State v. Sisler

The opinion of the Court was delivered by

VERNIERO, J.

This case requires us to interpret the child-pornography provisions of New Jersey’s child-endangerment statute. Defendant allegedly printed a prohibited image from a computer for his sole personal use. The State charged defendant as a second-degree offender under N.J.S.A. 2C:24-4b(4), exposing him to a presumptive seven-year prison term. The narrow legal issue is whether the statute permits that charge as a matter of law. We hold that it does not.

*202I.

We briefly summarize the pertinent facts. Acting on information that an unidentified male was…