State v. Whitehead

The opinion of the Court was delivered by

POLLOCK, J.

This case questions whether a defendant must testify at trial to preserve his right to appeal the trial court’s determination that the defendant’s prior convictions may be used to impeach him if he testifies. In the present case, the defendant requested the Law Division to conduct a hearing in accordance with State v. Sands, 76 N.J. 127 (1978), to determine whether two prior convictions could be used on cross-examination to impeach defendant’s credibility. After conducting a “Sands hearing,” the court ruled that the convictions could be so…