## Facts

- On November 19, 1980, two robberies occurred in close succession: one at the Lincoln Cafe in New Brunswick and one at the Edison Motor Lodge in Edison, New Jersey.
- After the motel robbery, police pursued a red-and-white Cadillac believed involved in the crimes; the car crashed, and Kenneth Hardison and Jerry Jackson were apprehended near the vehicle.
- Evidence indicated Jackson brandished a handgun and Hardison assaulted the motel manager with brass knuckles during the motel robbery.
- Hardison and Jackson were jointly indicted for conspiracy to commit robbery, armed robbery, weapons offenses, and aggravated assault; Hardison was also charged with unlawful possession of brass knuckles.
- The jury acquitted both defendants of the Lincoln Cafe robbery but convicted them of conspiracy to commit robbery and substantive offenses arising from the Edison Motor Lodge robbery; Hardison was also convicted of possessing brass knuckles.
- The trial court imposed separate sentences for conspiracy and the motel robbery, resulting in an aggregate 20-year prison term.

## Issues

1. Whether, under N.J.S.A. 2C:1-8(a)(2), a conspiracy conviction must merge with a conviction for the completed offense that was the conspiracy’s object when the conviction record does not establish objectives beyond the completed offense.

## Decision

- The New Jersey Supreme Court affirmed the judgment requiring merger of the conspiracy conviction into the armed robbery conviction for sentencing purposes.
- The Court held merger is avoided only when the conspiracy proved had criminal objectives other than the substantive offense proved.
- Because the jury’s verdict and the trial record did not establish that the conspiracy extended beyond the motel robbery, the conspiracy “consist[ed] only of” preparation to commit that robbery and therefore merged.
- The substantive convictions for armed robbery, aggravated assault, and weapons offenses (including Hardison’s brass knuckles conviction) remained intact.

## Legal Principles

- Under N.J.S.A. 2C:1-8(a)(2), a defendant may not be convicted of more than one offense when one offense consists only of a conspiracy or other form of preparation to commit the other.
- Conspiracy does not merge with a completed offense when the conspiracy proved had criminal objectives beyond the substantive offense proved (for example, a broader plan to commit additional crimes).
- The merger analysis depends on the conspiracy objectives established by the jury’s verdict and instructions, not merely the prosecution’s theory or evidence suggesting broader objectives.

## Conclusion

When the conviction record does not establish that a proven conspiracy had objectives beyond the completed substantive offense of conviction, New Jersey’s merger statute requires the conspiracy conviction to merge into the completed offense, preventing separate punishment for preparation alone.


State v. Hardison, 99 N.J. 379, 492 A.2d 1009 (N.J. 1985)