State v. Grillo

The opinion of the court was delivered by

Burling, J.

The appeals before us are brought by two defendants, each of whom was convicted by a jury of murder *177in the first degree and sentenced to death. The defendants-appellants, Silvio De Yita and Joseph Grillo, together with one Ralph Rosania, were indicted for murder and subsequently were brought to trial, together in the Essex County Court, Law Division. The theory of the State’s case was that the defendants’ crime was elevated to first degree murder under R. S. 2:138-2 (substantially reenacted in N. J. S. 2A :113-2), the killing having occurred…