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New Jersey Supreme Court/Amicus
Steven G. Sanders, Arseneault & Fassett
The ACLU-NJ joined the Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers of New Jersey (ACDLNJ) as amicus in this criminal law matter involving double jeopardy and due process. The defendant was convicted of second-degree assault. Under the No Early Release Act (NERA), if the offense included a finding of the defendant having caused serious bodily injury, there would be an enhanced sentence. The court was unable to determine in this case whether, in finding the defendant guilty of the second-degree offense, the jury found that he did cause serious bodily injury or simply attempted to cause serious bodily injury - but the judge gave the defendant the greater sentence anyway. On November 20, 2003, the New Jersey Supreme Court held that, if the State elects not to proceed to a new trial for a jury finding on the issue of whether defendant did cause serious bodily injury, the trial court must re-sentence the defendant without applying the heightened sentencing provisions of NERA. In the event that the State seeks to have the court impose an enhanced sentence, the court must try the NERA issue before a jury and the jury must determine, applying the beyond-a-reasonabledoubt standard, whether defendant attempted to, or actually did, cause serious bodily injury upon the victim during the commission of seconddegree aggravated assault.
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