FAILURE TO REPORT A DEATH OF A PERSON
N.J.S.A.
52:17B-89—CAYLEE’S LAW
(Effective January 5, 2012)model jury charge
Count
(INSERT) of the Indictment charges the defendant with the crime of failing to
report a death. (Read Indictment). The statute on which this count of the
Indictment is based reads in pertinent part:
Any person who may
become aware of any death by criminal violence, by accident or suicide, or in
any suspicious or unusual manner who knowingly neglects or refuses to report
that death to the office of county medical examiner, the office of State
Medical Examiner, or to the police department of the municipality in which the
person died is guilty of a crime.
In order for you
to find the defendant guilty of this offense, the State must prove beyond a
reasonable doubt:
1.
That the death of __________ (insert deceased’s name)
was by criminal
violence, by accident or suicide, or in
any suspicious or unusual manner;
2.
That the defendant became aware of the death of
__________ (insert
deceased’s name);
3.
That the defendant knowingly neglected or refused to
report that death to the office of county medical examiner, the office of State
Medical Examiner, or to the police department of the municipality in which
_________ (insert deceased’s name) died.[1]
The
first element that the State must prove beyond a reasonable doubt is that the
defendant became aware of the death of __________ (insert deceased’s name) and
that the death was by criminal violence, by accident or suicide, or in any
suspicious or unusual manner.
The second element the State must
prove beyond a reasonable doubt is that the defendant knowingly neglected or
refused to report that death to the office of county medical examiner, the
office of State Medical Examiner, or to the police department of the
municipality in which _________ (insert deceased’s name) died.
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.
Knowledge
is a condition of the mind. It cannot be
seen. It can only be determined by
inferences from defendant’s conduct, words or acts. A state of mind is rarely susceptible of direct
proof but must ordinarily be inferred from the facts. Therefore, it is not necessary that the State
produce witnesses to testify that an accused said that he/she
had a certain state of mind when he/she
engaged in a particular act. It is within your power to find that such proof
has been furnished beyond a reasonable doubt by inference, which may arise from
the nature of his/her acts and conduct, and from all he/she
said and did at the particular time and place, and from all surrounding
circumstances established by the evidence.
If
you find that the State has proved each element of the offense beyond a
reasonable doubt, then you must find the defendant guilty.
If
you find that the State has failed to prove any element of the offense beyond a
reasonable doubt, then you must find the defendant not guilty.
