Bond Gang Associate from Hackensack Has to Wait for Sentence Review
By Mary K. Miraglia
HACKENSACK, N.J. (March 6, 2017) — A Hackensack man currently serving 17 years in prison on two burglary convictions must wait for input from the Appellate Court before his sentence can be reconsidered.
Presiding Judge Margaret M. Foti said Monday, March 6 that any ruling now would become an appealable issue and she couldn’t proceed with guidance from the Appellate Court.
Hakeem Chance, 24 and of James Street in Hackensack, was a co defendant with Dammen McDuffie of Englewood in the dramatic July, 2012 burglary of two homes in Nutley, one that belonged to a Newark police officer. Chance and McDuffie, a known associate of the notorious Bond burglary gang, didn’t know they were being watched by the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Special Investigations unit, and there was a GPS device in their BMW.
When they left the second home police followed and Chance, who was driving, led a high speed chase to avoid arrest while McDuffie was able to successfully discard the stolen items, including jewelry and watches, out the window. The chase ended with Chance “driving on steel” as his tires shredded, then crashing into a stone wall in front of a hilltop house in Montclair. McDuffie climbed over the airbags and Chance to escape on foot out the driver’s side. Chance also fled through a brushy area but was soon apprehended and arrested.
Both men were convicted at trial, and both have appealed their July, 2014 sentences. Chance’s appeal has been accepted but not heard or ruled on by the Appellate Court.
Defense attorney Kevin G. Roe of Hackensack filed a separate motion in Superior Court to have Chance’s sentence reconsidered based on “Yarbrough factors” because trial judge Patrick G. Roma, in pronouncing sentence, didn’t put the “aggravating and mitigating” factors on the record. Yarbrough factors are legal elements for and against the defendant, and factor into both length of sentence and concurrent (at the same time) or. consecutive terms.
They include such facts as a prior criminal record, or lack of one; the nature of the crime, a risk of committing another offense, hardship to the defendant and their family, status as a youthful offender, and so forth. Judge Roma did not state these factors during Chance’s sentencing hearing, according to Roe, and that entitles him to a reconsideration.
However, Foti, who will be the presiding criminal judge in Bergen at the end of this month, hesitated to rule while the case is under appeal.
“As a practical matter, appellate has had this matter for quite a while. It has gone down the road quite a bit — it’s not like the judge sentenced Mr. Chance two weeks ago,” she said. “I don’t see the wisdom of doing this at this juncture.” Chance was convicted in
Assistant Bergen County Prosecutor David Calviello expressed concern that any action in Bergen could become appealable.
Foti said she would contact the Appellate Division and find out the status of the case before hearing Chance’s motion.
