Under a New Jersey law passed in 1713 that authorized slave punishment by burning at the stake, numerous individuals were so executed prior to the Revolution.
[8] A series of bills was introduced in the Assembly in 1992 to make it harder for New Jersey courts to overturn death sentence convictions, including legislation that would prevent the introduction of evidence regarding the method used for capital punishment during trials, as part of an effort to close off "another avenue for overturning death-penalty sentences".
[10] In December 2005, the New Jersey Senate passed a one-year moratorium on executions by the state, with a commission to determine that the system is efficient and equitable.
[14] All eight inmates on death row had their sentences subsequently commuted to life in prison without parole by Governor Corzine.
[15] Other inmates who had been on New Jersey's death row at the time of abolition were John Martini, who kidnapped and killed a Bergen County businessman, and Brian Wakefield, who beat and stabbed an Atlantic City couple and set their bodies on fire.