---
title: 'NEW VOICES: New Jersey Commission Represented a Broad Spectrum of Officials and Citizens'
description: 'The report from the New Jersey Death Penalty Study Commission that called for an end to the state’s death penalty was prepared by a group of individuals…'
canonical: 'https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/new-voices-new-jersey-commission-represented-a-broad-spectrum-of-officials-and-citizens'
section: news
date: '2007-01-04T01:39:00-05:00'
updated: '2025-03-14T14:24:31-04:00'
source: 'Death Penalty Information Center'
---

The report from the **New Jersey Death Penalty Study Commission** that called for an end to the state's death penalty was prepared by a group of individuals representing a wide variety of viewpoints and experience. The members of the Commission were:

Governor Jon S. Corzine appointed:

- **Eddie Hicks**, a member of Murder Victims Families for Reconciliation;
- **Kathleen Garcia**, a member of the New Jersey Crime Victims’ Law Center;
- the **Reverend M. William Howard, Jr.**, of Bethany Baptist Church in Newark;
- **Rabbi Robert Scheinberg** of the United Synagogue of Hoboken;
- and the **Honorable James H. Coleman, Jr.,** a retired justice of the New Jersey Supreme Court.

The President of the Senate, Richard J. Codey, appointed:

- the **Honorable John F. Russo**, former President of the New Jersey State Senate,
- and West Orange Police Chief **James P. Abbott.**

The Speaker of the General Assembly, Joseph J. Roberts, Jr., appointed:

- **Kevin Haverty,** an attorney in private practice,
- and Ocean County Prosecutor **Thomas F. Kelaher**.

The ex officio members of the Commission were:

- Public Defender **Yvonne Smith Segars**;
- **the Attorney General**;
- the designee of the President of the New Jersey State Bar Association, **Miles S. Winder, III**;
- and Hudson County Prosecutor **Edward J. De Fazio**, representing the County Prosecutors Association of New Jersey.

The Honorable John Russo filed a minority in which he disagreed with many of the points in the report, but stated: "I concede that if the death penalty is going to be administered as it has been since 1982, it may need to be abolished."  
([N.J. Death Penalty Study Commission Report](https://www.njleg.state.nj.us/committees/dpsc_final.pdf), January 2007). See

[ **New Voices**](/new-voices?did=482&scid=16)

.