The
defendant is charged with the offense of riot.
The statute on which this charge is based reads in pertinent part as
follows:
A person is guilty of riot, . . . if he participates
with four or more others in a course of disorderly conduct
(1) With purpose to commit or facilitate the
commission of a crime;
or
(2) With purpose to prevent or coerce official
action;
or
(3) When he or any other
participant, known to him, uses or plans to use a firearm or other deadly
weapon.
Accordingly
you are to determine whether the State has proven to your satisfaction beyond a
reasonable doubt each of the following elements which make up this offense:
1. That the defendant participated with
four or more others in a course of disorderly conduct,
AND
(Choose applicable statutory
provision)
2(a) That the defendant acted in common with
the other participants with purpose to commit or facilitate the commission of a
crime,
OR
2(b) That the defendant acted in common with the
other participants with purpose to prevent or coerce official action,
OR
2(c) That the defendant or any other
participant, known to the defendant, used or planned to use a firearm or other
deadly weapon.
The
first element requires that the defendant participated with four or more others
in a course of disorderly conduct. As
here used the term "disorderly conduct" has a limited meaning and is
specifically defined in another section of the statute as follows:
A person engages in disorderly
conduct under this statute if with purpose to cause public inconvenience,
annoyance or alarm, or recklessly creating a risk thereof he
(1) Engages in fighting or threatening, or in
violent or tumultuous behavior,
OR
(2) Creates a hazardous or physically dangerous
condition by any act which serves no legitimate purpose of the participant.
"Recklessly"
here means that a person consciously disregards a substantial and unjustifiable
risk that his/her actions would cause public
inconvenience, annoyance or alarm. The
risk here involved must be of such a nature and degree that considering the
nature and purpose of the actor's conduct in the circumstances known
to him/her, its disregard involves a gross deviation from the standard of conduct
that a reasonable person would follow in the actor's situation.
(If element 2(a) is applicable)
The
second element requires that the defendant acted in common with the other
participants with purpose to commit or facilitate the commission of a crime. In this regard the State contends that the
defendant acted in common with purpose to commit (or facilitate the commission
of) the crime of
(Such crime should at this point be
defined)
A
person acts with purpose or purposely with respect to the nature of his/her conduct or result thereof if it is his/her conscious object to engage in
conduct of that nature or to cause such a result.
(If element 2(b) is applicable)
The
second element requires that the defendant acted in common with the other
participants with purpose to prevent or coerce official action. "Official action" here means any
act which may be performed by any government official within (his/her) official
capacity including any directive or order given by a peace officer or other
public servant employed in executing or enforcing the law.
A
person acts "with purpose" or "purposely" with respect to
the nature of his/her conduct or result thereof if it is his/her conscious object to engage in
conduct of that nature or to cause such a result.
(If element 2(c) is applicable)
The
second element requires that the defendant or any other participant known to
the defendant used or planned to use a firearm or other deadly weapon.
"Known"
here means simply to be aware of -- to have knowledge of the fact that a
participant, who is a person known to the defendant, has a firearm or other
deadly weapon and either has used or plans to use it in the course of the
disorderly conduct which I have previously defined.
(At
this point if applicable the term "firearm" should be defined. Firearm is defined under N.J.S.A. 2C:39-1f
and such portion of said definition as appropriate should be used.)
"Deadly
weapon" means a firearm or other weapon, device, instrument, material or
substance whether animate or inanimate, which in the manner it is used or is
intended to be used, is known to be capable of producing death or serious
bodily injury or in which the manner it is fashioned could lead the victim
reasonably to believe it to be capable of producing death or serious bodily
injury. "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 any bodily member or organ.
It
is the burden of the State to prove the elements of this offense beyond a
reasonable doubt. Should you find that
the State has met that burden and proved to your satisfaction each and all of
these elements beyond a reasonable doubt, then you should find the defendant
guilty of this offense. If you find that
the State has not met this burden and has failed to prove any one or more of
these elements beyond a reasonable doubt, then the defendant should be found
not guilty of this offense.