Bill Text: NJ A4563 | 2012-2013 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Establishes "knockout game" assault as second-degree aggravated assault.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 2-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2013-12-16 - Introduced, Referred to Assembly Judiciary Committee [A4563 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2012-A4563-Introduced.html
Sponsored by:
Assemblyman JOSEPH CRYAN
District 20 (Union)
Assemblyman GORDON M. JOHNSON
District 37 (Bergen)
SYNOPSIS
Establishes "knockout game" assault as second-degree aggravated assault.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act concerning certain acts of aggravated assault, and supplementing chapter 12 of Title 2C of the New Jersey Statutes.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. A person is guilty of an aggravated assault for loss of consciousness if the person attempts to cause significant bodily injury to another or causes significant bodily injury purposely or knowingly by a single punch, kick, or other singular striking motion for the sole purpose of bringing about the loss of consciousness of that other person. An aggravated assault for loss of consciousness described under this section is a crime of the second degree.
2. This act shall take effect immediately.
STATEMENT
This bill would establish a "knockout game" assault as a form of aggravated assault, described as an aggravated assault for loss of consciousness, and graded as a crime of the second degree. A second-degree aggravated assault is ordinarily punishable by a term of imprisonment of five to 10 years, a fine of up to $150,000, or both.
Causing a person to lose consciousness represents a "significant bodily injury" to that person, see N.J.S.2C:11-1, and attempting or causing such injury is already subject to prosecution as a third-degree aggravated assault under N.J.S.2C:12-1 (imprisonment of three to five years, fine of up to $15,000, or both). However, due to the heinous nature of a "knockout game" assault, in which a person attempts to cause or causes a victim to lose consciousness by a single punch, kick, or other singular striking motion, done with no purpose other than to bring about the victim's loss of consciousness, the bill would treat such an act as a more serious crime of the second degree.
