Lead Opinion
This appeal involves a conviction for second-degree vehicular homicide, N.J.S.A. 2C:ll-5b, based on defendant’s reckless operation of her motor vehicle. The State relied on intoxication and other evidence such as speed to establish that defendant recklessly operated her motor vehicle. The jury was not asked to state the basis for its finding of recklessness. The sentencing provision for vehicular homicide mandates a minimum term of imprisonment for defendants who were intoxicated at the time of the offense and such “minimum term shall be fixed at, or between, one-third and one-half of the sentence imposed by the court or three years, whichever is greater, during which the defendant shall be ineligible for parole.” N.J.S.A. 2C:ll-5b(l). The trial court found that defendant should be sentenced as if the offense were third-degree, found that defendant was intoxicated, and sentenced defendant to imprisonment for three years subject to parole ineligibility of three years. The issue before us is whether the jury should have been required to determine the sentence enhancement factor — the intoxication. We hold that the jury was not required to make that determination.
I.
In February 1997, defendant Traci Stanton invited her boyfriend, her brother, and her sister-in-law, Nancy Smith, to her house to play cards and drink beer. Defendant admitted drinking approximately one and one-half bottles of beer, although her brother recalled defendant drinking between three and five beers. At approximately 11:30 p.m., defendant drove her Porsche to purchase more beer while Smith rode in the front passenger seat. After purchasing the beer, defendant and Smith dropped off the beer at defendant’s house and proceeded to Smith’s home to pick up her dog. On their way to Smith’s home, defendant was unable to steer her car around a turn with the result that her vehicle left the road and struck a tree near the right shoulder of the road. The police arrived on the scene shortly before 1:00 a.m. and found the vehicle “completely on its roof.” While treating defendant and before removing her from the vehicle, an emergency medical technician (EMT) discovered a beer bottle “[wjithin four inches” of defendant’s head. Smith was found underneath the trunk of the car on the passenger side of the vehicle. She died as a result of the extensive injuries suffered during the accident.
The morning following the accident defendant was interviewed by Officer Priole. At that time she stated that she had been driving between sixty and sixty-five miles per hour and that neither she nor Smith had been wearing a seatbelt. The posted speed limit was fifty miles per hour, but the recommended speed at the site of the accident was only thirty-five miles per hour. Defendant admitted that she and Smith had been drinking beer in the car.
A grand jury indicted defendant for second-degree vehicular homicide, N.J.S.A. 2C:ll-5. In addition, the police issued defendant summonses for several motor vehicle offenses, including driving while intoxicated (DWI), in violation of N.J.S.A. 39:4-50; reckless driving, in violation of N.J.S.A. 39:4-96; consumption of alcohol while driving, in violation of N.J.S.A. 39:4-51a; and failure to wear a seatbelt, in violation of N.J.S.A. 39:3-76.2f. The vehicular homicide was tried to a jury while the non-indictable offenses were tried simultaneously
The trial judge, sitting without the jury, addressed the alleged motor vehicle violations. She found defendant guilty of all of the offenses except the DWI on which she reserved decision until sentencing on the vehicular homicide conviction. At sentencing, the judge first addressed the charge of driving while intoxicated and determined that “the defendant must have consumed substantially more than two or three beers as everyone remember[ed]” and that “[t]he manner in which the accident occurred ... corroborate[d] the fact that she was driving under the influence.” Based on the evidence presented during the vehicular homicide trial, the judge found that the proofs convinced her beyond a reasonable doubt that defendant was guilty of driving while intoxicated.
Following the trial court’s denial of defendant’s motion for a new trial, defendant was sentenced on the vehicular homicide charge. After evaluating the aggravating and mitigating factors, the judge sentenced defendant as if the second-degree offense were a third-degree crime and imposed the three-year parole ineligibility term mandated by N.J.S.A. 2C:ll-5b(l). The mandatory parole ineligibility term was applied because the judge found defendant was intoxicated at the time she committed the vehicular homicide.
Defendant appealed her vehicular homicide conviction, claiming her conviction should be reversed based on alleged trial error. She also contended that N.J.S.A. 2C:ll-5b(l) was unconstitutional because it permits a judge to find an element of vehicular homicide — intoxication—by a preponderance of the evidence, rather than by a jury beyond a reasonable doubt. The Appellate Division affirmed in part and reversed in part. State v. Stanton, 339 N.J.Super. 1,
The court applied the constitutional doubt doctrine and held that the three-year mandatory minimum sentence was unconstitutionally imposed because the issue of defendant’s intoxication had not been decided by the jury. Id. at 6,
if imposition of a statutorily mandated parole ineligibility term is based on the existence of a fact other than a record of a prior conviction, then, as a matter of the imperatives of the Fifth and Sixth Amendments, that fact must be found by a jury beyond a reasonable doubt. Thus, if that fact is not a discrete element of the offense which the jury must find in order to convict, then it must be submitted to the jury for its determination.
[Stanton, supra, 339 N.J.Super, at 6-7,770 A.2d 1198 .]
The Appellate Division recognized that “there is a textual difference between [the vehicular homicide’s mandatory minimum parole ineligibility,] N.J.S.A. 2C:ll-5b(2)[,] and the corresponding NERA provision [requiring a defendant to serve eighty-five percent of a sentence for committing a violent crime,] N.J.S.A. 2C:43-7.2.” Stanton, supra, 339 N.J.Super. at 7,
convinced that if constitutional principles require the NERA provision to be read as mandating a jury finding of the NERA predicate fact beyond a reasonable doubt in order for that statute to survive constitutional challenge, then, by the same token, N.J.S.A 2C:ll-5b(2) can survive constitutional challenge only if it.is read in the same way.
Ubm
In other words, “[t]he Johnson holding, as we understand it, applies to every statute imposing a mandatory parole ineligibility term because of the capacity of that term to increase real time.” Ibid. Rather than declare N.J.S.A. 2C:ll-5b(2) unconstitutional, the Appellate Division elected to engage in “judicial surgery” to sustain the statute on “an assumption that the Legislature intended to act in a constitutional manner, ... [stating:] That can only be done by excising ... the references to the preponderance standard and the court’s findings and then construing the excised statute as Johnson construed NERA.” Id. at 7-8,
According to the procedure articulated in State v. DeLuca, 108 N.J. 98, 111,
Defendant’s petition for certification was denied. State v. Stanton, 169 N.J. 609,
II.
The State argues that the Appellate Division erred in interpreting Johnson to require that the jury, rather than the judge, had to decide whether defendant
A.
Our analysis of the issues presented must begin with the vehicular homicide statute and its sentencing provisions. The current vehicular homicide statute that has been in effect since 1995 provides:
a. Criminal homicide constitutes vehicular homicide when it is caused by driving a vehicle or vessel recklessly.
b. Except as provided in [N.J.S.A. 2C:ll-5b(3) ], vehicular homicide is a crime of the second-degree.
(1) If the defendant was operating the auto or vessel while under the influence of any intoxicating liquor, narcotic, hallucinogenic or habit-producing drug, or with a blood alcohol concentration at or above the prohibited level as prescribed in R.S.39:4-50, or if the defendant was operating the auto or vessel while his driver’s license or reciprocity privilege was suspended or revoked for any violation of R.S.39:4-50, section 2 of P.L.1981, c. 512 (C.39:4-50.4a), by the Director of the Division of Motor Vehicles pursuant to P.L.1982, c. 85 (C.39:5-30a et seq.), or by the court for a violation of R.S.39:4-96, the defendant shall be sentenced to a term of imprisonment by the court. The term of imprisonment shall include the imposition of a minimum term. The minimum term shall be fixed at, or between, one-third and one-half of the sentence imposed by the court or three years, whichever is greater, during which the defendant shall be ineligible for parole.
(2) The court shall not impose a mandatory sentence pursuant to paragraph (1) of this subsection unless the grounds therefor have been established at a hearing. At the hearing, which may occur at the time of sentencing, the prosecutor shall establish by a preponderance of the evidence that the defendant was operating the auto or vessel while under the influence of any intoxicating liquor, narcotic, hallucinogenic or habit-producing drug, or with a blood alcohol concentration at or above the level prescribed in R.S.39:4-50 or that the defendant was operating the auto or vessel while his driver’s license or reciprocity privilege was suspended or revoked for any violation of R.S.39:4-50, section 2 of P.L.1981, c. 512 (C.39:4-50.4a), by the Director of the Division of Motor Vehicles pursuant to P.L.1982, c. 85 (C.39:5-30a et seq.), or by the court for a violation of R.S.39:4-96. In making its findings, the court shall take judicial notice of any evidence, testimony or information adduced at the trial, plea hearing, or other court proceedings and shall also consider the presentence report and any other relevant information.
[NJ.S.A 2C:11-5a, -5b(1) and (2).]
Subsection a describes what constitutes the offense of vehicular homicide. The “[prescribed culpability requirement applies to all material elements” of the offense. N.J.S.A. 2C:2-2c(l). Intoxication in combination with other evidence or standing alone may satisfy the recklessness element. State v. Jamerson, 153 N.J. 318, 335,
Subsection b of the statute focuses on the sentencing provisions for a second-degree vehicular homicide. That subsection mandates a minimum period of incarceration for a defendant convicted of vehicular homicide if that defendant is found by a judge, after conducting a hearing prescribed by N.J.S.A. 2C:ll-5b(2), to have been intoxicated at the time of the offense. In order to better understand the critical issue raised, with respect to the sentence enhancement, we must give context to the procedural framework in which the issue is presented.
B.
This is a typical case in which a defendant charged with vehicular homicide also is likely to be charged with DWI and other Title 39 offenses. To avoid double jeopardy based on “multiple punishments for the same offense,” DeLuca, supra, 108 N.J. at 102,
Not infrequently, the State will rely on intoxication alone, or in combination with other circumstantial evidence, to establish the recklessness element of vehicular homicide. When intoxication is the sole basis to establish reckless operation of a motor vehicle or vessel before the jury, and if the jury convicts the defendant of vehicular homicide, the role of the judge in finding intoxication for sentence enhancement under N.J.S.A. 2C:11-5b(2) is simple. No hearing is required, for unless the judge accepts the jury’s finding of intoxication, the jury verdict cannot stand and
But when a defendant is on trial for both vehicular homicide and DWI and the State relies on intoxication and other circumstantial evidence to establish recklessness, unless a special interrogatory is submitted to the jury, there is no way of knowing the basis for the jury’s finding of recklessness. Under the existing law, no purpose would be served by special interrogatories. The recklessness element does not require juror unanimity when mixed evidence of recklessness is presented. See, e.g., State v. Frisby, 174 N.J. 583, 596-600,
Here, the State relied on mixed evidence to prove recklessness, and because there is no right to trial by jury on DWI and other Title 39 charges, Blanton v. North Las Vegas, 489 U.S. 538, 543-44, 109 S.Ct. 1289, 1293, 103 L.Ed.2d 550, 556 (1989); State v. Hamm, 121 N.J. 109, 112-30,
III.
Next, we consider whether the federal or New Jersey constitution requires the jury, rather than the judge, to make the determination whether defendant was intoxicated for sentence enhancement purposes. The Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment “protects the accused against conviction except upon proof beyond a reasonable doubt of every fact necessary to constitute the crime with which he is charged.” In re Winship, 397 U.S. 358, 364, 90 S.Ct. 1068, 1073,
A similar right to trial by jury is guaranteed under the New Jersey Constitution.
A.
There is no litmus test for determining what is an element of a crime. Hence, we begin our analysis with the New Jersey Code of Criminal Justice, N.J.S.A 2C:1-1 to 104-9 (Code). N.J.S.A. 2C:1-14h defines an element of an offense as follows:
“Element of an offense” means (1) such conduct or (2) such attendant circumstances or (3) such a result of conduct as
(a) Is included in the description of the forbidden conduct in the definition of the offense;
(b) Establishes the required kind of culpability;
(c) Negatives an excuse or justification for such conduct;
(d) Negatives a defense under the statute of limitations; or
(e) Establishes jurisdiction or venue.
[Ibid.]
The focus in this appeal respecting the vehicular homicide will be on N.J.S.A. 2C:l-14h(l), (2), (3)(a) and (b). Because the issue of whether a sentence enhancement factor should be decided by the jury is intertwined with whether such a factor is an element of the offense tried before the jury, an initial review of recent United States Supreme Court decisions in this area will be informative.
B.
We disagree with Justice Zazzali’s dissent concluding “that when the finding of any fact triggers imposition of a minimum period of imprisonment a jury must find that fact beyond a reasonable doubt.” Post at 105,
We also disagree with the dissenters’ reliance on this Court’s decision in Johnson, supra, 166 N.J. 523,
The dissent is based on the apparent belief that the sentence of three years without parole eligibility is too harsh. However, the Legislature has graded the crime committed by defendant second degree, and that represents “a legislative recognition of how harmful society perceives this crime to be.” State v. Thomas, 166 N.J. 560, 575,
Similarly, we disagree with Justice Long’s dissent in which she concludes that intoxication is an element of second-degree vehicular homicide. That conclusion is based on a self-created chart in which she describes the offense involved in the present case as an “enhanced second-degree vehicular homicide” that involves intoxication as an element. Such an offense is not designated in the Code. Judges and Justices are not permitted to create criminal offenses. The essence of her dissent is the same as that expressed by Justice Zazzali: that every sentence enhancement factor becomes an element of the offense that must be decided by a jury. Such a conclusion is not supported by federal or state law.
The United States Supreme Court has addressed the issue whether certain conduct is a sentence enhancement factor or an element of the offense. McMillan v. Pennsylvania, 477 U.S. 79, 91, 106 S.Ct. 2411, 2419, 91 L.Ed.2d 67, 79 (1986), involved a statute that designated “visible possession of a firearm” as a sentencing enhancement factor. That statute required the judge to impose a minimum term of five years if the enhancer was present. Id. at 81,106 S.Ct. at 2413, 91 L.Ed.2d at 73. The Court held that the Constitution did not require Pennsylvania to treat the sentence enhancer as an element of the offense. Id. at 91,106 S.Ct. at 2419, 91 L.Ed.2d at 79. The Court reasoned that “link[ing] the ‘severity of punishment’ to ‘the presence or absence of an identified fact’ ” did not automatically make that fact an “element.” Id. at 84-85, 106 S.Ct. at 2415, 91. L.Ed.2d at 75 (quoting Patterson v. New York, 432 U.S. 197, 214, 97 S.Ct. 2319, 2329, 53 L.Ed.2d 281, 294 (1977)). Significantly, the Court observed that “the state legislature’s definition of the elements of the offense is usually dispositive[.]” McMillan, supra, 477 U.S. at 85, 106 S.Ct. at 2415, 91 L.Ed.2d at 75.
The Court in Almendarez-Torres v. United States, 523 U.S. 224, 118 S.Ct. 1219,
A year later in Jones v. United States, 526 U.S. 227, 119 S.Ct. 1215, 143 L.Ed.2d 311 (1999), the Supreme Court began to examine mandatory-minimum-sentencing statutes under the constitutional doubt doctrine. Id. at 229, 119 S.Ct. at 1217,
The Court in Jones held that provisions of a carjacking statute that established higher penalties to be imposed when the offense resulted in serious bodily injury or death were not merely sentencing considerations but were additional elements of the offense. Id. at 233, 119 S.Ct. at 1219,
Before the next case reached the Supreme Court, we decided State v. Apprendi, 159 N.J. 7,
The Supreme Court granted certiorari in Apprendi v. New Jersey and decided the case in 2000. 530 U.S. 466, 120 S.Ct. 2348,
The Supreme Court’s decision in Apprendi created a quagmire of unanswered questions in respect of whether trial judges are permitted to determine sentence enhancement factors. Indeed, this Court in Johnson, supra, 166 N.J. at 540,
[b]eeause of the uncertainty expressed by the U.S. Supreme Court respecting the continuing vitality of McMillan, and the broad understanding of ‘punishment’ recognized by this Court, we will construe subsection (e) of NERA to require that the ‘violent crime’ condition must be submitted to a jury and found beyond a reasonable doubt. To do otherwise would be to subject NERA to constitutional challenge.
[Id. at 543-44,766 A.2d 1126 (footnote omitted).]
In an apparent attempt to stem the confusion occurring across . the country in the aftermath of Apprendi with respect to whether McMillan had been overturned, the Supreme Court granted certiorari in Harris, supra, and decided the case on June 24, 2002. 536 U.S. 545, 122 S.Ct. 2406,
McMillan and Apprendi are consistent because there is a fundamental distinction between the factual findings that were at issue in those two cases. Apprendi said that any fact extending the defendant’s sentence beyond the maximum authorized by the jury’s verdict would have been considered an element of an aggravated crime — and thus the domain of the jury — by those who framed the Bill of Rights. The same cannot be said of a fact increasing the mandatory minimum (but not extending the sentence beyond the statutory maximum), for the jury’s verdict has authorized the judge to impose the minimum with or without the finding. As McMillan recognized, a statute may reserve this type of factual finding for the judge without violating the Constitution.
[Ibid]
The Harris Court thus retreated from the position it seemingly had taken in Apprendi wherein the Court appeared to move away from a long tradition of sentencing jurisprudence that restricted the role of the jury to determining the elements of the offense charged and leaving it to the legislature to structure judicial sentencing. In that respect, the Court stated:
That a fact affects the defendant’s sentence, even dramatically so, does not by itself make it an element.
Read together, McMillan and AppreTidi mean that those facts setting the outer limits of a sentence, and of the judicial power to impose it, are the elements of the crime for the purposes of the constitutional analysis. Within the range authorized by the jury’s verdict, however, the political system may channel judicial discretion — and rely upon judicial expertise — by requiring defendants to serve minimum terms-after judges make certain factual findings. It is critical not to abandon that understanding at this late date. Legislatures and their constituents have relied upon McMillan to exercise control over sentencing through dozens of statutes like the one the Court approved in that ease____We see no reason to overturn these statutes or cast uncertainty upon the sentences imposed under them.
[Id. at 567-68,122 S.Ct. at 2419-20,153 L.Ed.2d at 544-45 .]
Now that constitutional doubt has been removed from the analysis, which was part of defendant’s Due Process Clause claim, we must now decide whether intoxication was an element of vehicular homicide.
IV.
Given the absence of any litmus test for determining the elements of a particular offense, we turn again to the Code. N.J.S.A. 2C:l-14h instructs that we first examine the statute that makes certain conduct an offense. A vehicular
V.
Justice Albin in Part I of his dissent has mistakenly concluded that DWI is a lesser-included offense of vehicular homicide in order to justify his conclusion that defendant is entitled to a jury trial on DWI and reckless driving. That dissent fails to recognize that our law draws a distinction between, on the one hand, consolidating DWI and other Title 39 offenses with indictable offenses under the Code to avoid the bar of the Double Jeopardy Clause and, on the other hand, classifying DWI and other Title 39 offenses as lesser-included offenses of indicted Code offenses under N.J.S.A. 2C:l-8 so as to trigger a right to trial by jury. The blurring of that distinction by the dissent is contrary to the express will of the Legislature for more than three-quarters of a century and the constitutional jurisprudence of this State.
Not only was there no request to charge the jury that it had to decide the Title 39 offenses, the judge instructed the jury without objection that the judge would decide them. Consistent with what always has been our law, the court instructed the jury “that there are motor vehicle charges now pending against the defendant. The law requires that I alone decide those motor vehicle charges and I will do so after you have returned your verdict. Obviously your verdict should not depend on how you think I would decide the motor vehicle charges.” The jury trial issue was not raised in the Appellate Division. That issue was raised, for the first time, during the post-Harris oral argument, and even then, it was restricted to an assumption that intoxication is an element of vehicular homicide. Point I of Justice Albin’s dissent, however, does not depend on a finding that intoxication is an element of vehicular homicide and therefore must be decided by a jury. His sua sponte conclusion that DWI and other Title 39 offenses should be decided by the jury impaneled to try the vehicular homicide “converts us from the Court of last resort ... to some sort of super rescue-mission.” Whitfield v. Blackwood, 101 N.J. 500, 501,
Historically, one accused of an indictable offense in New Jersey has a constitutional right to an indictment by a grand jury, N.J. Const, art. I, ¶ 8, and if indicted, to a trial by an impartial petit jury. N.J. Const, art. I, ¶ 9; State v. Maier, 13 N.J. 235, 250,
The rationale at common law for lesser-included criminal offenses being covered by an indictment is based on the notion that the grand jury considered the lesser offense as an ingredient of the greater criminal offense. State v. Johnson, 30 N.J.L. 185, 186 (Sup.Ct.1862). The lesser-included criminal offense must be of “the same general character as that charged” in the indictment. Ibid. In other words, the lesser-included criminal offense must be for a lower-degree offense that “is necessarily included in the higher one charged in the indictment,” State v. Staw, 97 N.J.L. 349, 350,
The Code embodies the statutory and common law with respect to criminal offenses. Title 39, on the other hand, of which DWI is a part, is referred to as “Motor Vehicles and Traffic Regulation.” N.J.S.A. 39:1-1 to:13-8. DWI is proscribed at N.J.S.A. 39:4-50 and it is a part of Article 9 that relates to “Operation of or Acts Affecting Operation of Vehicles and Street Cars.” In contrast, the Code relates to criminal conduct exclusively. Toward that end, the Code establishes a framework for prosecuting multiple criminal offenses. It provides that “[w]hen the same [criminal] conduct of a defendant may establish the commission of more than one [criminal] offense, the defendant ... may not ... be convicted of more than one offense if ... [o]ne offense is included in the other, as defined in subsection d. of this section.” N.J.S.A. 2C:1-8a(l). Subsection d states: “A defendant may be convicted of [a criminal] offense included in an offense charged whether or not the included offense is an indictable [criminal] offense.” N.J.S.A. 2C:1-8d. Subsection e instructs the trial court not to “charge the jury with respect to an included offense unless there is a rational basis for a verdict convicting the defendant of the included [criminal] offense.” N.J.S.A. 2C:l-8e. Clearly, all of N.J.S.A. 2C:1-8 applies to criminal offenses and not traffic-regulatory offenses.
The Code classifies three types of criminal offenses: 1) crimes of the first, second, third and fourth degree, 2) disorderly persons offenses, and 3) petty disorderly persons offenses. N.J.S.A. 2C:1-4a and b. Some of the crimes, disorderly persons and petty disorderly persons offenses are defined in statutes of this State outside the Code. When such statutes outside the Code declare a criminal offense to be a misdemeanor and “provides a maximum penalty of six months’ imprisonment or less, ... such provision shall constitute a
Although DWI was a misdemeanor when first enacted, L. 1909, c. 127, it was reduced to a disorderly persons offense four years later. L. 1913, c. 67; State v. Hamm, supra, 121 N.J. at 119,
The Code provides that “[t]he provisions of the Code not inconsistent with those of prior laws shall be construed as a continuation of such laws.” N.J.S.A. 2C:l-le. Guided by that rule of construction, we reaffirm our view that under the plain language of the Code, DWI and other Title 39 offenses are not “included criminal offenses.” In view of the legislative policy reflected in the Code and in Title 39 “with respect to the joinder of lesser-included offenses, the Code standards do not permit, and the common-law policies do not require, the ... submission to and disposition by a jury of motor vehicles violations in conjunction with its determination of offenses under the Code” when Title 39 offenses are consolidated with an indictable offense for trial. Muniz, supra, 118 N.J. at 331-32,
DWI and other Title 39 offenses are consolidated for trial with indicted offenses, not because they are lesser-included criminal offenses of the crimes charged in an indictment, but because our jurisprudence and Rule 3:15 — 3(a)(1) require consolidation of even Title 39 offenses to avoid double jeopardy problems. State v. DeLuca, supra, 108 N.J. at 102-111,
Requiring consolidation of all offenses for trial that are “based on the same conduct or arising from the same episode,” R. 3:15-3(a), to avoid double jeopardy problems, is not dispositive of whether the jury hearing the indicted offense or the presiding judge should decide the lesser offense.
Recognizing the need to retain separation between two competing constitutional strains, see State v. Johnson, 171 N.J. 192, 205,
VI.
We conclude, therefore, that because there is no right to trial by jury on a DWI offense or on the issue of intoxication for sentence enhancement purposes, because there is substantial credible evidence in the record to support the judge’s determination of intoxication, and because there is no constitutional doubt following Harris, the Appellate Division erred in vacating the three-year term of parole ineligibility.
The judgment of the Appellate Division is reversed and the judgment of the Law Division is reinstated.
LONG, J., dissenting.
Whatever else may be encompassed within the notion of “element of an offense,” it must, as a matter of logic and common sense incorporate a description of the forbidden conduct. N.J.S.A. 2C:ll-5 sets forth three entirely separate vehicular homicide offenses, each describing different conduct that the Legislature sought to interdict. The constituent elements of each of those offenses are as follows:
Offense Elements
First-degree vehicular homicide (10-20 year term)
Enhanced second-degree vehicular Homicide (5-10 year term with a mandatory three-year parole disqualifier)
Second-degree vehicular homicide (5-10 year term)
1. Causing death
2. Driving a vehicle recklessly
3. While intoxicated or while license revoked
4. On school property or a school crossing
1. Causing Death
2. Driving a vehicle recklessly
3. While intoxicated or while license revoked
1. Causing Death
2. Driving a vehicle recklessly
As is evident from that diagram, the statute describes three discrete offenses on an escalating scale of seriousness. The level of seriousness is directly related to the accelerating egregiousness of the defendant’s conduct. That conduct, in turn, is expressed by the number of elements in each offense. The ordinary second-degree offense has two elements — causing death and driving recklessly; the enhanced second-degree offense with mandatory parole ineligibility adds a third — intoxication; and the first-degree offense adds a fourth — school premises. The substance of the scheme could not be clearer, yet the Court allows the Legislature to wink and call intoxication in the enhanced second-degree offense a sentencing factor, thus removing it from the jury’s ambit.
At the very least, and as a matter of ordinary statutory interpretation, when a term is used more than once in a statute, it should have the same meaning and status in both places. Because it is conceded that intoxication is an element of the first-degree offense, how can it not be an element of the enhanced second-degree offense? The result is that a defendant charged with first-degree vehicular homicide, is entitled to a jury determination on intoxication whereas a defendant charged with enhanced second-degree vehicular homicide is not. There is no logical justification for such a scheme.
One final note, the majority’s suggestion that I have impermissibly “created” a criminal offense in my structural dissection of N.J.S.A. 2C:ll-5 is wide of the mark. Every act of statutory interpretation, the point of which is eschewing formalism in favor of substance, is exactly such a “creation.” That is what we are here for — to strip away artifice and lay bare the statutory scheme for what it is.
For the reasons I have expressed, I therefore dissent, joining my colleagues Zazzali and Albin.
Justices ZAZZALI and ALBIN join in this dissent.
Notes
This section of the statute was deleted by amendment P.L.2001, c. 443.
Dissenting Opinion
dissenting.
The State may not subject a citizen to criminal punishment unless it affords that citizen a trial by jury in which guilt is proved beyond a reasonable doubt. Because I believe that the majority has denied that right in this appeal, I respectfully dissent.
Today, one year after the Appellate Division vacated defendant’s parole disqualifier, the Court orders her back to prison to serve a twenty-six month term of incarceration. That term represents the balance of the three-year mandatory minimum sentence imposed as a result of the trial
Consistent with the sentiments expressed by this Court in State v. Johnson, 166 N.J. 523,
I
The right to trial by jury is “one of the most cherished rights in the long history of our Anglo-American jurisprudence.” State v. Ingenito, 87 N.J. 204, 210,
We recently emphasized the constitutional significance of punishment in Johnson. In that case, we suggested that the proper benchmark for ascertaining whether a defendant’s jury trial right attaches is the length of the prison term, or “real time,” imposed pursuant to a mandatory minimum sentence. Johnson, supra, 166
The majority bases its denial of the jury trial right in part on its classification of intoxication as a sentencing factor rather than as an element of an offense. Ante at 97-98,
In Harris, a majority of the Supreme Court consisting of Justice Breyer and four dissenting Justices expressly rejected the view that a mandatory minimum term triggers any less constitutional scrutiny than an enhanced maximum term in respect of the right to a jury trial. Although Justice Breyer concurred in the Harris Court’s judgment that a fact that triggers a mandatory minimum generally does not need to be proved to a jury beyond a reasonable doubt, his concurrence was consistent with his dissenting opinion in Apprendi. In that dissent, he argued that jury trial protections should not necessarily attach to proof of facts that extend a defendant’s permissible sentencing range. See Apprendi, supra, 530 U.S. at 561, 120 S.Ct. at 2400,
II
On more than one occasion, this Court has demonstrated its willingness to extend the jury trial right to resolve uncertainties and to mitigate limitations created by the Supreme Court’s jurisprudence. In State v. Gilmore, for example, we held that the
When, as in this appeal, the basis for the applicable federal law is both uncertain and unpersuasive we should not hesitate to reach an independent conclusion under our State Constitution. As Justice Pashman stated, “[t]he simplest but perhaps most compelling reason for extending state constitutional rights beyond their federal counterparts is that it strengthens the constitutional safeguards of fundamental liberties.” State v. Hunt, 91 N.J. 338, 355,
Ill
The State argues that the rule I propose could be read to entitle defendants to a jury trial on all factors that affect the length of a sentence. I note, however, that a mandatory minimum term, such as that imposed pursuant to N.J.S.A. 2C: 11 — 5b(1)—(2), differs significantly, for example, from a sentence adjusted pursuant to the guidelines set forth in our Criminal Code. Under N.J.S.A. 2C:44-1, a trial court that considers aggravating and mitigating circumstances at sentencing examines and balances numerous factors to make a cumulative assessment that results in a sentence within a prescribed statutory range. See State v. Roth, 95 N.J. 334, 359-60,
IV
In conclusion, because federal law in this area is uncertain and unpersuasive, I would hold that N.J.S.A. 2C:ll-5b(2) violates our State Constitution. I would extend the jury trial right to require that any fact that results in imposition of a mandatory minimum term of imprisonment must be proved to a jury beyond a reasonable doubt. The right- to trial by jury should not depend on whether the Legislature has declared that a finding of a particular fact will result in an enhanced maximum sentence, rather than in a mandatory minimum. Nor should it turn on an equally arbitrary distinction between sentencing factors and elements. As a matter of state constitutional law, our analysis must begin and end with the degree of punishment that the Legislature conditions on a specific factual determination. I therefore would affirm the Appellate Division on state constitutional grounds in accordance with the sentiments expressed by this Court in Johnson.
For the reasons I have expressed, I therefore dissent, joining my colleagues Long and Albin.
Justices LONG and ALBIN join in this opinion.
Under the New Jersey Constitution the accused is entitled to a jury trial whenever the legislatively prescribed punishment exceeds a six-month term of incarceration. State v. Hamm, 121 N.J. 109, 112,
Dissenting Opinion
dissenting.
The right to trial by jury is an ancient and revered right, a right embodied in our State Constitution before there was a Federal Constitution, a right as old as the Magna Carta.
One evening, Traci Stanton lost control of the Porsche she was driving, striking a tree off the side of the road and killing her sister-in-law, Nancy Smith, who was in the front passenger seat. The State claimed that Stanton recklessly operated the vehicle, causing Smith’s death. Stanton was
The State presented the same evidence to the jury with respect to the indictable and motor vehicle charges, including evidence that Stanton was intoxicated at the time of the accident. After the jury rendered a verdict of guilty on the vehicular homicide charge, the Superior Court judge sat in judgment on the motor vehicle charges and, without taking any additional evidence or testimony, found Stanton guilty of reckless driving and DWI. The judge’s finding of guilt on the DWI charge had grave implications beyond the penalty range for that motor vehicle offense. The judge sentenced Stanton to a three-year state prison term based on the jury’s finding of vehicular homicide. The judge’s verdict on the DWI charge, however, required the imposition of a mandatory minimum three-year state prison term on the vehicular homicide charge pursuant to N.J.S.A. 2C:ll-5b(l). But for the DWI finding, Stanton would have been eligible for parole in nine months. See N.J.S.A. 30:4-123.51g. The judge’s factual finding exposed Stanton to a real-time sentence four times greater than the exposure resulting from the jury’s factual finding.
I.
The New Jersey Constitution empowers this Court to promulgate rules governing the “practice and procedure” in the Superior Court. N.J. Const, art. VI, § 2, ¶ 3; Winberry v. Salisbury, 5 N.J. 240, 255,
There is no sound reason why a jury in a vehicular homicide case should not decide the lesser-included offenses of DWI and reckless driving. A jury is no less capable of rendering a decision on reckless driving and DWI charges than on criminal charges. Our constitutional jurisprudence recognizes both DWI and reckless driving as lesser-included offenses of vehicular homicide. A finding of guilt of DWI will bar a subsequent prosecution of vehicular homicide on double jeopardy grounds if the sole evidence supporting the element of recklessness is intoxication related to the DWI charge. DeLuca, supra, 108 N.J. at 109,
Our law requires that lesser-included offenses be charged to a jury if a rational basis in the evidence supports the lesser charges. State v. Choice, 98 N.J. 295, 299,
Disorderly persons, petty disorderly persons, and serious motor vehicle offenses are quasi-criminal offenses. A person charged with a quasi-criminal offense is entitled to fundamental due process protections, including the presumption of innocence, which requires the State to bear the burden of proving guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. See State v. Garthe, 145 N.J. 1, 8,
Disorderly persons, petty disorderly persons, and motor vehicle offenses are all subject to the jurisdiction of the municipal court. Disorderly persons and petty disorderly persons offenses, however, may be submitted to the jury in criminal trials as lesser-included offenses, despite the general jurisdiction of the municipal court in such matters. See N.J.S.A. 2C:l-8(e); R. 3:15-3. See also, e.g., DeLuca, supra, 108 N.J. at 111,
The same principles that support submitting disorderly persons offenses to the jury as lesser-included offenses apply as well to serious motor vehicle charges, such as DWI and reckless driving. The penalties for a conviction of DWI, even for a first-time offender, are more severe than for a petty disorderly persons offense. Compare N.J.S.A 39:4-50(a)(l) (providing that person who operates motor vehicle while intoxicated shall be subject to fines, suspension of license for not less than six months nor more than one year, “a period of detainment ... as prescribed by the program requirements of the Intoxicated Driver Resource Centers ... and, in the discretion of the court, a term of imprisonment of not more than 30 days”), with N.J.S.A. 2C:43-8 (stating that “person who has been convicted of a ... petty disorderly persons offense may be sentenced to imprisonment for a definite term which ... shall not exceed ... 30 days”). Penalties for a third DWI offense are even more severe, and include a minimum 180-day term of imprisonment. N.J.S.A. 39:4-50(a)(3). In its previous incarnations over the last century, DWI has been classified as a disorderly persons offense and a misdemeanor. State v. Hamm, 121 N.J. 109, 119,
The majority takes the position that where the State presents evidence to support different theories of recklessness in a vehicular homicide case, ie., intoxication and speeding, unanimity on any one theory is not necessary, so long as all twelve jurors agree that the defendant was reckless. Ante at 86,
This Court’s precedents have compelled bifurcated fact-findings between the judge and the jury in vehicular homicide cases. Muniz, supra, 118 N.J. at 331-32,
In Muniz, supra, this Court reversed the Appellate Division, which had concluded that, under the common law, lesser-included motor vehicle charges must be submitted to the jury in a vehicular homicide case. The Court determined that although lesser-included motor vehicle offenses should be joined in the prosecution of death-by-auto cases, they should be decided by the judge, not the jury. 118 N.J. at 331-32, 335,
This Court, in Muniz, provided no satisfactory rationale to justify denying jury consideration of a DWI charge in a vehicular homicide case where intoxication is part of the State’s proof of recklessness. There is no salutary purpose in the continued practice of two fact-findings, one by a jury and the other by a judge, in which both view the same evidence at the same trial. Had all the charges been submitted to the jury in this case, the constitutional issue, which now divides the Court, probably would have been avoided.
I do not suggest here that a DWI complaint that stands alone, one that is not joined with a criminal offense, should be tried to a jury. This matter, however, presents a different case. One of the State’s theories in this vehicular homicide ease was based on intoxication. The Superior Court judge charged the jury that it had to decide whether defendant “violated” the law “that a person may not operate a motor vehicle under the influence of intoxicating liquor,” as well as other motor vehicle laws, in “deciding whether or not she drove recklessly.” In essence, the jury was told to decide the DWI matter, but not to give voice to its judgment on the DWI complaint, which was left to the court’s determination. This, to me, is a process devoid of any sense.
Ultimately, any ruling of this Court must withstand the test of reason and experience. Adherence to a practice that does not advance any legitimate objective should be discarded in favor of one that does. Relevant motor vehicle charges that are lesser-included offenses of a vehicular homicide charge should be submitted to a jury.
n.
I fully concur with the well-reasoned opinions of Justices Long and Zazzali. However, the importance of the right to trial by jury compels me to add these thoughts. In interpreting our State Constitution, particularly the “right of trial by jury shall remain inviolate” provision, which is textually different from its federal counterpart, a decision of the United
Our Court should not “adopt federal constitutional interpretations for the New Jersey Constitution merely for the sake of consistency.” Id. at 355,
The majority’s decision, which gives judges free rein to make factual determinations within the statutory maximum, theoretically permits the complete restructuring of the New Jersey Code of Criminal Justice, transferring powers traditionally reposed in juries to judges. One example will make the point. Currently, a jury determines whether a theft is greater than $200, $7500, or $75,000 for the purpose of grading the offense and determining the range of sentence. N.J.S.A. 2C:20-2b(4). The logic of the Court’s decision would allow the enactment of a statute limiting a jury to rendering a general verdict of theft with a maximum sentence of, say, twenty years. Under this construct, a judge would then make the factual determination as to the amount of the theft for the purpose of imposing a specific sentence within that range. This would be entirely contrary to our current law, and yet this potential scenario follows from the Court’s decision.
Our state is a separate and independent laboratory, a political experiment, in a larger federal system of states with varied customs, cultures, and values. See Hunt, supra, 91 N.J. at 356-57,
We have no greater state interest than sustaining the right to trial by jury, ensuring the heritage that places great trust in the common wisdom of everyday men and women to make judgments on the most vital issues concerning their fellow citizens. Traci Stanton was entitled to have a jury decide the factual issue that now requires her to serve a three-year mandatory minimum jail term. By allowing a judge to make that critical finding of fact in this case, the Court has diminished one of our most important rights.
Justices LONG and ZAZZALI join in this opinion.
For reversal and reinstatement — Chief Justice PORITZ and Justices COLEMAN, VERNIERO and LaVECCHIA — 4.
Dissenting — Justices LONG, ZAZZALI and ALBIN — 3.
See N.J. Const, of 1176 art. XXII (stating “that the inestimable right of trial by jury shall remain confirmed as a part of the law of this Colony, without repeal, forever”) (reproduced at http:llwww.nj.gov/njfactsl njdoclOa.htm); J. Kendall Few, 1 In Defense of Trial by Jury 10 (1993).
See State v. Anderson, 127 N.J. 191, 194, 603 A.2d 928 (1992) (declining to follow federal law and, relying on State Constitution, declaring unconstitutional statutory provision making materiality element of perjury question of law and holding that, as element of crime, materiality must be determined beyond reasonable doubt by jury).
Compare Edwards v. United States, 523 U.S. 511, 513-14, 118 S.Ct. 1475, 1477, 140 L.Ed.2d 703, 708 (1998) (stating that Federal "Sentencing Guidelines instruct the judge ... to determine both the amount and the kind of 'controlled substances' for which a defendant should be held accountable — and then to impose a sentence that varies depending upon amount and kind"), with NJ.S.A. 2C:35-5c (stating that where degree of offense for manufacture, distribution, or possession with intent to manufacture or distribute controlled dangerous substance depends on quantity of substance, quantity shall be determined by trier of fact).