State v. Darien Weston (073032)

In this appeal, we review the convictions of defendant Darien Weston for first-degree murder and eight other offenses. The charges arose from the 2007 murder of a young Newark resident who was kidnapped, transported to a parking lot, forced into a dumpster, and shot twice at close range. In a 2008 trial, a jury convicted defendant of six offenses, but was unable to reach a verdict on four other charges. In 2009, a second jury convicted defendant of three of the remaining four charges. During deliberations in both trials, with no objection from defendant prior to the start of deliberations,…