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Criminal Law Keyed to Ohlin
State v. Ragland
Citation:
519 A.2d 1361, 105 NJ. 189 (1986)Facts
Ragland was convicted by a jury of conspiracy to commit armed robbery, unlawful possession of a weapon, and unlawful possession of a weapon without a permit. He had another charge against him (possession of a weapon by a convicted felon), that was severed and tried before the same jury after they found him guilty of the other charges. In the trial court’s instructions regarding the severed charge, the court stated: “If you find that the defendant, Gregory Ragland, was previously convicted for the crime of robbery and that he was in possession of a sawed-off shotgun, as you have indicated . . . then you must find him guilty as charged by this Court.”
Ragland appealed, arguing that by instructing the jury that they must find him guilty based on a fact they previously indicated did not allow them to consider independently the question of possession but rather to abide by its prior determination of that fact.
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