State v. Vawter

The opinion of the Court was delivered by

CLIFFORD, J.

Defendants are charged with violations of N.J.S.A 2C:33-10 (Section 10) and -11 (Section 11), New Jersey’s so-called hate-crime statutes. They contend that the statutes are unconstitutional under the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution. The trial court denied defendants’ motion to dismiss the indictment, and the Appellate Division granted leave to appeal. We granted defendants’ motion for direct certification, 133 N.J. 407, 627 A.2d 1123 (1993). Following, as we must, the United States Supreme Court’s decision…