Jersey Shore Criminal Defense New Jersey Criminal Defense Lawyer Nace Naumoski

Court Looks at Victim’s State of Mind in Stalking Case, Not at Defendant’s

On February 23, 2010, the New Jersey Supreme Court decided the case of State v. Gandhi, and held that New Jersey's anti-stalking statute, N.J.S.A. 2C:12-10 applies to anyone who purposefully or knowingly engages in a course of stalking conduct that would cause a reasonable victim to fear bodily injury or death, even if the defendant is operating under the motivation of an obsessed and disturbed love that purportedly obscures appreciation of the terror that his or her conduct would reasonably cause the victim.   Repeated violations of stalking laws can cause the offense to be elevated from a fourth degree crime to a third degree crime, which carries the possibility of a significant period of incarceration.  Therefore, anyone charged with stalking in New Jersey should contact a New Jersey criminal defense lawyer for assistance.

In this case, the defendant was convicted in Monmouth County of two counts of fourth degree stalking.  Because the defendant had stalked his victim in violation of no-contact orders, the stalking charges were raised to third degree charges under N.J.S.A. 2C:12-10(c).   This case stemmed from the defendant's obsessive attachment to a young woman who did not return his affection.  The defendant argued that the jury should have been explicitly required to find that defendant had a conscious object to induce, or at least an awareness that his conduct would induce fear of bodily injury or death to his victim.  This is significant because at trial the defendant argued that he was so infatuated by the victim that he did not perceive that his conduct would cause her to fear bodily injury or death.

The New Jersey Supreme Court, in rejecting the defendant's argument, held that the focus is not on whether the victim knew that his conduct would cause fear of bodily injury or death in the victim, but rather on how a reasonable victim would perceive the conduct.  If a reasonable victim would perceive the conduct as inducing a fear of bodily injury or death, the defendant can be convicted of stalking regardless of whether the defendant intended the conduct to cause fear of bodily injury or death. 

In this case, because the defendant had ignored multiple court orders forbidding him from any contact with the victim, the fourth degree stalking charges were elevated to third degree charges.  Third degree charges carry a potential term of imprisonment of between three and five years.  Stalking charges in New Jersey are taken very seriously.  Therefore, anyone accused of stalking in New Jersey should contact a New Jersey criminal defense lawyer immediately for assistance.