N.J.S.A.
2C:35-6 model jury charge
The
defendant(s) is (are) charged in count of the indictment with the crime of employing
a juvenile in a drug distribution scheme.
(HERE READ PERTINENT COUNT OF INDICTMENT)
That section of our statutes
provides in pertinent part that:
Any person being at least 18 years of age who
knowingly uses, solicits, directs, hires or employs a person 17 years of age or
younger to violate the maintaining or operating a drug production facility
statute [N.J.S.A. 2C:35-4[1]] or the
manufacturing, distributing or dispensing a controlled dangerous substance
statute [N.J.S.A. 2C:35-5a[2]] is
guilty of a crime.
In
order for you to find the defendant guilty of this offense, the State must
prove each of the following elements beyond a reasonable doubt:
(1) That the defendant was at least 18 years of
age;
(2) That the
defendant used, solicited, directed, hired or employed a juvenile to
commit or
aid in the commission of the crime;
(3) That the defendant acted knowingly; and
(4) That the
person used, solicited, directed or employed was in fact 17 years of age or
younger.
The
first element the State must prove beyond a reasonable doubt is that defendant
was at least 18 years old at the time he/she engaged in the conduct alleged in the indictment.
The
second element that the State must prove beyond a reasonable doubt is that the
defendant used, solicited, directed, hired or employed (name of juvenile) to
commit or aid in the commission of the crime described in count of the indictment. (Read pertinent part of N.J.S.A.
2C:35-4 or N.J.S.A. 2C:35-5a allegedly committed).[3] The mere fact that a juvenile and an adult
are involved in a transaction is insufficient to convict; rather, the State
must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant controlled the
juvenile.[4]
The
third element that the State must prove beyond a reasonable doubt is that
defendant acted knowingly. 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.
Since knowingly is a state of mind and cannot be seen and can only
rarely be determined by inference from conduct, words or acts, it is rarely
susceptible of direct proof. Therefore,
it is not necessary that witnesses be produced by the State to testify that a
defendant said that he/she knowingly did something. His/Her knowledge may
be gathered from his/her acts and his/her conduct and from all he/she said and did at the particular time and place and from all the
surrounding circumstances reflected in the testimony [and evidence adduced at
trial].
The
fourth element that the State must prove beyond a reasonable doubt is that the
person used, solicited, directed, hired or employed was in fact 17 years of age
or younger at the time. It is no defense
to a prosecution under this statute that the defendant mistakenly believed that
the person whom he/she used, solicited, directed, hired or employed was 18 years of age or
older even if that mistaken belief was reasonable.
If you
find that the State has proven beyond a reasonable doubt each of the four
elements, that is, that defendant was at least 18 years old, that he/she
used, solicited, directed, hired or employed (name of juvenile), that the (name
of juvenile) used, solicited, directed, hired or employed was 17 years old or
younger and that defendant acted knowingly, then you must convict him/her of employing a juvenile in a drug distribution scheme. If the State has failed to prove any of these
elements beyond a reasonable doubt, then you must find defendant not guilty.
[1] N.J.S.A. 2C:35-4 provides that
any person who knowingly maintains or operates any premises, place or facility
used for the manufacture of methamphetamine, LSD, phencyclidine or any
substance classified as a narcotic drug in Schedule I or II or the analog of
such a substance or knowingly aids, promotes, finances or otherwise
participates in the maintenance or operation of such premises, place or
facility is guilty of a crime.
[2] N.J.S.A. 2C:35-5a provides that
it is unlawful for any person knowingly or purposely to manufacture, distribute
or dispense or to possess or have under his/her control with intent to
manufacture, distribute or dispense, a controlled dangerous substance or analog
or to create, distribute or possess or have under his/her control with intent
to distribute a counterfeit controlled dangerous substance.
[3] If the court already has charged these
substantive offenses, then remind the jury of those definitions.