09-21-06 A-2218-03T4
On appeal, defendant challenged the trial judge's denial of
his motion for a new trial and the judge's refusal to conduct a
hearing into a juror's concerns about jury deliberations in this
criminal matter. The juror first communicated his concerns to
the prosecutor's office the day after the verdict was rendered;
the prosecutor's office later referred the matter to the trial
judge. On appeal, the court agreed that the trial judge should
not have further explored the juror's concerns through his own
ex parte, unrecorded discussions with that juror, holding that
it is improper for a judge to have an ex parte communication
with a juror even after deliberations are complete and after the
jury has been discharged. Due to inadequacies in the record on
appeal, the court held that further proceedings were required in
order to amplify and illuminate the content of the juror's
communications with the prosecutor's office and the trial judge.
