Teen Charged with Attempted Murder & Aggravated Assault Following Incident on Ocean City, New Jersey Boardwalk

Ocean City Police have charged a teenager with attempted murder, aggravated assault and possession of a weapon following an incident where he allegedly stabbed another male in the stomach on the boardwalk on the Ocean City Boardwalk over Memorial Day Weekend. 

The victim allegedly sustained non-life-threatening injuries but this does not mean that the attempted murder charge will not proceed to a grand jury indictment

What is Aggravated Assault?

When a person is charged with Aggravated Assault the prosecution must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant attempted to cause, or did cause, serious bodily injury. Serious bodily injury is defined as an injury that would create a substantial risk of death or that will cause serious, permanent disfigurement or a protracted loss or impairment of a function of any body organ. The prosecution must also establish beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant’s conduct was intentional, which means it was his or her “conscious object” or purpose to cause the serious bodily injury.

It is important to understand that the prosecution doesn’t need to prove an actual injury, but only that the defendant took an actual or “substantial” step in which it was his or her intent to cause a life threatening injury to the victim.

What is Attempted Murder

Attempted Murder, however, requires the prosecution to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant had a specific intent to kill, which means, he or she had fully formed intent to kill and was aware of that intention. The prosecution must also show, similar to Aggravated Assault (attempt) that the defendant took a substantial step toward the commission of the killing.

Mandatory Minimum Sentences – Violent Crimes in New Jersey

New Jersey, unlike Pennsylvania, maintains mandatory minimum sentencing laws for many crimes including felony offenses in the State.  The Garden State also has mandatory sentencing (42 months) for unlawful possession of handgun crimes under its Graves Act.  With that said, in New Jersey, a person typically has the possibility of parole after serving approximately one-third of the imposed sentence.  This is otherwise known as a “flat sentence”. 

What are NERA crimes in New Jersey? 

There are certain offenses in New Jersey however which are subject to No Early Release Act (NERA) penalties (2C:43-7.2).  These include the following violent felony crimes:

1.  Aggravated assault
2.  Robbery
3.  Burglary
4. Aggravated Manslaughter  
5. Manslaughter
6.  Carjacking
7.  Kidnapping
8.  Murder
9.  Vehicular homicide
10.  Extortion
11.  Aggravated arson
12.  Aggravated sexual assault
13.  Racketeering

What is a NERA mandatory minimum state prison term?

NERA offenses require that a Defendant who is convicted of any of the above offenses serve a minimum 85% of the term imposed before the possibility of parole.  The above stated crimes are crimes of the first and second degree in New Jersey where the maximum punishment ranges from 10 to 20 years.  This means that a person who is sentenced to a 10-year state prison term for a crime of the second degree (the maximum term) would not be eligible for parole until 8.5 years time had passed.  If a person was sentenced under a first-degree penalty where the maximum penalty is 20 years, he or she would have to serve approximately 17.5 years of state incarceration before being eligible for parole.  Keep in mind that New Jersey also has mandatory minimum sentencing under its Graves Act for all unlawful possession of handgun and firearm cases (2C:39-5.) 

These are mandatory minimums, and the Judge is not permitted to deviate from them pursuant to New Jersey criminal statute.  If a person were to negotiate a plea for a NERA offense, they would only be able to negotiate the top number and not the parole eligibility number. 

 NERA crimes are extremely serious in New Jersey and this is why you should explore the possibility of lower graded sentencing options (pled to a first, but sentence is a second) if there are no triable issues in your criminal case or no viable pre-trial Motions, including Motions to Suppress; Evidence due to a violation of your constitutional rights under the 4^th and 14^th Amendment to the United States Constitution and Article 1, Paragraph 7 of the New Jersey Constitution.

With any first or second degree offense in New Jersey, there is a presumption of state incarceration and therefore it is unlikely that convicted person would receive a non-custodial period of probation in these cases.

5 Year Period of Parole Supervision

NERA also requires that a convicted person serve a mandatory 5-year period of parole following release from state prison if convicted of a first-degree crime and a 3-year parole if convicted of a second-degree crime. 

Criminal Trial Options

Remember that there are two types of criminal trials—bench and jury. Never assume that because you are charged with either one of these serious crimes that it is better to proceed with a jury trial. Your criminal defense lawyer must discuss with you the advantages and disadvantages of a jury trial. While in many cases, a jury trial is the preferred method to address these types of criminal charges, it is critical that you question your attorney as to why its the better option.

For more information on criminal defense strategies I encourage you to keep reading my blog, subscribe to my monthly newsletter, or visit the free download section of the website.

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