1 SYLLABUS This syllabus is not part of the Court’s opinion. It has been prepared by the Office of the Clerk for the convenience of the reader. It has been neither reviewed nor approved by the Court and may not summarize all por tions of the opinion.

State v. Calvin Fair (A- 20 -22) (086617) Argued September 12, 2023
-- Decided January 16, 20 24 WAINER APTER, J., writing for a unanimous Court. The Court considers whether a prosecution for terr oristic threats under N.J.S.A. 2C:12-3(a) premised on a mens rea of reckl essness is constitutional. In February 2015, State Police seized several hand guns from defendant Calvin Fair’s home . In April 2015, defendant referenced the search o n Facebook, noting that none of the guns the police found were his and that he still had all of his guns. On May 1, 2015, officers responded to a domestic- violence call at defendant’s home . After a few verbal exchanges with an officer, d efendant yelled: “Worry about a head shot, [epithet].” At no point did def endant brandish a weapon. About two hours after the officers left, defendant made F acebook posts stating in part , “THN YU GOT THESE . . . OFFI$ERS THINKIN THEY KNO UR LIFE!!! . . . . I KNO WHT YU DRIVE & WHERE ALL YU MOTHERFU$KERS LIVE AT[.]” After reviewing the public posts, police issued a t erroristic threats complaint against defendant. An officer testified that in addition to the “[w]orry about a head shot ” comment, he was concerned from the Facebook posts that defendant still had his guns and knew where the officers lived and what cars they drove. The terroristic threats statute, N.J.S.A. 2C:12-3, has two subsections. Subsection (a) provides that “[a ] person is guilty of a crime of the third degree if he threatens to commit any crime of violence with the purpose to terrorize another . . . or in reckless disregard of the risk of causing suc h terror. ” (emphasis added). Subsection (b) applies to threats to kill another. Defendant was indicted for actions

“ contrary to the provisions of N.J.S.A. 2C:12-3a and /or b. ” Defendant moved to dismiss the indictment, arguing , among other things, that N.J.S.A. 2C:12-3(a) is unconstitutionally overbroad because it criminalizes terroristic threats made with a mens rea of reckles sness. At trial, the State asked that the court charge the jury on N.J.S.A. 2C:12-3(a) an d/or (b). And the verdict sheet mirrored the indictment, directing the jury to dete rmine whether the State had2

proven beyond a reasonable doubt that defendant com mitted third-degree terroristic threats in violation of N.J.S.A. 2C:12-3(a) and/or (b) . During deliberations, the jury sent a note, asking: “Do both 2C:12 -3(a) and 2C:12-3(b) have to be proven beyond a reasonable doubt or just one or the other?” With the consent of both parties, the court responded that “it could be . . . one or the other.” Twenty minut es lat er, the jury reached a guilty verdict. Defendant appealed, and the Appellate Division rev ersed, agreeing with defendant both that the “reckless disregard” portio n of N.J.S.A. 2C:12 -3(a) is “facially invalid” and that, “[w]ithout an instruct ion that would have made . . . clear to the jury” that they needed to be unanimous on wh ether defendant violated N.J.S.A. 2C:12- 3(a), (b), or both, “we can have no confidence that the jury did not produce an impermissibly fragmented verdict.” 469 N.J. Super. 538, 548, 558 (App. Div. 2021). The State appealed as of right pursuan t to Rule 2:2-1(a)(1).
HELD : A mental state of recklessness

-- defined in this context as “morally culpable conduct, involving a ‘deliberate decision to endanger another,’” Counterman v. Colorado, 600 U.S. 66, 79 (2023)

-- is constitutionally sufficient for a “true threats” prosecution under N.J.S.A. 2C:12 -3(a). An objective component is also necessary for a “true threats” prosecution to survi ve constitutional scrutiny: the State must prove that a reasonable person similarly situated to the victim would have viewed the message as threatening violence. Here, defendant was charged with terroristic threats in violation of N.J.S.A. 2C:12- 3(a) and/or (b). On remand, the jury should be charged that they must unanimously a gree as to whether defendant violated N.J.S.A. 2C:12-3(a), (b), or both.
1. The Court reviews the doctrine of “true threats”

-- which “lie outside the bounds of the First Amendment’s protection , ” Counterman, 600 U.S. at 72 -- as developed through Supreme Court jurisprudence. The Court sub stantially adopts the Counterman standard and holds that in a criminal pr osecution for a true threat of violence under N.J.S.A. 2C:12-3(a), a mens rea of r ecklessness suffices for purposes of the First Amendment to the United States Constit ution and Article I, Paragraph 6 of the New Jersey Constitution. Under this standar d, to be found guilty of a violation of N.J.S.A. 2C:12-3(a), a defendant must have consciously disregarded a substantial and unjustifiable risk that their threa t to commit a crime of violence would terrorize another person, and that conscious disregard must be a gross deviation from the standard of conduct that a reaso nable person in a defendant’s situation would observe. In the context of true th reats, a mens rea of recklessness is demanding: it “means that a speaker is aware ‘that other s could regard his statements as’ threatening violence and ‘delivers t hem anyway.’” Id. at 79. Although it is not purposeful or knowing, “reckless ness is morally culpable conduct, involving a ‘deliberate decision to endanger anothe r.’” Ibid. This understanding of recklessness requires more than the standard of rec klessness conveyed in the judge’s3

instructions to the jury in this case, which provid ed in part that “[o]ne is said to act recklessly if one acts . . . heedlessly, or foolhar dily .” (emphasis a dded). With this understanding of recklessness as “morally culpable conduct” in the context of true threats, the Court agrees that it is constitutional ly sufficient for a prosecution of a threat of violence under N.J.S.A. 2C:12-3(a). The Court does not decide whether a different intent requirement should apply to prosec utions for dissenting political speech, because no such speech was prosecuted here. (pp. 16 -29) 2. In addition to a subjective mens rea of at leas t recklessness, an objective component is necessary for a prosecution for a thre at of violence under N.J.S.A. 2C:12-3(a) to survive First Amendment and Article I , Paragraph 6 scrutiny. On the objective element, the Court departs from Counterma n and from the charge that the trial court provided to the jury in this case in on e minor respect: the objective inquiry, in which the jury determines whether a rea sonable person would have viewed the defendant’s words as threatening violenc e, must be undertaken not from the perspective of an anonymous ordinary person, bu t from the perspective of a reasonable person similarly situated to the victim. This is another way of saying that context matters. Considering the perspective of on e similarly situated to the victim, which entails consideration of prior interactions b etween the parties, protects agains t convictions for statements made in jest, political dissent, or angry hyperbole, while allowing the State to prosecute true threats of vio lence that would instill fear of injury in a reasonable person in the victim’s posit ion. (pp. 29-32) 3. The Court remands for a new trial correctly cha rging the jury on both the objective and subjective components of N.J.S.A. 2C: 12-3(a), consistent with this opinion. The Court also asks the Model Criminal Jury Charges Committee to revise the model charge for N.J.S.A. 2C:12-3(a), as to bot h the subjective recklessness standard

-- including by removing the terms “heedlessly” and “f oolhardily”

-- and the objective standard discussed in its opinion

. (pp. 32 -33) 4. Jurors must unanimously agree that the defendan t committed every element of the crime with which he is charged, beyond a reason able doubt

. On remand, the court should additionally charge the jury that it m ust agree unanimously on whether defendant violated N.J.S.A. 2C:12-3(a), (b), or bot h. The terroristic threats statute does not identify an individual element of which su bsections (a) and (b) are mere examples, but rather lists in the disjunctive two s eparately enumerated, alternative crimes of terroristic threats. (pp. 22 -23, 33- 35 )
AFFIRMED in part, REVERSED in part. REMANDED to the trial court. CHIEF JUSTICE RABNER and JUSTICES PATTERSON, SOLOMO N, PIERRE-LOUIS, FASCIALE, and NORIEGA join in JUSTICE WAINER APT ER’s opinion.SUPREME COURT OF NEW JERSEY A-20 September Term 2022

086617
State of New Jersey, Plaintiff-Appellant,

v. Calvin Fair, Defendant-Respondent. On appeal from the Superior Court, Appellate Division, whose opinion is reported at 469 N.J. Super. 538 (App. Div. 2021). Argued September 12, 2023 Decided January 16, 2024
Alecia Woodard, Assistant Prosecutor, argued the ca use for appellant (Raymond S. Santiago, Monmouth County Prosecutor, attorney; Daniel I. Bornstein, Designat ed Counsel, of counsel and on the briefs). Daniel S. Rockoff, Assistant Deputy Public Defender , argued the cause for respondent (Joseph E. Krakora, Public Defender, attorney; Daniel S. Rockoff, of co unsel and on the briefs). Michael L. Zuckerman, Deputy Solicitor General, arg ued the cause for amicus curiae Attorney General of New Jersey (Matthew J. Platkin, Attorney General, attor ney; Jeremy M. Feigenbaum, Solicitor General, Michael L. Zuckerman, David M. Galemba, Tim Sheehan, and Catli n2 A. Davis, Deputy Attorneys General, of counsel and on the briefs). Alexander Shalom argued the cause for amicus curiae American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey (Ameri can Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey Foundation and Rutgers Constitutional Rights Clinic Center for Law & Justice, attorneys; Alexander Shalom and Jeanne LoCicero, of counsel and on the briefs, and Ronald K. Chen, on the briefs). Bruce S. Rosen argued the cause for amicus curiae Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers of New Jers ey (Pashman Stein Walder Hayden, attorneys; CJ Griffin , of counsel and on the briefs, and Bruce S. Rosen and D illon J. McGuire, on the briefs).
JUSTICE WAINER APTER delivered the opinion of the Court.
This case requires us to decide whether a prosecuti on for terroristic threats under N.J.S.A. 2C:12-3(a) premised on a men s rea of recklessness is
constitutional under the First Amendment to the United States Constitution and Article I, Paragraph 6 of the New Jersey Constitution. N.J.S.A. 2C:12-3(a) provides that a person is guilty of third- degree terroristic threats “if he threatens to commit any crime of violence with the purpose to terrorize another or . . . in reckless disregard of the risk of causi ng such terror or
inconvenien ce.”3

Defining recklessness in this context as “morally culpable conduct, involving a ‘deliberate decision to endanger another,’ ” Counterman v. Colorado, 600 U.S. 66, 79 (2023) ( quoting Voisine v. United States, 579 U.S. 686, 694 (2016) ), we hold that a mental state of recklessness is con stitutionally sufficient for a “true threats” prosecution under N. J.S.A. 2C:12-3(a). We also hold that an objective component is necessary for a “true threats” prosecution to survive constitutional scrutiny: the State must prove that a reasonable person similarly situated to the victim would have viewed the message as threatening violence

. Finally, defendant Calvin Fair was charged with terr oristic threats in violation of N.J.S.A. 2C:12-3(a) and/or (b). We agree with the Appellate Division that on remand, the jury should be charged that they must unanimously agree as to whether defendant violated N.J.S.A. 2C:12-3(a), (b),
or both.
We thus affirm in part and reverse in part the judgment of t he Appellate
D ivision and remand for a new trial consistent with this op inion.4 I.
A. In February 2015, State Police executed a search wa rrant at the home defendant shared with his mother and tenants in Fre ehold. They seiz ed several handguns. In April 2015 , defendant referenced the search in three public Facebook posts or comments: (1) “And all thm hammers [1] they found inn my house! None of thm was mines, I still got all of m ines lol” ; (2) “This is a post for, Freehold Boro poli$e, . . . keep wall wat$hin ur not gonna get my life from fb”; (3) “I hope they burn freehold down!!! . . . & yu if look my way again, im joinin ISIS. Lol.”
On May 1, 2015, three Freehold Borough Police Departm ent officers , includ ing Officer Sean Healey, responded to a 911 domestic-violence call at defendant’s home. Healey knew defendant and was aware that firearms h ad been recovered during the February raid

. When police arrived, they saw defendant’s girlfriend L.W. outside with her children and some of her belongings. She told police that she had been “thrown out of the house” but wanted to retrieve her television, which was still

1 “Hammers” is a commonly used slang term for guns.5

inside . Officers repeatedly knocked on the door, trying t o speak to defendant to get the TV returned. Defendant did not answer. L.W. stated that she did not want to file a complai nt or seek a restraining order against defendant. While the police were filling out a victim-notifica tion form, defendant stuck his head out of a second-floo r window and yelled: “Please. Just leave. Just leave this property. B ecause I don’t want nothing

-- I don’t want to talk. There’s nothing to talk about. All I did was put her stuff
out and she can leave. . . . Please just leave

. . . . You all causing too much chaos over here for nothing.”
Police moved off defendant’s front yard and on to the sidewalk. They
asked defendant if he would return L.W. ’s television. Defendant appeared to become more agitated, calling the situation “petty” and shouting , “ [h]ow many times y’all been through this? How many times y’al l came over here? . . . . Just leave my property. Just leave my property. I’m taking care of my mother.” Officer Healey yelled , “ [w] e’re going to go. Have a good day, Calvin. Thank you for your cooperation.” Instead of leaving, Officer Healey told L.W. they w ere going to sign a complaint on her behalf “right now

. ” L.W. said “Calvin, go in the house before you get in trouble,” but defendant began yelling profanities at Officer Healey,6

repeatedly calling him the “f ---ing devil. ” When Officer Healey said, “ [w] e’ll be back with your warrant. . . . So, have fun,” defendant shouted , “ [y]ou talking crazy, [epithet], talking about signing a f---ing c omplaint. . . . Always trying to break somebody’s a

-- . That’s all you think about, breaking somebody’s a
-- . Sign a complaint to what? I never did anything to you . . . . Absolutely nothing. I never did anything. . . . Get the f

--- out of here, [epithet] .” Healey responded, “That’s disorderly conduct , too. ” Defendant then yelled: “F ---ing thirsty a

-- [epithet]. You thirsty. Worry about a head shot, [epithet] .” Officer Healey replied, “ And that there is a threat.” Another officer on the scene agreed, “ T hat is threats right there.” At no point did defendant brandish a weapon. The officers then got in their cars and left. Approximately two hours later, defendant posted the following on
Facebook: I think its about tht time to give Mr. Al Sharpton & Mr

Rev[] Jackson, internal affairs & my law[yer] a $al l, one thg yu wont do is disrespe$t me or my 84 year old mother kause yu $arry a badge & another thg yu not doin is tryin to keep me inn system with patty fine s & $omplaints whn im not ur job . . . . My 84 year ol d mother didnt deserves her door bein ki$k inn by 30 armed offi$ers with aks & shields drawn. . . . YU WILL PAY, WHOEVA HAD ANY INVOLVEMENT. WASTIN TAX PAYERS MONEY! BRINING ALL7 THM OFFI$ERS OUT FOR A 84 YEAR OLD WOMEN! SO SAD BUT WE WILL HAVE THA LAST LAUGH! #JUSTWAITONIT[.]
Defendant then replied to his own post, “THN YU GOT THESE

. . . OFFI$ERS THINKIN THEY KNO UR LIFE!!! . . . . I KNO WHT YU DRIVE
& WHERE ALL YU MOTHERF U$K ERS LIVE AT[.]” After reviewing the public posts, police issued a t erroristic threats complaint against defendant. Officer Healey testif ied that in addition to the “[w]orry about a head shot” comment, he was concern ed from the Facebook posts that defendant still had his guns and knew where the officers lived and what cars they drove.
B. The terroristic threats statute under which the pol ice charged defendant reads, in relevant part:

(a) A person is guilty of a crime of the third deg ree if he threatens to commit any crime of violence with t he pur pose to terrorize another . . . or in reckless disrega rd of the risk of causing such terror . . . . (b) A person is guilty of a crime of the third deg ree if he threatens to kill another with the purpose to pu t him in imminent fear of death under circumstances reasonably causing the victim to believe the immedi acy of the threat and the likelihood that it will be ca rried out.8 [N.J.S.A. 2C:12-3 (emphasis added).] On August 13, 2015, a Monmouth County Grand Jury in dicted defendant on one count of third-degree terroristic threats fo r

threatening to commit a crime of violence with the purpose to terrorize [Officer Healey], or in reckles s disregard of the risk of causing such terror, or by threatening to kill [Officer Healey], with the purpo se to put him in imminent fear of death under circumstanc es reasonably causing [Officer Healey], to believe the immediacy of the threat and the likelihood that it would be carried out, contrary to the provisions of N.J.S .A. 2C:12-3a and/or b.
D efendant moved to dismiss the indictment, arguing, among other things, that N.J.S.A. 2C :12 -3(a) is unconstitutionally overbroad because it criminalizes terroristic threats made with a mens r ea of recklessness. The trial court denied the motion, finding defendant’s statem ents, including the “worry about a head shot” comment and the subsequent Faceb ook post about knowing “what cars the officers drove and where they lived,” were a true threat that was not protected by the First Amendment. The court al so concluded that defendant’s statements were “properly categorized a s a threat to kill or to harm” Healey, and “were not political and were not made in a political
context.”9

At trial, the State asked that the court charge the jury on N.J.S.A. 2C:12- 3(a) and /o r (b). Defendant did not object. The court charged the jur y on N.J.S.A. 2C:12-3(a) as follows:

The first element that the State must prove beyond a reasonable doubt is that defendant threatened to co mmit any crime of violence. The State alleges that defe ndant threatened to kill Patrolman Sean Healey.
The words or actions of the defendant must be of su ch a nature as to convey menace or fear of a crime of violence to the ordinary person. It is not a viola tion of this statute if the threat expresses fleeting anger or was made merely to alarm. The second element the State must prove beyond a reasonable doubt is that the threat was made with t he purpose to terrorize another or in reckless disrega rd of the risk of causing such terror. In this case, the State alleges the defendant intended to terrorize Sean He aley. The State need not prove the victim actually was terrorized.

. . . . A person acts recklessly with respect to the result of his conduct if he consciously disregards a substantial and unjustifiable risk that the result will occur from his conduct. The risk must be of such a nature and deg ree that, considering the nature and purpose of the actor’s conduct and the circumstances known to the actor, i ts disregard involves a gross deviation from the stand ard of conduct that a reasonable person would observe i n the actor’s situation. One is said to act recklessly if one acts with recklessness, with scorn for the conseque nces, heedlessly, or foolhardily.10

The court then charged the jury on N.J.S.A. 2C:12-3 (b), along with the lesser included offense of disorderly conduct. On unanimity, the court
instructed: “The verdict must represent the considered judgment of each juror and must be unanimous as to each charge. This mean s you must all agree if
the defendant is guilty or not guilty of the charge.” The verdict sheet mirrored the indictment, directin g the jury to determine whether the State had proven beyond a rea sonable doubt that defendant committed third-degree terroristic threat s in violation of N.J.S.A. 2C:12-3(a) and/or (b):

Defendant Calvin Fair did commit the crime of Terroristic Threats by threatening to commit a crime of violence with the purpose to terrorize Sean Healey, or in reckless disregard of the risk of causing such t error , or by threatening to kill Sean Healey with the purp ose to put him in imminent fear of death under circumstances reasonably causing Sean Healey to believe the immediacy of the threat and the likelih ood it would be carried out. With respect to this charge, how do you find? Defendant did not object to any portion of the charg e or verdict sheet. During deliberations, the jury sent a note, asking : “Do both 2C:12-3(a) and 2C:12-3(b) have to be proven beyond a reasonabl e doubt or just one or the11

other?” With the consent of both parties, the cour t responded: “the answer is it could be . . . one or the other . . . .” Twenty minutes later, the jury reached a guilty ver dict. They were not polled as to whether they found defendant guilty of N.J.S.A. 2C:12-3(a), (b),
or both. Defendant was sentenced to three years in prison.
C. Defendant appeal ed , arguing that the “reckless disregard” portion of N.J.S.A. 2C:12-3(a) is unconstitutionally overbroad and that the indictment, jury instructions, and verdict sheet were “‘poorly structured,’ making it ‘[im]possible to know whether the jury reached a . . . unanimous verdict. ’” State v. Fair , 469 N.J. Super. 538 , 54 1 (App. Div. 2021) (alteration in original). The Appellate Division reversed and remanded, agree ing with defendant that the “reckless disregard” portion of N.J.S.A. 2 C:12-3(a) is “facially invalid.” Id. at 548. According to the Appellate Division, in order to comply with the First Amendment, a prosecution for true th reats “requires proof that a speaker specifically intended to terrorize. ” Ibid. The Appellate Division relied

on the United States Supreme Court’s statement in Virgi nia v. Black that “‘[t]rue threats’ encompass those statements where the speaker means to12

communicate a serious expression of an intent to co mmit an act of unlawful violence to a particular individual or group of ind ividuals.” 538 U.S. 343, 359 (2003) (quoting Watts v. United States, 394 U.S. 70 5, 708 (1969)) ; Fair, 469 N.J. Super. at 550

. The court also agreed with defendant that “[w]ithou t an instruction that would have made . . . clear to the jury” that they needed to be unanimous on whether defendant violated N.J.S.A. 2C:12-3(a), (b) , or both, “we can have no confidence that the jury did not produce an impermi ssibly fragmented verdict.” Fair, 469 N.J. Super. at 558. When the jury asked if both (a) and (b) had to be proven beyond a reasonable doubt, or if it could be just one or the other, “[t]h e judge should have explained, for example, that a gu ilty verdict could not be rendered if only some of the jurors found a violati on of subsection (a) but not (b), and the others found a violation of subsection (b) but not (a). ” Id. at 556. The Appellate Division therefore dismissed the port ion of the indictment that charged defendant with acting “in reckless disr egard of the risk of causing” terror under N.J.S.A. 2C:12-3(a) and reman ded for a new trial on the remainder of the indictment. Id. at 558. The State filed a notice of appeal as of right to t his Court, pursuant to
Rule 2:2 -l(a)(l), based on a substantial question “arising under the Constitution13

of the United States or this State.” Defendant moved to dismiss the appeal

. We denied defendant’s motion to dismiss and ordered th e appeal to proceed.
We also granted leave to the Attorney General, the America n Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey (ACLU), and the Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers of New Jersey (ACDL) to appear as amici cur iae. While the State’s appeal was pending, the Supreme Court decided
Counterman v. Colorado , which establishes the federal constitutional requirements for a true threats prosecution. 600 U.S. 66 (2023).
II. The State maintains that N.J.S.A. 2C:12-3(a) is con stitutional because Counterman “clarified that true threats are not pro tected under the First Amendment if they are communicated with a mens rea of recklessness.” According to the State, “[d]efendant was not prosec uted for expressing any socalled political opinions. He was prosecuted for t hreatening to shoot Officer Healey in the head.” That threat was not protected by the First Amendment under Counterman, and this Court should not “afford greater protection to true threats under the New Jersey Constitution than that which is afforded under the First Amendment,” the State contends. The State als o argues that “[t]here was no need for a specific unanimity instruction as to the particular subsection of14

the statute that was violated, or the particular fa ctual predicate for a finding of guilt, especially in the absence of a request for e ither type of instruction.” The Attorney General agrees with the State that Cou nterman controls the First Amendment inquiry, and that there are no soun d reasons to depart from that rule under the New Jersey Constitution. Accor ding to the Attorney General, defendant was not engaged in “political sp eech,” and in any event, any rule varying the mens rea depending on whether the threat involved political speech would be both “unworkable” and unjustified in light of the speech-protective safeguards built into Counterman. Defendant contends that Counterman did not resolve the First Amendment question in this case because while the s peech in Counterman involved interpersonal stalking, defendant’s statem ents amounted to “political dissent . . . about his government’s criminal justi ce policies.” According to defendant, because political speech has more First Amendment value than interpersonal harassment , it is “not too much to require the government to prove that a protesting speaker intended to make a threat before it can imprison its critic.” Defendant further maintains tha t the “more protective” New Jersey Constitution should be interpreted more broadly tha n the First Amendment to require a specific intent to threaten. Defendant also asks us to affirm the15

Appellate Division’s “well-reasoned and unexception able application of the relevant case law” on unanimity. Because of the way the verdict sheet was phrased, according to defendant, it is impossible t o know if all twelve jurors found him guilty of violating N.J.S.A. 2C:12-3(a), (b), or both. The ACLU argues that there “can be no clearer exampl e of political protest and advocacy” than defendant’s speech in th is case

. It also contends that we should interpret our State Constitution to require “specific intent to place the victim in fear of bodily harm” in all tru e threats cases. The ACDL agrees that our Stat e Constitution “require[s] a higher mens rea than recklessness” in a prosecution for true th reats. As a fallback, the ACDL advocates for “at [] least . . . a more exacti ng standard of recklessness.” The ACDL also argues that a specific unanimity instr uction was required here because N.J.S.A. 2C:12-3(a) and (b) “are not merely different means of committing the crime of terroristic threats, but se parate theories of guilt based upon different acts and different evidence.”
III.
A. We review the constitutionality of a statute de nov o , owing no deference to the Appellate Division in deciding a question of law. State v. Pomianek ,16

221 N.J. 66, 80 (2015). Where the Supreme Court has pronounced th e relevant
standard under the Unite d States Constitution, “we are bound to follow it as the minimal amount of constitutional protection to be provided.” State v.
Adkins , 221 N.J. 300, 313 (2015). The New Jersey Constitution may of course provide protections beyond the federal minimum. See, e.g. , State v. Schmid , 84 N.J. 535, 557 (1980).
B.
1. The First Amendment to the United States Constituti on, made applicable to the states by the Fourteenth Amendment, provides that “Congress shall make no law . . . abridging the freedom of speech.” U.S. Const. amend. I ; Janus v. Am. Fed’n of State, Cnty., & Mun. Emps., C ouncil 31 , 585 U.S. ___, 138 S. Ct. 2448, 2463 (2018). But “[t]rue threats of violence . . . lie outside t he bounds of the First Amendment’s protection.” Counterman , 600 U.S. at 72. The canonical case setting forth the doctrine of “true threats” is Watts v. United States. In Watts , the petitioner attended a rally on the Washington Mo nument grounds. 394 U.S. at 706. During a small-group discussion about police brutality, the petitioner stated that he had received a draft clas sification of 1-A and was17

supposed to report for a physical, but “‘I am not g oing. If they ever make me carry a rifle the first man I want to get in my sig hts is L.B.J.’ ‘They are not going to make me kill my black brothers.’” I bi d. The petitioner and the crowd then laughed. Id. at 707. The petitioner was convicted of violating 18 U.S.C. § 871(a), which prohibited any person from “knowingly and willfully . . . [making] any threat to take the life of or to inflict bodily harm upon the President of the United States.” Id. at 705 (alteration and omission in or iginal). The Supreme Court held that the statute was “[c]ertainly . . . consti tutional on its face” but reversed petitioner’s conviction because he had not made any true threat to harm the President. Id. at 707. As the Court expl ained, a statute which criminalizes “a form of pure speech” must, consiste nt with the “commands of the First Amendment,” distinguish between actual th reats of violence and constitutionally protected speech. Ibid. Because petitioner’s statement, “[t]aken in context,” did not truly threaten to kil l President Johnson and was instead only a “very crude offensive method of stat ing a political opposition to the President,” the Supreme Court reversed the conv iction. Id. at 708.18

Under Watts, a person ma y be convicted of a true threat only if their speech, when taken in context, actually threatens v iolence. “[P]olitical hyperbole” is simply not a “true ‘threat.’” Ibid. In several subsequent decisions, the Supreme Court discussed, but did

not definitively determine, what mens rea is required f or a true threats prosecution under the First Amendment

. In Black , the Court explained that “‘[t]rue threats’ encompass t hose statements where the speaker means to communicate a serious expression of an intent to commit an act of unlawful violence to a p articular” person or group of people. 538 U.S. at 359. The Court went on: “The speaker need not ac tually intend to carry out the threat. Rather, a prohibit ion on true threats ‘protects individuals from the fear of violence ’ and ‘from the disruption that fear engenders,’ in addition to protecting people ‘from the possibility that the threatened violence will occur.’” Id. at 359- 60 (quoting R.A. V. v. City of St. Paul, 505 U.S. 377, 388 (1992)). Black struck down a portion of a Virginia statute that prohibited cross burning with “intent to intimidate a person or group of persons” and provided that any cross burni ng would itself “be prima facie evidence” of such intent. Id. at 3 47

- 48 (quoting Va. Code Ann. § 18.2- 423). A plurality of the Court explained that the prima facie provision was19

unconstitutional because it allowed the state to co nvict a defendant not only for a cross burned on a person’s front yard to inti midate or threaten, but also for a cross burned at a public rally as “a statemen t of ideology” or “symbol of group solidarity.” Id. at 364-67. Similarly, in Elonis v. United States , the Court reasoned that criminal conduct requires “awareness of some wrongdoing,” bu t interpret ed a federal statute that prohibited transmitting “any threat to injure the person of another” through interstate commerce to include a knowing or purposeful mental state. 575 U.S. 723, 738-4 0 (2015). The Court expressly declin ed to address whether a mens rea of recklessness would suffice for a true threats prosecution under the First Amendment. Id. at 740- 42

. The Supreme Court conclusively answered the questio n in Counterman , holding that a true threats prosecution “requires proof that the defendant had some subjective understanding of the threatening na ture of his statements,” but that a “specific intent to threaten the victim” is not required

. 600 U.S. at 69,
73. Instead, a mental state of recklessness “is enough. ” Id. at 73. Counterman reiterated that true threats of violence must be objectively threatening to a reasonable observer when taken in context. As the Court explained, the word “true” “distinguishes what is a t issue from jests,20

hyperbole, or other statements that when taken in c ontext do not convey a real possibility that violence will follow (say, ‘I am going to kill you for showing up late’).” Id. at 74 (internal quotation marks om itted and emphasis added ). In other words, a court must consider “what the sta tement conveys” to the victim before deciding if a threat is objectively “ true.” Ibid. But the Court held that in addition to this objecti ve component, the defendant must also have a subjective mental state in order for a true threats prosecution to comport with the First Amendment

. I d. at 73

. After reviewing the mens rea requirements for some other forms of h istorically unprotected speech

-- recklessness for defamation and purpose or knowled ge for incitement and obscenity

-- the Court concluded that recklessness was the corr ect mens

rea to require for true threats. Id. at 78 -82

. The Court reasoned that it would make little sense to “offer greater insulation” to true threats of violence than to def amatory statements. Id. at 80. First, the societal interests in preventing threats of violence are at least as strong as the societal interests in preventing “tru thful reputation-damaging statements about public officials.” Id. at 80- 81 . Second, any “protected speech near the borderline” of a true threat of vio lence against another person21

is “further from the First Amendment’s central conc erns” than protected speech approaching defamation of a public official

. Id. at 81. Acknowledging that a mental state of purpose or kno wledge is required for incitement, the Court held it is not necessary for true threats of violence. Ibid. The Court explained that although prosecutions for “incitement to disorder [are] commonly a hair’s-breadth away from political ‘advocacy’

-- and particularly from strong protests against the g overnment and prevailing social order,” the same is not true for prosecution s for threatening actual violence against a specific person or group of peop le. Ibid. (quoting Brandenburg v. Ohio, 395 U.S. 444, 447 (1969)).
2. Article I, Paragraph 6 of the New Jersey Constituti on provides that

“ [e] very person may freely speak, write and publish his sentiments on all subjects, being responsible for the abuse of that r ight. No law shall be passed to restrain or abridge the liberty of speech or of the press.” In setting forth “an affirmative right” to free spe ech, t he first sentence of Article I, Paragraph 6 goes beyond the text of the First Amendment, and is

“ broader than practically all other []” free speech clauses “ in the nation. ” Green Party v. Hartz Mountain Indus., Inc., 164 N.J . 127, 145 (2000)

.22

Although we often interpret Article I, Paragraph 6 as being “co -extensive with the First Amendment,” and allow “federal constitutional principles [to] guide [o ur] analysis, ” E & J Equities, Ltd. Liab. Co. v. Bd. of Adjustment of Franklin, 226 N.J. 549, 568 (2016) , i n certain contexts we have held that our State Constitution’s free speech clause provides “ greater protection than the
First Amendment. ” Mazdabrook Commons Homeowners’ Ass’n v. Khan , 210 N.J. 482, 492 (2012).
C. Both the United States and the New Jersey Constitut ions require jurors
to reach a unanimous verdict in a criminal case. U .S. Const. amends. VI, XIV; N.J. Const. art. I, ¶ 9; see Ramos v. Louisiana , 590 U.S. ___, 140 S. Ct. 1390, 1397 (2020); State v. Parker, 124 N.J. 628, 633 (19 91) ; s ee also R. 1:8 -9. Unanimity generally requires that jurors “‘ be in substantial agreement as to just what a defendant did ’ before determining his or her guilt or innocence.” State v. Frisby, 174 N.J. 583, 596 (2002) (quoting United States v. Gipson, 553 F.2d 453, 457 (5th Cir. 1977)). Jurors must unanim ously agree that the defendant committed “ every element of the crime with which he is charged , beyond a reasonable doubt” ; however, they need not unanimously agree as to “which of several possible se ts of underlying brute facts make up a particular23

element, or which of several possible means the def endant used to commit an element of the crime.” State v. Macchia, 253 N.J. 232, 252- 53 (2023) (internal quotation marks and citations omitted ).
IV. A.
1. We substantially adopt the Counterman standard and hold that in a criminal prosecution for a true threat of violence under N.J.S.A. 2C:12-3(a), a mens rea of recklessness suffices for purposes of both the First Amendment to the United States Constitution and Article I, Parag raph 6 of the New Jersey Constitution. Under this standard, to be found guilty of a violat ion of N.J.S.A. 2C:12- 3(a), a defendant must have consciously disregarded a subst antial and unjustifiable risk that their threat to commit a crime of violence would terrorize another person, and that conscious disreg ard must be a gross deviation from the standard of conduct that a reaso nable person in a defendant’s situation would observe.
In the context of true threats, a mens rea of reckles sness is demanding. As the Court explained in Counterman, “[i]n the thr eats context,” a mens rea24

of recklessness “means that a speaker is aware ‘tha t others could regard his statements as’ threatening violence and ‘delivers t hem anyway.’” 600 U.S. at
79 (quoting Elonis, 575 U.S. at 746). Although it is not purposeful or knowing, “recklessness is morally culpable conduct, involving a ‘deliberate decision to endanger another.’” Ibid. (quoting Voi sine, 579 U.S. at 694). Indeed, “reckless defendants have done more than ma ke a bad mistake. They have consciously accepted a substantial risk of inf licting serious harm.” Id. at
80

. This understanding of recklessness for purposes of a true threats prosecution is generally consistent with, although more specific than, the general definition of recklessness in the Criminal Code, set forth in N.J.S.A. 2C:2-2(b)(3):

A person acts recklessly with respect to a material element of an offense when he consciously disregards a substantial and unjustifiable risk that the materia l element exists or will result from his conduct. The risk must be of such a nature and degree that, consideri ng the nature and purpose of the actor’s conduct and t he circumstances known to him, its disregard involves a gross deviation from the standard of conduct that a reasonable person would observe in the actor’s situation.
But it requires more than the standard of recklessness co nveyed in the judge’s instructions to the jury in this case, whic h provided in part that “[o]ne25

is said to act recklessly if one acts . . . heedles sly, or foolhardily.” (emphasis added). That language, drawn from the relevant mod el charge, see Model Jury Charges (Criminal), “Terroristic Threats (N.J.S.A. 2C :12-3(a))” (rev. Sept. 12, 2016), is not consistent with the standard we annou nce today. With this understanding of recklessness as “morally culpable conduct” in the context of true threats, we agree that it is co nstitutionally sufficient for a prosecution of a threat of violence under N.J.S.A. 2C:12-3(a). We agree with Counterman that a mens rea of recklessness, so unde rstood, correctly balances the need to avoid chilling protected speech with th e need to protect individuals and society from the profound harms that threats of violence engender. Like Counterman, we see no reason to “offer greater insulation” to true threats of violence than to true statements made ab out public figures. 600 U.S.

at 80

. And like Counterman, we decline to impose incitemen t’s knowing or purposeful standard on true threats of violence und er N.J.S.A. 2C:12-3(a). While the context for an incitement charge is often “political advocacy” that can easily “bleed over . . . to dissenting politica l speech at the First Amendment’s core, ” id. at 81, that is not true for a threat of violence d irected against a specific individual.26

Defendant argues that a mens rea of recklessness co uld “fall short in prosecutions for abrasively criticizing officials in positions of power, who are often stand-ins for displeasure at the government” and “in prosecutions for civil rights advocacy, especially when such rallyin g for social change involves interactions with law enforcement officers, who are historically suspicious about the alleged threats posed by reform movement sympathizers .” Therefore, at least in prosecutions for “dissenting political speech at the First Amendment’s core,” defendant contends, like his spe ech in this case, the State must be held to a “strong intent requirement.” (qu oting Counterman , 600 U.S. at 81). We need not decide whether a different intent requir ement should apply to prosecutions under N.J.S.A. 2C:12-3(a) for disse nting political speech, because no such speech was prosecuted here

. As earlier noted, N.J.S.A. 2C:12-3(a) makes a perso n guilty of a crime only “if he threatens to commit any crime of violen ce with the purpose to terrorize another . . . or in reckless disregard of the risk of causing such terror.” It does not, on its face, criminalize political spe ech in the form of disparaging government officials, criticizing law enforcement, o r even condemning the government itself.27

And in this case, defendant was prosecuted for no such thing. He was prosecuted for threatening to shoot a police office r in the head. Defendant claims that he was prosecuted because he “engaged in a heated debate with an officer . . . and then spoke c ritically to his Facebook followers, about his government’s criminal justice policies.” Further, defendant submits, he was “punish[ed]” because he “ challenged [the] officers’ policies and called for reform,” while “protest[ing ] against the government and [ the ] prevailing social order.” That is incorrect. At trial, the State argued that defendant was guilty of terroristic threats when he said, “[w]orry about a head shot, [epithet].” And the State urged that the threat to kill Officer Heale y was given “weight,” “immediacy,” and “legitimacy” from defendant’s Apri l Facebook post that he still had his guns, and defendant’s comment on Facebook, made less than three hours after the threat, “I KNO WHT YU DRIVE & WHERE ALL YU MOTHERFU$KERS LIVE AT[.]” The State did not assert that defendant was guilty of violating N.J.S.A. 2C:12-3 because he told the police they were “causi ng too much chaos over here for nothing”; because he called Officer Healey “the f---ing devil”; or because he said that Officer Healey was “[a]lways tr ying to break somebody’s28

a -- .” Instead, the State repeatedly maintained that d efendant was guilty of terroristic threats because he threatened to shoot Officer Healey in the head. The same is true for defendant’s Facebook posts. D efendant was not prosecuted for writing “I hope they burn freehold d own!!!” or “im joinin ISIS. Lol.” He was not prosecuted for posting that it wa s time to contact the Reverend Al Sharpton, the Reverend Jesse Jackson, I nternal Affairs, or his lawyer. He was not prosecuted for berating the pol ice for disrespecting hi s mother and trying to keep him in the system with pe tty fines and complaints. And he was not prosecuted for writing “YU WILL PAY, WHOEVA HAD ANY
INVOLVEMENT. WASTIN TAX PAYERS MONEY!

... SO SAD BUT WE WILL HAVE THA LAST LAUGH! #JUSTWAITONIT[.]” Defen dant was prosecuted for threatening to shoot Officer Healey i n the head, and then concretizing the threat mere hours later with the w ords “I KNO WHT YU DRIVE & WHERE ALL YU MOTHERFU$KERS LIVE AT[.]” Quite simply, it is clear from the entirety of the trial tha t defendant was not prosecuted for “dissenting political speech.” He was prosecuted for threatening to shoot a police officer in the head. And defendant made this statement not at a politica l protest, march, demonstration, or rally, but when police responded to a domestic-violence call29

at his home. We therefore decline to consider whet her a mens rea other than recklessness would be required if the State attempt ed to prosecute “dissen ting political speech” as a true threat of violence unde r N.J.S.A. 2C:12-3(a). We also disagree with defendant that Watts would ha ve been decided differently under the recklessness standard we adopt today. Watts did not turn

on the defendant’s subjective mens rea. It turned on the objective component of a prosecution for true threats: whether the defendant’s words, taken in context, would be understood as threatening to a re asonable observer. Watts , 394 U.S. at 708. In holding that they would not, the United States Supreme Court looked at the “context” of the defendant’s st atement during a smallgroup discussion about police brutality at the Wash ington Monument, its conditional phrasing, and the reactions of others i n the group (laughter), and concluded that the defendant’s statement was “polit ical hyperbole” and not a true threat. Ibid

. Watts concluded that there was no true threat becau se the statement at issue was not objectively threatening; the defendant’s subjective mens rea did not come into play.
2. In addition to a subjective mens rea of at least re ckle ss ness, we hold that an objective component is necessary for a prosecuti on for a threat of violence30

under N.J.S.A. 2C:12-3(a) to survive First Amendmen t and Article I, Paragraph 6 scrutiny. On the objective element, we depart from Counterman and from the charge that the trial court provided to the jury in this case in one minor respect. The trial and appellate courts in Counterman had as sessed the threat under “an objective reasonable person standard,” requiring th e State to prove “that a reasonable person would have viewed the . . . messa ges as threatening.”
Counterman , 600 U.S. at 71 (emphasis added) (internal quotation mar ks and citations omitted). And the trial court here charged the jury that the t hreat “must be of such a nature as to convey menace or fe ar of a crime of violence to the ordinary person. It is not a violation of this statute if the threat expresses fleeting anger or was made merely to alarm.” (emph asis added). But we have previously held that for a prosecution under N.J.S.A. 2C:12-3(b), which requires that a threat be made “u nder circumstances reasonably causing the victim to believe the immedi acy of the threat and the likelihood that it will be carried out,” proof “mus t be measured by an objective standard” that must include consideration of “a [vi ctim’s] individual circumstances and background.” Cesare v. Cesare, 1 54 N.J. 394, 402-0 3 (1998) (emphasis added)

.31

Similarly, in H.E.S. v. J.C.S., we explained that t he “cause a reasonable person to fear” element in N.J.S.A. 2C:12-10(b), wh ich criminalizes domesticviolence stalking, requires consideration of “wheth er a reasonable person in [the victim’s] situation, knowing what [the victim knew about the defendant] under the totality of the circumstances, would have feared bodily injury as a result of [the defendant’s] alleged speech and cond uct.” 175 N.J. 309, 330 (2003) (emphasis added). Our interpretation was in keeping with the Legislature’s instruction in N.J.S.A. 2C:12-10(a)(4 ) that, “[a]s used in this act . . . ‘[c]ause a reasonable person to fear’ means to cause fear which a reasonable victim, similarly situated, would have under the ci rcumstances.” We therefore hold that the objective inquiry, in which the jury determines whether a reasonable person would have v iewed the defendant’s words as threatening violence, must be undertaken n ot from the perspective of an anonymous ordinary person, but from the perspect ive of a reasonable person similarly situated to the victim. As the In diana Supreme Court has explained, because “the particular facts and circum stances known to each victim are the very facts from which threatening im plications are generally drawn,” the objective element of a true threats pro secution must consider “whether it was objectively reasonable for the vict im to fear for their safety” in32

the context of their experiences with the perpetrat or. Brewington v. State, 7 N.E.3d 946, 969 (Ind. 2014) (requiring a “‘reasonab le victim’ test,” rather than a “reasonable person” test, in a true threats prose cution, to capture “what a reasonable person would perceive if similarly situa ted to the victim” (emphasis added)). This is another way of saying that context matters. Considering the perspective of one similarly situated to the victim , which entails consideration of prior interactions between the parties, protects against convictions for statements made in jest, political dissent, or angr y hyperbole, while allowing the State to prosecute true threats of violence tha t would instill fear of injury in a reasonable person in the victim’s position. The i nquiry in this case is thus not whether any ordinary person would have feared f or their safety, but whether a reasonable police officer in Officer Heale y’s position would have feared for their safety, given the entire interacti on with defendant.
3.
We thus remand for a new trial correctly charging the jury o n both the objective and subjective components of N.J.S.A. 2C: 12-3(a), consistent wit h this opinion.33

We also ask the Model Criminal Jury Charges Committe e to revise the model charge for N.J.S.A. 2C:12-3(a), both as to the subjective recklessness standard -- including by removing the terms “heedle ssly” and “foolhardily”

-- and the objective standard discussed herein.
B. On remand, the court should additionally charge the jury that it must agree unanimously on whether defendant violated N.J .S.A. 2C:12-3(a), (b), or both. The difference between an element of an offense and a means of committing an offense can be difficult to parse. The definition of “element” in the criminal code does not provide help: it define s “element” and “material element” to include different means or brute facts t hat would satisfy a single element of a crime. See N.J.S.A. 2C:1-14(h) (“‘Element of an offense’ me ans (1) such conduct or (2) such attendant circumstance s . . . as (a) Is included in the description of the forbidden conduct in the def inition of the offense; (b) Establishes the required kind of culpability . . . .”); N.J.S.A. 2C:1-14(i) (“‘Material element of an offense’ means an element that does not relate exclusively to the statute of limitations, jurisdic tion, venue or to any other ---34

matter similarly unconnected with (1) the harm or e vil, incident to conduct, sought to be prevented by the law defining the offen se . . . .”). As we explained in Macchia, if a statute required t he use of a deadly
weapon as a single element of a crime and provided that the element c ould be satisfied through use of a “‘k nife, gun, bat, or similar weapon, ’” then the use of a knife, gun, bat, or other weapon would be diffe rent types of “conduct” that would be “included in the description of the forbid den conduct in the definition of the offense,” and would “[e]stablish[] the required kind of culpability ”

-- making each fall within the statute’s definition o f “material element” in N.J.S.A. 2C:1-14(i). Macchia, 253 N.J. at 254 (quoting Mathis v. United States, 579 U.S. 500, 506 (2016) and N.J.S.A . 2C:1-14(h) and (i)). Yet the four weapons would undeniably be means of satis fying one single element of the crime: use of a deadly weapon. Here, it suffices to note that the terroristic threa ts statute, N.J.S.A. 2C:12-3, “does not identify an individual element o f which subsections [(a) and (b )] are mere examples,” but rather “lists in the disju nctive [two] separately enumerated, alternative” crimes of terro ristic threats. United States v. McCants, 952 F.3d 416, 426 (3d Cir. 2020) (analy zing N.J.S.A. 2C:15-1). That is clear from the plain text of the statute, w hich does not consist of one35

section setting forth a crime of terroristic threat s that can be satisfied through various alternative means, and instead sets forth t wo separate crimes of terroristic threats. See N.J.S.A. 2C:12-3 (“(a) A person is guilty of a crime of the third degree if he threatens to commit any crim e of violence with the purpose to terrorize another . . . or in reckless d isregard of the risk of causing such terror . . . . (b) A person is guilty of a cr ime of the third degree if he threatens to kill another with the purpose to put h im in imminent fear of death under circumstances reasonably causing the victim t o believe the immediacy of the threat and the likelihood that it will be carri ed out.”). Given the structure of the statute, we conclude that a jury must unanim ously agree as to whether a defendant is guilty of N.J.S.A. 2C:12-3(a), (b), or both, and must be so charged.
V. The judgment of the Appellate Division is affirmed i n part and reversed in part, and the matter is remanded to the trial co urt for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.

CHIEF JUSTICE RABNER and JUSTICES PATTERSON, SOLOMO N, PIERRE-LOUIS, FASCIALE, and NORIEGA join in JUSTICE WAINER APT ER’s opinion. ---