State v. De Stasio

The opinion of the court was delivered by

Weinteaub, C. J.

A jury convicted defendant of bookmaking in violation of N. J. S. 2A:112-3. He was sentenced to a term of one to two years and fined $1,000. We certified his appeal to the Appellate Division before it was argued there.

I

The first question is whether defendant’s privilege of silence under the Fifth Amendment was violated by the prosecutor’s opening statement to the jury.

*251In the voir dire examination of the jurors, counsel for defendant inquired as to whether greater credit would be given a policeman’s testimony “as opposed to an ordinary…