Opinion ID: 1511532
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Do you find unanimously and beyond a reasonable doubt

Text: (a) that a distribution of money was made to any or all of the defendants, namely, ROBERT SIMON, ROBERT VAN WETTERING and FRANK P. HAUSSMANN, by FRED HEINIGE in or around December, 1969, ROBERT SIMON YES ____ NO ____ ROBERT VAN WETTERING YES ____ NO ____ FRANK P. HAUSSMANN YES ____ NO ____ (b) that a distribution of money was made to any co-conspirators by FRED HEINIGE in or around December, 1969, apart from the Swagger-Heinige transaction. YES ____ NO ____ II. Do you find unanimously and beyond a reasonable doubt that the Heinige, Swagger, Stocek, Gorleski, Simon partnership was a separate and distinct transaction rather than part of the overall alleged conspiracies charging the defendants, namely, ROBERT SIMON, ROBERT VAN WETTERING and FRANK P. HAUSSMANN, with illegal receipt of money and misconduct in office, assuming for the purpose of this determination that such conspiracies were in fact committed. YES ____ NO ____ III. Do you find unanimously and beyond a reasonable doubt that a distribution of money was made to any or all of the defendants, namely, ROBERT SIMON, ROBERT VAN WETTERING and FRANK P. HAUSSMANN, or to any or all of the alleged co-conspirators, namely, EDWARD GORLESKI, RUSSELL STOCEK and JERRY VOZEH, by FRED HEINIGE in or around December, 1969, with regard to the Swagger-Heinige transaction. YES ____ NO ____ Counsel for Simon and Van Wettering voiced no objection to the interrogatories. Counsel for Haussmann expressed reservations as to the wording of the second interrogatory, indicating that the phraseology of the question might be prejudicial to his client. He asserted that since the jury had to assume that a conspiracy existed in order to frame a response, the jury might be hopelessly confused by the need to assume in its subsequent general verdict deliberations that no conspiracy existed. The judge nevertheless submitted the special interrogatories to the jury, with only brief instructions covering the crime of conspiracy, the statute of limitations, the presumption of innocence, the burden of proof and proof beyond a reasonable doubt. He gave no definition of an overt act nor any explanation of the general principles governing the function and deliberations of the jury in a criminal case. After four hours of deliberation, the jury returned, answering yes to each question. Counsel for Haussmann then moved for a mistrial because of the prejudicial impact of the second interrogatory, which motion was denied. The judge proceeded to instruct the jury as to the remaining elements of the various offenses. After reviewing the charges in the indictment, he instructed the jurors to disregard all evidence relating to the Swagger-Heinige transaction, since they had already found that it was part of a separate conspiracy not involving the defendants. Further, he stated that the jury could no longer assume the existence of any conspiracy in which these defendants had participated. After five and one-half hours of deliberation, the jury returned verdicts of guilty on all counts. Motions to set aside the verdicts and to grant defendants new trials because of various alleged trial errors were denied. The Appellate Division in affirming defendants' convictions was of the view that any errors committed by the trial judge were harmless beyond a reasonable doubt. We granted the petitions for certification filed by Van Wettering and Haussmann; Simon did not file a petition. 75 N.J. 588 (1977). Certification, however, was limited to the issue of the [propriety of] the `bifurcation' of the trial through the use of special interrogatories. We conclude that the trial court committed serious error in propounding special interrogatories and in submitting them to the jury prior to its final deliberations upon a general verdict pursuant to full and adequate instructions. The error was not harmless and its commission requires a reversal of the convictions and remandment for a new trial.