State v. Robert a. Figueroa

4-26-07 (A-38-06)

The trial court’s supplemental jury charge, which did not
include any repetition of the language from the appropriate
initial charge that jurors “not surrender your honest
convictions as to the weight or effect of the evidence solely
because of the opinion of your fellow jurors, or for the mere
purpose of returning a verdict,” and which suggested that
deliberations might continue through the end of the week and
into the weekend, had the effect of coercing the dissenting
juror or jurors into agreeing with the verdict announced shortly
after the supplemental charge and thus Figueroa is entitled to a
new trial.