STATE OF NEW JERSEY VS. EUGENE RICHARDSONÂ (14-07-0587, CUMBERLAND COUNTY AND STATEWIDE) (redacted)

NOT FOR PUBLICATION WITHOUT THE
APPROVAL OF THE APPELLATE DIVISION
SUPERIOR COURT OF NEW JERSEY
APPELLATE DIVISION
DOCKET NO. A-2023-15T2
STATE OF NEW JERSEY,
APPROVED FOR PUBLICATION
AS REDACTED
Plaintiff-Respondent, October 4, 2017
v. APPELLATE DIVISION
EUGENE RICHARDSON,
Defendant-Appellant.
___________________________________
Submitted May 16, 2017 – Decided October 4, 2017
Before Judges Fisher, Ostrer and Vernoia.
On appeal from the Superior Court of New
Jersey, Law Division, Cumberland County,
Indictment No. 14-07-0587.
Joseph E. Krakora, Public Defender, attorney
for appellant (Daniel V. Gautieri, Assistant
Deputy Public Defender, of counsel and on
the brief).
Jennifer Webb-McRae, Cumberland County
Prosecutor, attorney for respondent
(Danielle R. Pennino, Assistant Prosecutor,
of counsel and on the brief).
The opinion of the court was delivered by
OSTRER, J.A.D.
Lacking a valid driver's license, defendant was caught
giving a false name during a traffic stop for a motor vehicle
violation. The officer arrested defendant for hindering
apprehension and took him down to the station. While in the
booking room, the arresting officer searched defendant more
thoroughly. The officer testified that once defendant removed
his shoes he noticed a bulge in defendant's sock. He felt it.
Drugs, he thought, and asked defendant to remove his sock, which
revealed multiple packets of heroin.
The booking room's two motion-sensitive video cameras
likely recorded the search. Yet, at defendant's jury trial on
the drug possession charge — the hindering charge was not
pursued — the State's case rested only on the officer's word.
That is because the State allowed the booking room tape to be
destroyed, despite defense counsel's prior written request that
the State preserve and produce it.
The trial court denied his timely request to instruct the
jury that it could draw an adverse inference from the tape's
destruction. The trial court also denied defendant's pre-trial
request to bar evidence that defendant hindered apprehension.
The jury ultimately found defendant guilty of possessing heroin,
and the court sentenced defendant, a repetitive offender, to a
five-year term of imprisonment, with a two-year period of parole
ineligibility.
Defendant presents two significant issues on appeal.
First, was defendant entitled to an adverse inference charge to
2 A-2023-15T2
remedy the police's routine destruction of the video where the
defense expressly requested it be preserved? We conclude he
was. In particular, we hold that when the State refuses a
defendant's diligent pre-indictment request to preserve and
produce recordings, which the State or its law enforcement
agencies created and are directly relevant to adjudicating an
existing charge, the defendant is entitled to an adverse
inference charge. Second, did the court err in how it handled
the evidence of hindering apprehension? We conclude it did.
The evidence was inadmissible under N.J.R.E. 404(b) for its
proffered purpose and, in any event, the court's instruction was
inadequate. As these errors were not harmless, we reverse the
conviction, and do not reach defendant's challenge to his
sentence.
Before addressing each issue presented on appeal, we
briefly review its procedural background.
I.
A.
We begin with the destruction of evidence. Five days after
defendant's arrest, his attorney sent the prosecutor a discovery
demand, which asked the State to preserve and produce "all video
tapes, audio tapes or photographs, including but not limited to
police vehicle video tapes, 911 tapes, police and emergency
3 A-2023-15T2
personal [sic] dispatch tapes, [and] booking room tapes . . . ."
(Emphasis added). The letter also "request[ed] that all
evidence be preserved, protected and produced," and that "the
State inform defense counsel in a timely fashion should the
State learn that any evidence . . . relevant to this case . . .
is about to destroyed . . . ."1 The State did not respond, nor
did it notify the police to preserve the booking room tapes.
At trial, the defense did not elicit evidence regarding its
letter. Rather, it focused on the arresting officer's
independent decision not to preserve the recording. A sergeant
confirmed at trial that the cameras would have recorded a
suspect held in the bench area where defendant was searched.
However, the recordings were routinely overwritten after thirty
days.
The arresting officer testified that he took no steps to
preserve the recording. He claimed he only requested
preservation of tapes to record incidents he did not see;
therefore, there was no reason for him to request the tape's
preservation. Yet, the sergeant testified officers could
request the preservation of tapes "for almost any reason," and
1
Although neither party included the letter in the record on
appeal, we requested its production. In argument before the
trial court, the State did not dispute that defense counsel had
requested both the preservation and production of booking room
recordings.
4 A-2023-15T2
often did. He added that officers typically requested videos of
incidents they did observe, noting that officers preserved tapes
to refresh their recollection at trial. As the arresting
officer did not request the video, it was erased thirty days
after defendant's arrest.
The grand jury indicted defendant less than a month after
the erasure.2 By that point, there was no recording for the
State to produce. In justifying its inaction, the prosecutor
later contended her office had no responsibility to produce any
discovery pre-indictment, although she essentially conceded the
case had been referred to her office by the time defense counsel
served the letter requesting preservation of the booking room
recording.3 She said that defense counsel could have submitted
the discovery request directly to the police department. The
prosecutor also noted that the request was a "form letter," and
suggested that whether the recordings possessed evidence
material to the defense was speculative.
2
Although the indictment charged possession with intent to
distribute, N.J.S.A. 2C:35-5(b)(3), as well as simple
possession, N.J.S.A. 2C:35-10(a)(1), the State dismissed the
former charge before trial.
3
She stated in oral argument opposing defendant's pre-trial
motion to dismiss that when her office received the discovery
request, "The State d[id]n't know if it[] [was] going to keep
the case, or if it[] [was] going to dismiss the case."
5 A-2023-15T2
Defendant moved before trial to dismiss the indictment on
the ground that destruction of the videorecording violated his
right to due process. The court denied the motion, finding the
police did not act in bad faith.4 That decision is not before
us.
The court reserved decision on defense counsel's
alternative request for an adverse inference jury instruction.
However, when counsel renewed the request at trial, a different
judge denied it.
The court held there was no binding authority that required
the State to preserve the recordings in response to a letter to
the prosecutor's office. Noting the prior finding of no bad
faith, the judge stated he would have viewed the matter
differently had defense counsel sent the request directly to the
police. The judge stated that an adverse inference charge would
"tell[] the jury the police did something wrong," which the
court declined to do. When defense counsel renewed the request
before summations, the court added that defense counsel had
4
A defendant must prove bad faith to establish a due process
violation based on destruction of potentially useful, as opposed
to exculpatory, evidence. See State v. Marshall, 123 N.J. 1,
109 (1991) (applying Arizona v. Youngblood, 488 U.S. 51, 57-58,
109 S. Ct. 333, 337, 102 L. Ed. 2d 281, 289 (1988)), cert.
denied, 507 U.S. 929, 113 S. Ct. 1306, 122 L. Ed. 2d 694 (1993);
State v. Mustaro, 411 N.J. Super. 91, 102-03 (App. Div. 2009).
6 A-2023-15T2
thoroughly examined the issue at trial and could address it in
closing.
The defense did. The absence of video was a major theme of
the short trial. The defense's sole witness was the sergeant in
charge of preserving booking room recordings. The defense
highlighted the absence of the surveillance footage, and focused
on the arresting officer's decision not to preserve the video,
despite the sergeant's testimony that officers often did. In
summation, the defense referred to cases in the news of police
misconduct and misrepresentations ultimately belied by
bystanders' recordings. The prosecutor responded that the
officer was not required to preserve the recording and that
there was no evidence of "foul play." The prosecutor contended
that reference to the lost recording was a "smoke screen" and
that the officer's observation of drugs met the State's burden.
As his first point on appeal, defendant contends:
THE TRIAL JUDGE ERRED IN FAILING TO PROVIDE
JURORS WITH AN ADVERSE-INFERENCE OR CURATIVE
INSTRUCTION AFTER THE STATE FAILED TO
PRESERVE THE VIDEOTAPE OF THE ALLEGED CRIME,
THEREBY ALLOWING CRITICAL EVIDENCE TO BE
DESTROYED.
B.
The issue presented involves the State's pre-indictment
failure, despite defendant's request, to preserve obviously
relevant evidence that would have been discoverable post-
7 A-2023-15T2
indictment. We conclude that the State's failure to do so
violated its implied obligations under the criminal discovery
rules and our caselaw, and warranted an adverse inference
instruction. Notably, our courts' power to order discovery is
not limited to the express terms of the automatic discovery
provisions of Rule 3:13-3(b). See State ex rel. A.B., 219 N.J.
542, 555 (2014). The courts have "the inherent power to order
discovery when justice so requires." Ibid. (internal quotation
marks and citation omitted). We draw support for our conclusion
from our Supreme Court's decisions requiring police officers to
preserve their interview notes before and after indictment. We
also look to persuasive authority of other state courts.
1.
Without doubt, defendant, post-indictment, would have been
entitled to discovery of the videorecording — had it been
preserved. According to our Rules, the State's obligation to
produce discovery in criminal cases arises after indictment,
unless a pre-indictment plea offer is made. See R. 3:13-3(a)
(pre-indictment discovery); R. 3:13-3(b)(1) (post-indictment
discovery by defendant). The disclosure obligation pertains to
"relevant material," R. 3:13-3(b)(1), and includes
videorecordings in the State's possession, R. 3:13-3(b)(1)(B).
To qualify as "relevant material," the evidence must have "'a
8 A-2023-15T2
tendency in reason to prove or disprove [a] fact of consequence
to the determination of the action.'" State v. Gilchrist, 381
N.J. Super. 138, 146 (App. Div. 2005) (quoting N.J.R.E. 401). A
court must "focus upon 'the logical connection between the . . .
evidence and a fact in issue.'" Ibid. (quoting State v. Darby,
174 N.J. 509, 519 (2002)). The videotape certainly met that
standard. It recorded the alleged offense and would have tended
to prove or disprove the officer's testimony that defendant
possessed heroin in his sock.
We read Rule 3:13-3(b)(1) to imply a duty to preserve
evidence pre-indictment, at least where the item is clearly
destined for post-indictment disclosure and a defendant timely
requests its preservation. To conclude otherwise would give the
State, as well as the police, free rein to destroy evidence that
may help a defendant, before indictment triggers automatic
disclosure. That would frustrate the broad pre-trial discovery
our Rules authorize and undermine the Rules' goals of "promoting
the search for truth," and "providing fair and just trials."
State v. Scoles, 214 N.J. 236, 251-52 (2013).
In a series of decisions culminating in State v. W.B., 205
N.J. 588 (2011), the Supreme Court established that the State
must preserve, for later disclosure, the pre-indictment writings
and notes of a police officer under the prosecutor's
9 A-2023-15T2
supervision. Id. at 608; see also State v. Branch, 182 N.J.
338, 367 n.10 (2005) (criticizing police officers' "seemingly
routine practice of destroying their contemporaneous notes of
witness interviews"); State v. Cook, 179 N.J. 533, 542 n.3
(2004). Once "a case is referred to the prosecutor following
arrest by a police officer as the initial process, or on a
complaint by a police officer, local law enforcement [becomes]
part of the prosecutor's office for discovery purposes." W.B.,
supra, 205 N.J. at 608 (citing R. 3:3-1; R. 3:4-1). The
obligation established in W.B. "cover[s] the gap between the
investigation and a defendant's indictment." State v. Dabas,
215 N.J. 114, 119 (2013) (citing W.B., supra, 205 N.J. at 608).
Upon indictment, the notes are disclosable as reports "in the
possession, custody and control of the prosecutor." W.B.,
supra, 205 N.J. at 608 (citing R. 3:13-3(c)(6), (7), and (8)
(2011), now found at R. 3:13-3(b)(1)(F), (G), and (H)).
The Court's decision in W.B. responded to the widespread
police practice of destroying notes once an officer prepared a
formal report. See Dabas, supra, 215 N.J. at 118-19. The
officer in W.B. destroyed notes of interviews of the alleged
victim and the defendant in a sexual assault case. W.B., supra,
205 N.J. at 607. The Court explained that preserving writings
would guard against "the possibility of a misrecording" in the
10 A-2023-15T2
subsequent report. Ibid. The Court grounded the requirement in
both the discovery rules and the right to confront witnesses:
Yet the possibility of a misrecording is
precisely why the notes must be maintained —
a defendant, protected by the Confrontation
Clause and our rules of discovery, is
entitled to test whether the contemporaneous
recording is accurate or the final report is
inaccurate because of some inconsistency
with a contemporaneous recordation. It is
for the jury to decide the credibility of
the contemporaneous or other recordation
made while an investigation is on-going
prior to preparation of a formal report.
[Id. at 607-08.]
Just as the State may not routinely destroy officers' notes
before they must be disclosed under Rule 3:13-3(b)(1), we
conclude the State may not destroy law enforcement's
videorecording of an offense, particularly when a defendant has
made a timely request to preserve it. The same confrontation
right at play in W.B. applies to the destruction of a
videorecording of an officer searching a defendant. The
recording enables a defendant to test the officer's version of
what transpired.
The evidential value of the recordings may be substantial,
and even more reliable than an officer's notes. As the Court
stated, in reference to the recording of an alleged child abuse
victim's statement:
11 A-2023-15T2
[T]he videotape "convey[s] not only the
exact words spoken by the child, but their
finer shades of meaning through facial
expressions, body movements and inflections
of voice." In addition, a video recording
creates an objective, reviewable record,
enhances the reliability of confessions,
protects police officers from false
allegations, improves the overall quality of
police work, and may well "preserve judicial
resources" by discouraging defendants from
raising frivolous pre-trial challenges to
the admission of the child's statement.
[State v. P.S., 202 N.J. 232, 253 (2010)
(citations omitted).]
As for remedy, the W.B. Court held, prospectively, that "if
notes of a law enforcement officer are lost or destroyed before
trial, a defendant, upon request, may be entitled to an adverse
inference charge molded, after conference with counsel, to the
facts of the case." 205 N.J. at 608-09. As the defendant in
W.B. neither requested an adverse inference charge at trial, nor
timely raised the issue before his new trial motion, the Court
declined to hold on appeal that the defendant was entitled to
the charge. Id. at 609. The Court added that an adverse
inference charge as a sanction for destruction of interview
notes may be "unnecessary where enough evidence is presented to
make [the] out-of-court statement trustworthy" without the
notes. Id. at 609 n.10 (citing P.S., supra, 202 N.J. at 254).
However, the Court mandated an adverse inference charge
under the circumstances presented in Dabas, supra. The officer
12 A-2023-15T2
in Dabas destroyed his lengthy pre-interview notes involving a
murder investigation. 215 N.J. at 123-24. The pre-interview
was followed by a brief recorded inculpatory interview
consisting of short answers to leading questions. Ibid. Upon
preparing his written report, the officer destroyed his pre-
interview notes a year after indictment. Id. at 123. The notes
were unquestionably subject to discovery by that time. The
Court held it was an abuse of discretion for the trial court to
refuse to give an adverse inference charge as requested by the
defendant. Id. at 141.
The Court highlighted the impact of the officer's
destruction of notes on the truth-seeking process:
The potential for unconscious, innocent
self-editing in transferring words, sentence
fragments, or full sentences into a final
report is a real possibility. So is the
potential for human error in the
transposition of words from notes into a
report. The meaning and context of [the
defendant's] words as recorded in the notes
may have been subject to differing
interpretations where [the investigator] saw
only one. Language nuances may have been
lost as [the investigator] translated them
into the final report. The slightest
variation of a word or a phrase can either
illuminate or obscure the meaning of a
communication.
[Id. at 138-39.]
In other words, destruction of notes deprives a defendant of
potentially useful evidence.
13 A-2023-15T2
"The adverse-inference charge is a remedy to balance the
scales of justice . . . ." Id. at 140. The Court drew
parallels to the adverse inference charge authorized in State v.
Clawans, 38 N.J. 162, 170-75 (1962), which involved a missing
witness, rather than missing evidence. Ibid. "[A] defendant
may be entitled to such a charge if the State fails to present a
witness who is within its control, unavailable to the defense,
and likely to give favorable testimony to the defendant." Ibid.
The Court concluded that "[b]alancing the scales" required
an adverse inference charge consisting of instructions that (1)
"the State had a duty to produce the pre-interview notes to the
defense following the return of the indictment"; (2) "[b]ecause
the State made the notes unavailable, . . . the jury . . . was
permitted to draw an inference that the contents of the notes
were unfavorable to the State"; and (3) "[w]hether to draw such
an inference falls within the jury's discretion, after it gives
full consideration to the nature of the discovery violation, the
explanation given by the State for the violation, and any other
relevant factors that would bear on the issue." Id. at 141.5
5
In response to the Court's decision in W.B., the Committee on
Model Criminal Jury Charges adopted the following instruction:
You have heard testimony that
failed to preserve (his/her/their) original
notes in this case. Law enforcement
(continued)
14 A-2023-15T2
Here, the case for such an adverse inference charge is just
as strong. Although this case involves the pre-indictment
destruction of evidence, defense counsel's timely request to
(continued)
officers are required to preserve
contemporaneous notes of their interviews
and observations at the scene of a crime,
even after producing their final reports. A
defendant is entitled to test whether the
officer has accurately recorded statements
and observations that were made
contemporaneously and also to test whether
the final report and the officer's trial
testimony are inaccurate because of some
inconsistency with what the officer recorded
at the scene. When the contemporaneous
notes are not preserved, the defendant is
deprived of this opportunity to test the
accuracy of the contemporaneous notes, the
final report, and the trial testimony.
[Insert Parties Contentions, If Any]
It is for you the jury to decide the
credibility of the evidence presented. In
evaluating the officer's credibility, you
may infer that notes lost or destroyed by an
officer before trial contained information
unfavorable or inconsistent with that
officer's trial testimony or final report.
In deciding whether to draw this inference,
you may consider all the evidence in the
case, including any explanation given as to
the circumstances under which the
contemporaneous notes were lost or
destroyed. In the end, however, the weight
to be given to the testimony, and to the
loss or destruction of the notes, is for
you, and you alone, to decide.
[Model Jury Charge (Criminal), "Failure of
Police to Preserve Notes" (2011).]
15 A-2023-15T2
preserve the evidence places this case in a category more like
Dabas than W.B. Just as the State in Dabas failed to preserve
and produce evidence, despite an explicit requirement, the State
here failed to preserve and produce the videorecording, despite
an explicit request. Also, as in Dabas, defendant timely
requested an adverse inference charge. In fact, the evidential
impact of the recording in this case is as great, if not greater
than in Dabas. Here, the recording memorialized the offense
itself and there is no corroborating evidence of the officer's
version of events.
We recognize that trial courts are vested with the
discretion to fashion an appropriate sanction for a violation of
discovery obligations. Dabas, supra, 215 N.J. at 141; see also
R. 3:13-3(f). Trial courts also exercise broad discretion in
determining whether to comment on evidence during a jury
instruction, State v. Brims, 168 N.J. 297, 307 (2001), or to
grant a defendant's request for a particular jury charge. State
v. Green, 86 N.J. 281, 290 (1981).
However, we are not obliged to defer to the exercise of
discretion that rests on an "impermissible basis." See Flagg v.
Essex Cnty. Prosecutor, 171 N.J. 561, 571 (2002) (internal
quotation marks and citation omitted). We will also reverse a
conviction where the court, which is obliged "to ensure that the
16 A-2023-15T2
jurors receive accurate instructions on the law," delivers
"erroneous instructions on material issues," State v. Reddish,
181 N.J. 553, 613 (2004) (internal quotation marks and citations
omitted), or omits an instruction that is prejudicial to the
defendant "in light of the totality of the circumstances," see
State v. Marshall, 123 N.J. 1, 145 (1991) (internal quotation
marks and citations omitted), cert. denied, 507 U.S. 929, 113 S.
Ct. 1306, 122 L. Ed. 2d 694 (1993).
The trial court here not only refused defendant's request
for an adverse inference charge, but denied any other remedy to
"balance the scales" that the State tilted by permitting the
recording's destruction. In finding no discovery violation, the
court presumed the State was not obliged to preserve the
recording; and the defense should have directed its request to
the police. Yet, as noted above, since the case was referred to
the prosecutor, the police and the prosecutor's office acted as
one. See W.B., supra, 205 N.J. at 608. In sum, the implied
obligation of Rule 3:13-3(b)(1); the Court's decisions in Dabas
and W.B.; and the defense's explicit request for preservation
all compelled the State, including the police, to preserve the
recording. As it failed to do so, an adverse inference charge
was warranted, so the jury could itself weigh "the explanation
17 A-2023-15T2
given by the State for the violation." Dabas, supra, 215 N.J.
at 141.
We reject the State's contention that defendant was obliged
to show the State acted in bad faith and the evidence was
exculpatory. Bad faith is an essential element of a due process
violation where the evidence is potentially useful. See
Marshall, supra, 123 N.J. at 109; State v. Knight, 145 N.J. 233,
245 (1996). On the other hand, "[s]uppression of requested
exculpatory evidence violates due process, regardless of the
prosecution's good faith." State v. Robertson, 438 N.J. Super.
47, 67 (App. Div. 2014), rev'd on other grounds, 228 N.J. 138
(2017). However, as the Court held in W.B. and Dabas, neither
proof of bad faith, nor a showing that evidence is exculpatory,
is essential to demonstrate a discovery violation or to justify
an adverse inference charge.6
2.
Our conclusion also finds support in the persuasive
decisions of other jurisdictions. They have found an adverse
inference charge was warranted by the State's destruction of
potentially useful evidence, even where bad faith was not shown.
6
Bad faith is not a prerequisite for an adverse inference
charge in the civil context, as a sanction for spoliation of
evidence. See Jerista v. Murray, 185 N.J. 175, 202 (2005). We
can conceive of no reason to impose a more demanding standard
when a person's liberty is at stake in a criminal case.
18 A-2023-15T2
See State v. Glissendorf, 329 P.3d 1049, 1051-53 (Ariz. 2014)
(adverse inference charge required where State destroys evidence
that has a "tendency to exonerate" or is "potentially useful");
Hammond v. State, 569 A.2d 81, 90 (Del. 1988) (defendant
entitled to adverse inference charge where State destroyed a
crashed automobile in a vehicular homicide case); Cost v. State,
10 A.3d 184, 196 (Md. 2010) (requiring adverse inference charge
where State destroyed "highly relevant" tangible evidence);
People v. Handy, 988 N.E.2d 879, 879 (N.Y. 2013) (stating, "when
a defendant in a criminal case, acting with due diligence,
demands evidence that is reasonably likely to be of material
importance, and that evidence has been destroyed by the State,
the defendant is entitled to an adverse inference charge");
People v. Butler, 33 N.Y.S.3d 602, 605 (App. Div. 2016)
(mandating adverse inference charge where police surveillance
video of crime was erased before a defense request).
In Handy, supra, the defendant was charged with assaulting
sheriffs officers in a jail. 988 N.E.2d at 879. A jailhouse
recording system recorded at least part of the incident. Id. at
880. One of the officers viewed the video, reportedly decided
it recorded only a "very small part" of the incident, and
allowed the images to be routinely overwritten after thirty
days. Ibid. The tape was erased, despite the defendant's
19 A-2023-15T2
demand for the evidence shortly after he was charged with a
felony complaint, but before indictment.7
Adhering to Arizona v. Youngblood, 488 U.S. 51, 109 S. Ct.
333, 102 L. Ed. 2d 281 (1988), as does our Supreme Court, the
New York Court of Appeals declined to find a due process
violation. Yet, it held that the trial court was required to
grant defendant's request for an adverse inference charge. Id.
at 883. The New York court rejected the Appellate Division's
conclusion that the defendant could not establish the
recording's value, noting that the State's destruction "created
the need to speculate about its contents." Id. at 882.
Furthermore, requiring an adverse inference would "give[] the
7
The timing of the defendant's request was elucidated in a
subsequent case, People v. Durant, 44 N.E.3d 173, 179 (N.Y.
2015) (stating, with reference to Handy, "[d]espite the
defendant's demand for such evidence, the police destroyed the
surveillance images sometime between the defendant's arraignment
on the complaint and the filing of the indictment"). However,
the New York Appellate Division rejected the notion that the
duty to preserve evidence is only triggered upon the defendant's
request, and instead required authorities to take whatever steps
necessary to preserve the relevant evidence "'when something
will . . . foreseeably lead to criminal prosecution.'" Butler,
supra, 33 N.Y.S.3d at 605 (quoting Handy, supra, 988 N.E.2d at
882-83). "To conclude that the duty to preserve is not
triggered until a request is made by the defendant would only
give an incentive to State agents to destroy the evidence before
the defendant has a chance to request the tapes." Ibid. On the
other hand, the New York model jury instruction, drafted after
Handy, addresses cases where government agents destroyed
evidence after the defense requested it. See id. at 607
(Curran, J., concurring).
20 A-2023-15T2
State an incentive to avoid the destruction of evidence." Ibid.
The court emphasized that the jury was permitted, but not
required, to draw an inference in defendant's favor. Id. at
883; see also People v. Viruet, ___ N.E.2d ____ (N.Y. 2017)
(slip op. at 7-8) (extending the rule to a third party
recording, in the State's possession, of the murder the
defendant was charged with committing).8
The court in Handy, supra, 988 N.E.2d at 882, relied on the
Maryland Court of Appeals' decision in Cost, supra. Cost
involved the destruction of tangible items of evidence in the
prison cell where the defendant allegedly stabbed a fellow
inmate through a slot between their two cells. 10 A.3d at 187-
88, 196. The items included the victim's allegedly blood-
stained linens and clothing. Id. at 196. The Maryland court
held that a "missing evidence" charge was mandated because
"[t]he evidence destroyed while in State custody was highly
8
Much like the instruction outlined in Dabas, supra, 215 N.J. at
141, the New York model jury charge, adopted after Handy,
informs the jury of the State's obligation to preserve evidence,
but leaves it to the jury to determine whether to draw an
adverse inference. See CJI2d [NY] Destroyed Evidence. By
contrast, the Arizona model charge, referenced in Glissendorf,
supra, 329 P.3d at 1051, does not inform the jury that the State
is obliged to preserve the evidence, but it informs the jurors
that they may draw an adverse inference if they are not
satisfied with the State's explanation for its destruction. See
Rev. Ariz. Jury Inst. Stand Crim. 10 ("Lost, Destroyed, or
Unpreserved Evidence").
21 A-2023-15T2
relevant to [the defendant's] case," and "could not be
considered cumulative, or tangential -- it goes to the heart of
the case." Ibid. Furthermore, the defendant's own argument to
the jury was no substitute for an instruction from the court,
which would have "more force and effect." Id. at 196-97
(internal quotation marks and citation omitted).
The court held that fairness dictated a "missing evidence"
instruction favoring defendant, particularly since Maryland law
permits a "missing evidence" instruction against a defendant, to
allow a jury to infer consciousness of guilt. Id. at 191, 197.
The court recognized, "[f]or the judicial system to function
fairly, one party in a case cannot be permitted to gain an
unfair advantage through the destruction of evidence." Id. at
197.
The court declined to require the instruction "as a matter
of course, whenever the defendant alleges non-production
evidence." Ibid. Instead, the court left it to the trial
court's discretion to refuse such a charge "where the destroyed
evidence was not so highly relevant, not the type of evidence
usually collected by the state, or not already in the state's
custody." Ibid. However, a trial court "abuses its discretion
when it denies a missing evidence instruction and the jury
instructions, taken as a whole, [do not] sufficiently protect
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the defendant's rights and cover adequately the issues raised by
the evidence." Ibid. (internal quotation marks and citation
omitted).
Consistent with this persuasive authority, we conclude the
trial court erred in rejecting defendant's request for an
adverse inference charge. The recordings were unquestionably
relevant, as they pertained to the very heart of the case.
Defendant exercised due diligence in requesting the preservation
and production of the recordings. Yet, the State and police,
acting as one, allowed the routine destruction of the recording.
3.
We conclude that the court's error denied defendant a fair
trial. This prosecution for simple drug possession rested
solely on the arresting officer's word. The State asked the
jury to believe that an on-the-scene search did not uncover the
drugs; a booking room search did. But, no one else in the
booking room could confirm that is what happened. While
officers often preserved recordings, the arresting officer chose
not to. The recording may have conclusively established
defendant's guilt if the officer was truthful, but it may have
conclusively exonerated defendant if the officer was not. A
jury instruction would likely have added weight to the defense
argument, by expressly permitting the jury to draw an adverse
23 A-2023-15T2
inference from the destruction of the booking room recording.
See Marshall, supra, 123 N.J. at 145 (noting that a defense
counsel's arguments "can by no means serve as a substitute for
[proper] instructions by the court").
It is possible, of course, that the jury may have found
defendant guilty, even if the court had delivered the requested
adverse inference charge. However, "mere possibilities . . . do
not render an error harmless." State v. Scott, 229 N.J. 469,
484 (2017). "[I]f there is a reasonable doubt as to whether the
error contributed to the verdict" — and we conclude there is
here — we shall not deem it harmless. See State v. J.R., 227
N.J. 393, 417 (2017). Therefore, the omission of the jury
instruction warrants reversal.
II.
[At the direction of the court, the
published version of this opinion omits Part
II, which addresses the admissibility of
evidence of hindering apprehension under
N.J.R.E. 404(b).]
III.
Given our disposition, we need not reach defendant's
argument that his sentence was excessive.
Reversed. We do not retain jurisdiction.
24 A-2023-15T2