Kenneth Vercammen is a Middlesex County Trial Attorney who has published 130 articles in national and New Jersey publications on Criminal Law, Probate, Estate and litigation topics.

He was awarded the NJ State State Bar Municipal Court Practitioner of the Year.

He lectures and handles criminal cases, Municipal Court, DWI, traffic and other litigation matters.

To schedule a confidential consultation, call us or New clients email us evenings and weekends via contact box www.njlaws.com.

Kenneth Vercammen & Associates, P.C,

2053 Woodbridge Avenue,

Edison, NJ 08817,

(732) 572-0500

Thursday, January 17, 2019

CAUSATION Model Jury Charge 2C:2-3

CAUSATION Model Jury Charge (N.J.S.A. 2C:2-3)
[CHARGE IN ALL CASES]Causation has a special meaning under the law. To establish causation, the State must prove two elements, each beyond a reasonable doubt:
First, but for the defendants conduct, the result in question would not have happened. In other words, without defendants actions the result would not have occurred.
[WHEN PURPOSEFUL OR KNOWING CONDUCT INVOLVED]
Second, the actual result must have been within the design or contemplation of the defendant. If not, it must involve the same kind of injury or harm as that designed or contemplated, and must also not be too remote, too accidental in its occurrence or too dependent on anothers volitional act to have a just bearing on the defendants liability or on the gravity of his/her offense.
[WHEN RECKLESS OR NEGLIGENT CONDUCT INVOLVED]
Second, [for reckless conduct] that the actual result must have been within the risk of which the defendant was aware. If not, it must involve the same kind of injury or harm as the probable result and must also not be too remote, too accidental in its occurrence or too dependent on anothers volitional act to have a just bearing on the defendants liability or on the gravity of his/her offense.
Second, [for negligent conduct] that the actual result must have been within the risk of which the defendant should have been aware. If not, it must involve the same kind of injury or harm as the probable result and must also not be too remote, too accidental in its occurrence or too dependent on anothers volitional act to have a just bearing on the defendants liability or on the gravity of his/her offense.
[ABSOLUTE OR STRICT LIABILITY]

Second, the actual result must have been a probable consequence of the defendants conduct. It must not be too remote, too accidental in its occurrence or too dependent on anothers volitional act to have a just bearing on the defendants liability.
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