State v. Eckel

BATTEN, J.S.C.

In this matter of first impression, this court determines that an assistant county prosecutor’s informal, gratuitous comments to a grand jury, subsequent to its vote to indict, yet prior to its return of the indictment in open court, all regarding the quantum, quality, and significance of the evidence just presented, constitutes, to whatever degree unintended, a fundamentally unfair tactic violative of the proscription in United States v. Hogan, 712 F.2d 757, 759-62 (2d Cir.1983), State v. Hart, 139 N.J.Super. 565, 568, 354 A.2d 679 (App.Div.1976) (citing U.S. v. Dionisio, 410…