a minimum of 60 years NERA, and you can check my record."
The lawyer also found three other 60-year, NERA sentences Billmeier handed down to murder defendants in the past two years.
But in April 2015, a state appeals court was not swayed that Billmeier's comment and other issues led to an improper sentence for McFarlane, and upheld the conviction and sentencing.
However, four months later, in August 2015, a different state appeals panel ordered a new sentencing for Lamont Richardson, who also received a 60-year NERA term for a Trenton murder from Billmeier.
That case specifically called attention the "always" remark, which was made in a pre-trial hearing in late 2014 in the murder case against Shaheed Brown, who is charged with killing Enrico Smalley in July 2014 in East Trenton.
The appeals panel said the comment "deprived" them of confidence that the judge sentenced Richardson in accordance with court directives. (Richardson has yet to be resentenced, records show.)
The high court then agreed in October to hear the McFarlane appeal, focused on the sentencing.
In their decision, the Supreme Court referenced the Richardson case, and found that Billmeier did not make any improper comments during McFarlane's proceedings.
"However, a remark in open court, even in a subsequent, unrelated proceeding, that a judge 'always' sentences defendants convicted of first-degree murder to sixty years in prison undermines public confidence that the unique facts of a defendant's case are considered before a sentencing decision is made," the court wrote.
A reasonable person, the court wrote, might infer from the judge's statement the he arbitrarily imposes a predetermined sentence for defendants convicted of first-degree murder.
"Accordingly, to preserve public trust in the sentencing framework established by our Code of Criminal Justice, we must reverse the judgment (of the appeasl court) and remand for resentencing by another trial judge (in Mercer County)," the decision says.
McFarlane was 19 years old when he killed Mason during the dice game robbery. He is incarcerated at New Jersey State Prison, where his current sentence shows him eligible for parole in 2059, when he is 70 years old.
Mason was a Trenton native, but had moved to Bordentown with his wife and children a few years before his murder. He was recalled as a hard-working construction employee who liked to shoot pool and likely just stopped by the dice game on his way home.
Kevin Shea may be reached at kshea@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter@kevintshea. Find The Times of Trenton on Facebook.