Opinion ID: 2277244
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 14

Heading: Constitutionality of New Jersey's Capital Murder Scheme

Text: Defendant argues that the Death Penalty Act subjects him to cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the eighth and fourteenth amendments to the United States Constitution and article I, paragraph 1 of the New Jersey Constitution because the Act fails to provide for a manslaughter defense based on extreme emotional disturbance. We disagree. Although the drafters of the Model Penal Code recommended the inclusion of such an offense, which would be an intermediate crime between the second-degree offense of passion/provocation manslaughter and capital murder, the New Jersey Legislature rejected the recommendation. See State v. Grunow, 102 N.J. 133, 140 (1986). In reaching that decision, the Legislature was acting within its constitutional powers. See Ramseur, supra, 106 N.J. at 267-70. Evidence of extreme emotional disturbance, however, may be relevant to disproving that a homicide was knowing or purposeful and, on the penalty phase, to establishing a mitigating factor. N.J.S.A. 2C:11-3c(5)(a).