Case Name: THE STATE OF NEW JERSEY v. STEPHEN URBAN
Court: New Jersey Supreme Court
Jurisdiction: New Jersey
Decision Date: 1925-05-06
Citations: 3 N.J. Misc. 477
Docket Number: 
Parties: THE STATE OF NEW JERSEY v. STEPHEN URBAN.
Judges: 
Reporter: New Jersey Miscellaneous Reports
Volume: 3
Pages: 477–477

Head Matter:
THE STATE OF NEW JERSEY v. STEPHEN URBAN.
Decided May 6, 1925.
Before Gummere, Chief Justice, and Justices Kallsch and Campbell.
Eor the plaintiff in error, Harry Lane.
Eor the,state, Aloysius McMahon, assistant prosecutor.

Opinion:
Per Curiam.
The action of the trial judge, at the close of the testimony, in taking upon himself the determination of the question whether the defendant was guilty or innocent of the charge laid against him in the indictment, was an usurpation of the function of the jury, and deprived the defendant of his constitutional right to have the question determined by the latter body. Eor this reason the conviction under review will he reversed, and the record remitted to the Hudson Quarter Sessions in order that the case may there he retried.