Upgrades strict liability vehicular homicide to crime of second degree.

S3304

SENATE, No. 3304

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

222nd LEGISLATURE

�

INTRODUCED FEBRUARY 2, 2026

Sponsored by:

Senator� KRISTIN M. CORRADO

District 40 (Bergen, Essex and Passaic)

Co-Sponsored by:

Senator Henry

SYNOPSIS

���� Upgrades strict liability vehicular homicide to crime
of second degree.

CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT

���� As introduced.

��

An Act

upgrading the crime of strict liability
vehicular homicide and amending P.L.2017, c.165.�

����
Be It
Enacted
by the Senate and General Assembly of
the State of New Jersey:

���� 1. �� Section 1 of P.L.2017,
c.165 (C.2C:11-5.3) is amended to read as follows:

���� 1.� a.� Criminal homicide
constitutes strict liability vehicular homicide when it is caused by driving a
vehicle while intoxicated in violation of R.S.39:4-50 or operating a vessel
under the influence of alcohol or drugs in violation of section 3 of P.L.1952,
c.157 (C.12:7-46).�

���� b.��� Strict liability
vehicular homicide is a crime of the
[
third
]

second

degree, but the presumption of nonimprisonment set forth in subsection e. of
N.J.S.2C:44-1 shall not apply.�

���� c.���� The provisions of
N.J.S.2C:2-3 governing the causal relationship between conduct and result shall
not apply in a prosecution under this section.� For purposes of this offense,
the defendant's act of operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated in violation
of R.S.39:4-50 or operating a vessel under the influence of alcohol or drugs in
violation of section 3 of P.L.1952, c.157 (C.12:7-46) is the cause of death
when:

���� (1)�� The operation of the
motor vehicle or vessel is an antecedent but for which the death would not have
occurred; and

���� (2)�� The death was not:

���� (a)�� too remote in its
occurrence as to have a just bearing on the defendant's liability; or

���� (b)�� too dependent upon the
conduct of another person which was unrelated to the defendant's operation of a
motor vehicle or vessel as to have a just bearing on the defendant's liability.

���� d.��� It shall not be a
defense to a prosecution under this section that the decedent contributed to
his own death by reckless or negligent conduct or operation of a motor vehicle
or vessel.

���� e.���� Nothing in this section
shall be deemed to preclude, if the evidence so warrants, an indictment and
conviction for any other offense.

(cf: P.L.2017, c.165, s.1)

���� 2.��� This act shall take
effect immediately.

STATEMENT

���� This bill upgrades the crime
of strict liability vehicular homicide from a crime of third degree to a crime
of the second degree.� Strict liability vehicular homicide is a criminal
homicide when it is caused by driving a vehicle while intoxicated in violation of
N.J.S.A.39:4-50 or operating a vessel under the influence of alcohol or drugs in
violation of N.J.S.A.12:7-46.�

���� Upgrading this crime to a
crime of the second degree would bring the penalty for strict liability
vehicular homicide in line with the penalties for reckless vehicular homicide,
knowingly leaving the scene of an accident that results in the death of another,
and knowingly leaving the scene of a boating accident that results in the death
of another, which are crimes of the second degree.�

���� The penalty for a crime of the
third degree is three to five years imprisonment, a fine of up to $15,000, or
both.� The penalty for a crime of the second degree is five to ten years
imprisonment, a fine of up to $150,000, or both.�