State v. Kociolek

The opinion of the court was delivered by

William J. Brennan, Jr., J.

Defendant appeals from his conviction of murder in the first degree for shooting and killing Walter Edwards on December 27, 1954 while riding with Edwards in the latter’s truck on Ocean Heights Avenue, near Mays Landing, Atlantic County. The jury did not recommend life imprisonment, and the mandatory death sentence was imposed.

The defendant sought a new trial on the basis of' an affidavit of one of the jurors disclosing that the jury arrived at the agreement not to recommend mercy only after some of the jurors recalled, and…