AGGRAVATED ASSAULT - USE OF LASER SIGHTING
SYSTEM OR
DEVICE AGAINST LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER
(N.J.S.A. 2C:12-1b(11))
Count __________ of the indictment charges
the defendant with aggravated assault by use of
a laser sighting system or device against a law
enforcement officer.
(Read Count of Indictment)
The defendant is accused of violating a law that
provides as follows:
A person is guilty of aggravated assault if
he/she [u]ses or activates a laser sighting
system or device, or a system or device which,
in the manner used, would cause a reasonable
person to believe that it is a laser sighting
system or device, against a law enforcement
officer acting in the performance of his duties
while in uniform or exhibiting evidence of his
authority.
For you to find the defendant guilty of this
charge, the State must prove the following
elements beyond a reasonable doubt:
1. that the defendant knowingly used or
activated a laser sighting system or device, or
a device which, in the manner used, would cause
a reasonable person to believe that it is a
laser sighting system or device; and
2. that the defendant knowingly used the
laser sighting system or device, or a system or
device which, in the manner used, would cause a
reasonable person to believe that it is a laser
sighting system or device, against a person who
he/she knew was a law enforcement officer acting
in the performance of his/her duties while in
uniform or exhibiting evidence of his/her
authority.
The first element that the State must prove
beyond a reasonable doubt is that defendant
knowingly used or activated a laser sighting
system or device, or a device which, in the
manner used, would cause a reasonable person to
believe that it is a laser sighting system or
device.
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 if he/she is aware of a
high probability of their existence. A person
acts knowingly with respect to the 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
that cannot be seen and that can be determined
only by inferences from 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
the defendant’s acts and conduct, from all that
he/she said and did at the particular time and
place, and from all surrounding circumstances.
A “laser sighting system or device” means any
system or device that is integrated with or
affixed to a firearm and emits a laser light
beam that is used to assist in the sight
alignment or aiming of the firearm.
A laser sighting system or device also includes
a system or device which, in the manner used,
would cause a reasonable person to believe that
it is a laser sighting system or device.
[CHARGE IF APPROPRIATE]
The term firearm also includes devices in the nature
of an air gun,
spring gun or pistol or other weapon of a similar
nature in which the propelling force is a spring,
elastic band, carbon dioxide, compressed or other
gas or vapor, air or compressed air, or is ignited
by compressed air, and ejecting a bullet or missile
smaller than three-eighths of an inch in diameter,
with sufficient force to injure a person.
A "firearm" means any handgun, rifle, shotgun,
machine gun, automatic or semi-automatic rifle, or
any gun, device or instrument in the nature of a
weapon from which may be fired or ejected any solid
projectable ball, slug, pellet, missile or bullet,
or any gas, vapor or other noxious thing, by means
of a cartridge or shell or by the action of an
explosive or the igniting of flammable or explosive
substances.
The second element that the State must prove beyond
a reasonable doubt is that the defendant knowingly
used a laser sighting system or device or a system
or device which, in the manner used, would cause a
reasonable person to believe that it is a laser
sighting system or device against a person whom
he/she knew was a law enforcement officer acting in
the performance of his/her duties while in uniform
or exhibiting evidence of his/her authority.
Law enforcement officer means a person whose public
duties include the power to act as an officer for
the detection, apprehension, arrest and conviction
of offenders against the laws of this state.
If you find that the State has proven all the
elements of the offense beyond a reasonable doubt,
then you must find defendant guilty. If, however,
you find that the State has failed to prove any of
these elements beyond a reasonable doubt, then you
must find defendant not guilty.
Handgun means any pistol, revolver
or other firearm originally designed or
manufactured to be fired by the use of a
single hand. N.J.S.A. 2C:39-1k. The
handgun need not be presently operable.
State v. Gantt, 101 N.J. 573
(1986).
