State of New Jersey, Plaintiff-Respondent v. John Stanley Czachor, Also Referred to as John S. Czachor…

Summary

The Supreme Court of New Jersey held that the traditional Allen charge, and especially its repeated use, is impermissibly coercive and constitutes plain error requiring reversal of the defendant's convictions and a new trial. The Court also announced a rule prohibiting the use of the Allen charge in criminal cases and applied it with limited retroactive effect. Justice Pashman, in a concurring opinion, agreed with the result but argued that the retroactive application should be complete rather than limited.