Court Opinion

ID: 9727579
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 13:43:54.672047+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:25:40.288697
License: Public Domain

WILENTZ, C.J.,
concurring in part, dissenting in part.
I dissent from the majority’s disposition of the guilt phase. Aggravated manslaughter should have been charged. As to the rest of the case, I concur and join in the majority opinion.
*550On the facts of this case, a jury could find that defendant, rather than intending death or knowing that death was practically certain, was motivated solely by a desperate desire to avoid apprehension. One could find that he shot the victim without intending to kill and without knowing that what he did was practically certain to result in the victim’s death. A state of mind does not necessarily precisely track the definitions of the Code. A defendant may be devoid of any state of mind concerning the victim other than the wish to escape the consequences of having committed a separate crime.
A fair inference from the facts of this case is that defendant acted as a result of panic. Panic, of course, can induce an act that defendant knows is practically certain to result in death; that it was caused by panic is no excuse. But panic can also induce a mindless act — unaware, uncaring, concerned solely for defendant’s survival, and totally unconcerned with the consequences to others. That state of mind — recklessness “manifesting extreme indifference to human life” — is the defining aspect of aggravated manslaughter under the Code. N.J.S.A. 2C:ll-4a. The facts in this case, though more strongly suggestive of a purposeful or knowing murder, may reasonably be taken to suggest that state of mind. The jury should have been allowed to decide the issue. See State v. Crisantos (Arriagas), 102 N.J. 265, 278 (1986) (“the rational-basis test of the Code imposes a low threshold ... for permitting a charge on a lesser-included offense”).