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| N.J. Supreme Court Reverses Death Sentence |
| By Associated Press |
| Published: 07/29/2002 |
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The New Jersey Supreme Court reversed a death sentence for a Camden man on last week, a ruling that death penalty opponents say shows signs that justices are rethinking the law that allows executions. All seven justices agreed that Daron Josephs should not have earned a death sentence for the 1995 killing of three people during what police said was a battle over drug turf. One justice demanded a higher level of proof for juries to allow such convictions, while another said the state needs to re-examine the entire issue of capital punishment. The high court said that jurors who said Josephs should die for his part in the violent gun battle received faulty instructions. The trial judge told the panel that they first must consider whether Josephs actually shot two of the victims himself, or if it was the act of a second gunman. Then they could decide if he was guilty of conspiracy with another gunman in a third death, the judge explained. That was wrong, the court ruled, because the jurors should have been given the opportunity to disagree on the charge that Josephs was the actual gunman. Associate Justice James H. Coleman Jr. said jurors should have been told to decide if Josephs pulled the trigger himself on a heightened ''no doubt'' burden of proof. That would go beyond the existing standard of any reasonable doubt for a criminal conviction, he said. According to the recent decision, Josephs' murder convictions can be upheld if the prosecutor agrees to forgo the death penalty. |
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