3:23-8. Hearing on Appeal
(a) Plenary Hearing; Hearing on Record; Correction or Supplementation of
Record; Transcript for Indigents. If a verbatim record or sound recording was made
pursuant to R. 7:8-8 in the court from which the appeal is taken, the original transcript
thereof duly certified as correct shall be filed by the clerk of the court below with the
criminal division manager's office, and a certified copy served on the prosecuting
attorney by the clerk of the court below within 20 days after the filing of the notice of
appeal or within such extension of time as the court permits. In such cases the trial of
the appeal shall be heard de novo on the record unless it shall appear that the rights of
either party may be prejudiced by a substantially unintelligible record or that the rights of
defendant were prejudiced below in which event the court to which the appeal has been
taken may either reverse and remand for a new trial or conduct a plenary trial de novo
without a jury. The court shall provide the municipal court with reasons for the remand.
The court may also supplement the record and admit additional testimony whenever (1)
the municipal court erred in excluding evidence offered by the defendant, (2) the state
offers rebuttal evidence to discredit supplementary evidence admitted hereunder, or (3)
the record being reviewed is partially unintelligible or defective. If the appellant, upon
application to the court appealed to, is found to be indigent, the court may [shall] order
the transcript of the proceedings below furnished at the county's expense if the appeal
involves violation of a statute and at the municipality's expense if the appeal involves
violation of an ordinance. If no such record was made in the court from which the
appeal is taken, the appeal shall operate as an application for a plenary trial de novo
without a jury in the court to which the appeal is taken.
(b) ... no change
(c) ... no change
(d) ... no change
(e) ...no change
(f) ... no change
