State v. Childs

In State v. Childs, 204 N.J. Super. 639, 499 A.2d 1041 (1985), certif. denied, 104 N.J. 430, 517 A.2d 423 (1986), the Court noted that any suggestion that the jury was coerced into reaching a verdict after being returned by the judge to deliberate was rebutted by the fact that the jury deliberated for four hours before it reached a verdict that could be regarded as favorable to defendant. Id. at 648, 499 A.2d 1041. The Court concluded that the defendant was not prejudiced by the prosecutor's fleeting and inadvertent reference to the defendant's custody because the jury was informed by the trial testimony that the defendant had been arrested, taken to the police station and searched. Childs, 499 A.2d at 1048. The Childs court also relied upon the fact that the jury convicted the defendant only of an offense lesser than the one charged. Id.