Crime & Safety

South Brunswick Man to be Retried in 2004 Murder of His Wife

Samander Dabas allegedly killed his wife by drunkenly running her over. His 2007 conviction was overturned in 2011.

The case of a South Brunswick man who allegedly murdered his wife by running her over in a parking lot on Route 1 will be retried after the New Jersey State Supreme Court overturned his 2007 murder conviction on Tuesday, nj.com reports.

Samander Dabas, 46, was found guilty of running over his wife with a van after a dispute in 2004, according to the report, which also states he had been drinking at the time.

 At the time of the trial, the judge refused to instruct jurors as to the implications of the decision of Prosecutor’s Office Detective John Dando to destroy his pre-interview notes, according to the report. Dando allegedly used leading questions in his recorded interview. The questions led Dabas to give incriminating responses relating to the death of his wife, Rena, according to the report.

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An appeals court ruled this was wrong, as it left Dando as the sole interpreter of Samander Dabas’s responses during the interview, putting Dabas at an unfair disadvantage. It overturned the conviction in 2011, according to the report.

The State Supreme Court upheld that decision, and called for the retrial, on Tuesday.

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