New Jersey Criminal Laws

2C:40-22     Penalty for causing death or injury while driving in violation of R.S.39:3-40.

2. a. A person who, while operating a motor vehicle in violation of R.S.39:3-40 or while the person's driver's license is suspended or revoked in any other State, the District of Columbia or the United States Territories of American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico or the Virgin Islands, or by another country, or without ever having been issued a driver's license by this or any other State, the District of Columbia or the United States Territories of American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico or the Virgin Islands, or by another country, is involved in a motor vehicle accident resulting in the death of another person, shall be guilty of a crime of the third degree, in addition to any other penalties applicable under R.S.39:3-40 or any other provision of law. Upon conviction, the person's driver's license or reciprocity privilege shall be suspended for an additional period of one year, in addition to any suspension applicable under R.S.39:3-40 and shall be consecutive to any existing suspension or revocation. If the person did not have a driver's license at the time the accident occurred, the person shall be disqualified from obtaining a driver's license in this State for a period of one year. The additional period of suspension, revocation or disqualification shall commence upon the completion of any term of imprisonment.

b. A person who, while operating a motor vehicle in violation of R.S.39:3-40 or while the person's driver's license is suspended or revoked in any other State, the District of Columbia or the United States Territories of American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico or the Virgin Islands, or by another country, or without ever having been issued a driver's license by this or any other State, the District of Columbia or the United States Territories of American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico or the Virgin Islands, or by another country, is involved in a motor vehicle accident resulting in serious bodily injury, as defined in N.J.S.2C:11-1, to another person shall be guilty of a crime of the fourth degree, in addition to any other penalties applicable under R.S.39:3-40 or any other provision of law. Upon conviction, the person's driver's license or reciprocity privilege shall be suspended for an additional period of one year, in addition to any suspension applicable under R.S.39:3-40, and shall be consecutive to any existing suspension or revocation. If the person did not have a driver's license at the time the motor vehicle accident occurred, the person shall be disqualified from obtaining a driver's license in this State for a period of one year. The additional period of suspension, revocation or disqualification shall commence upon the completion of any term of imprisonment.

c. The provisions of N.J.S.2C:2-3 governing the causal relationship between conduct and result shall not apply in a prosecution under this section. For purposes of this offense, the defendant's act of operating a motor vehicle while his driver's license or reciprocity privilege has been suspended or revoked or who operates a motor vehicle without being licensed to do so is the cause of death or injury when:

(1) The operation of the motor vehicle is an antecedent but for which the death or injury would not have occurred; and

(2) The death or injury was not:

(a) too remote in its occurrence as to have a just bearing on the defendant's liability; or

(b) too dependent upon the conduct of another person which was unrelated to the defendant's operation of a motor vehicle as to have a just bearing on the defendant's liability.

d. It shall not be a defense to a prosecution under this section that the decedent contributed to his own death or injury by reckless or negligent conduct or operation of a motor vehicle.

e. Nothing in this section shall be construed to preclude or limit any prosecution for homicide.

L.2001,c.213,s.2; amended 2005, c.230.

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