(N.J.S.A. 2C:17-2d)
Count of the indictment charges the defendant with knowingly or recklessly failing to take reasonable measures to prevent or mitigate widespread injury or damage in violation of a statute which provides as follows:
A person who knowingly or recklessly fails to take reasonable measures to prevent or mitigate widespread injury or damage commits a crime . . .if:
(1) He knows that he is under an official, contractual or other legal duty to take such measures; or
(2) He did or assented to the act causing or threatening the injury or damage.
In order for the defendant to be found guilty of knowingly or recklessly failing to take reasonable measures to prevent or mitigate widespread injury or damage, the State must prove the following elements beyond a reasonable doubt:
(1) that the defendant failed to take reasonable measures to prevent or mitigate widespread injury or damage; and
[CHOOSE THE APPROPRIATE SECOND ELEMENT]
(2) that defendant knew that he was under an official, contractual or other legal duty to take such measures; and
[OR]
(2) that defendant did or assented to the act causing or threatening the injury or damage; and
KNOWINGLY OR RECKLESSLY FAILING TO
TAKE REASONABLE MEASURES TO PREVENT
OR MITIGATE WIDESPREAD INJURY OR DAMAGE
(N.J.S.A. 2C:17-2d)
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(3) that the defendant acted [knowingly] [recklessly].
The first element the State must prove beyond a reasonable doubt is that the defendant failed to take reasonable measures to prevent or mitigate widespread injury or damage. The term “widespread injury or damage” means serious bodily injury to five or more people or damage to five or more habitations or to a building which would normally have contained 25 or more persons at the time of the offense. “Serious bodily injury” means bodily injury which creates a substantial risk of death or which causes serious, permanent disfigurement, or protracted loss or impairment of the function of any bodily member or organ.
The second element the State must prove beyond a reasonable doubt is [that the defendant knew that he was under an official, contractual or other legal duty to take such measures] [that the defendant did or assented to the act causing or threatening the injury or damage].
The third element the State must prove beyond a reasonable doubt is that the defendant acted knowingly or recklessly. A person acts knowingly with respect to the nature of (his/her) conduct or the attendant circumstances if (he/she) is aware that (his/her) conduct is of that nature, or that such circumstances exist, or (he/she) is aware of a high probability of their existence. A person acts knowingly with respect to a result of (his/her) conduct if (he/she) is aware that it is practically certain that (his/her) conduct will cause such a result.
A person acts recklessly with respect to the nature of (his/her) conduct or a result thereof when (he/she) consciously disregards a substantial and unjustifiable risk. The risk must be of such a nature and degree that, considering the nature and purpose of the actor’s conduct and the
KNOWINGLY OR RECKLESSLY FAILING TO
TAKE REASONABLE MEASURES TO PREVENT
OR MITIGATE WIDESPREAD INJURY OR DAMAGE
(N.J.S.A. 2C:17-2d)
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circumstances known to (him/her), its disregard involves a gross deviation from the standard of conduct that a reasonable person would observe in the actor’s situation.1
You must realize that knowledge and recklessness are states of mind which cannot be seen and can only be determined by drawing inferences from one’s conduct, words or actions, and from all of the surrounding circumstances. It therefore is not necessary that the State produce witnesses to testify that the defendant said that (he/she) was acting knowingly or recklessly. (His/Her) state of mind is to be determined by you after you examine (his/her) conduct and actions, all that was said or done at that particular time and place, and all the surrounding circumstances.
If the State has failed to prove any one or more of the elements as I have described them to you beyond a reasonable doubt, you must find the defendant not guilty of knowingly or recklessly failing to take reasonable measures to prevent or mitigate widespread injury or damage. If the State has proven each element beyond a reasonable doubt, you must find the defendant guilty of the crime of knowingly or recklessly failing to take reasonable measures to prevent or mitigate widespread injury or damage.
1 See N.J.S.A. 2C:2-2b(3).
