The Court’s past term came to a thunderous close with the release of two landmark companion opinions: State v. Henderson, 2011 N.J. LEXIS 927 (Aug. 24, 2011),and State v. Chen, 2011 N.J. LEXIS 926 (Aug. 24, 2011). (Note: The author represented the defendant in Chen.) Each case was decided unanimously, each was authored by Chief Justice Rabner, and each significantly redefines how cases involving eyewitness identification are to be handled.
Noting that misidentification is the single greatest cause of wrongful convictions in this country, the Court, in Henderson, revamped the standards to be used by the police during identification procedures, and to be applied by judges at pretrial identification hearings. In connection with the change in procedures, the Court also directed the Court’s Criminal Practice Committee and Criminal Model Jury Charge Committee to develop enhanced jury instructions so that jurors are better informed of factors critical to determining whether an identification is reliable.
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