Court Opinion

ID: 9691836
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-25 15:17:11.360872+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T11:24:07.758563
License: Public Domain

Proctor, J.
(concurring). I agree with the majority that we should accept the prosecutor’s waiver of the death penalty in this case even though the trial was free of error. In State v. Laws, 51 N. J. 494, 509-510 (1968), I set forth my view that we could reduce a jury imposed death penalty to life imprisonment if the prosecutor agreed to waive the death penalty, but that we could not do so in the absence of sucSh a waiver. I was able to concur with the majority in Laws only because the prosecutor there agreed to waive. The issue arose again in State v. Royster, 57 N. L. 472 (1971) and I concurred noting the necessity for a prosecutorial waiver of the death penalty which was again given. Id. at 492. Today’s opinion by the majority rests on the premise that the prosecutor agreed to waive the death penalty and in this respect comports fully with what I have maintained from the start.