CREDIT CARD THEFT
N.J.S.A.
2C:21-6c(2) model jury charge
The defendant is charged with Credit
Card Theft. Specifically,
(Read Count of Indictment)
The applicable section of the
statute read as follows:
A person who received a credit card that he knows to
have been lost, mislaid, or delivered under a mistake as to the identity or
address of the cardholder, and who retains possession with intent to use it or
to sell it or to transfer it to a person other than the issuer or the
cardholder is guilty of a crime.
In order
for you to find the defendant guilty, the State must prove the following
elements beyond a reasonable doubt:
1. That the defendant received a credit card.
2. That at the time the defendant received the
credit card the defendant knew that it had been lost, mislaid, or delivered
under a mistake as to the identity or address of the cardholder and;
3. That the defendant retained possession of the
credit card with the intent to use it or to sell it or to transfer it to a
person other than the issuer or the cardholder.
The
first element that the State must prove beyond a reasonable doubt is that the
defendant received a credit card.
“To
receive” means acquiring possession or control or accepting a credit card as
security for a loan.
“Possession”
signified a knowing, intentional control of a designated thing, accompanied by
a knowledge of its character.
[Charge: Model Jury Charge on Possession]
“Credit
card” means any tangible or intangible instrument or device issued with or
without a fee by an issuer that can be used, alone or in connection with
another means of account access, in obtaining money, goods, services or
anything else of value on credit, including credit cards, credit plates,
account numbers, or any other means of account access.
“Issuer”
means the business organization or financial institution which issues a credit
card or its duly authorized agent.
Something is said to be “sold” when it is disposed of by sale. The term “transferred” means that something
is passed or handed over from one to another.
The
second element that the State must prove beyond a reasonable doubt is that at
the time the defendant received the credit card the defendant knew that it had
been lost, mislaid, or delivered under a mistake as to the identity or address
of the cardholder.
“Cardholder”
means the person or organization named on the face of a credit card to whom or
for whose benefit the credit card is issued by an issuer.
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 knowingly with respect to the nature of his/her conduct if he/she is aware that
his/her conduct is of that nature. “Knowing,”
“with knowledge” or equivalent terms have the same meaning.
Knowledge
is a condition of the mind which cannot be seen and can only be determined by
inferences from conduct, words or acts.
It is not necessary for the State to produce a witness or witnesses who
could testify that the defendant acted knowingly.
The
third element that the State must prove beyond a reasonable doubt is that the
defendant retained possession of the credit card with the intent to use it or
to sell it or to transfer it to a person other than the issuer or cardholder.
A person
acts “with intent” when he/she acts with purpose. A
person acts purposely with respect to the nature of his/her
conduct or a result thereof if it is his/her
conscious objective to engage in conduct of that nature or to cause such a
result. A person acts purposely with
respect to attendant circumstances if he/she is aware of the existence of such circumstances or believes or
hopes that they exist. One can be deemed
to be acting purposely if he/she acts with design, with a purpose, with a particular objective,
if the individual means to do what he/she does.
Purpose
is a condition of the mind which cannot be seen and can only be determined by
inferences from conduct, words, or acts.
It is not necessary for the State to produce a witness or witnesses who
could testify that defendant acted purposely.
If
the State has proven each element of this offense beyond a reasonable doubt
then you must find the defendant guilty of the charge of credit card theft.
If the
State has failed to prove any of the elements of this offense beyond a
reasonable doubt, then you must find the defendant not guilty of the charge of
credit card theft.