State v. Cameron

The opinion of the Court was delivered by

CLIFFORD, J.

This appeal presents a narrow, but important, issue concerning the role that a defendant’s voluntary intoxication plays in a criminal prosecution. The specific question is whether the evidence was sufficient to require the trial court to charge the jury on defendant’s intoxication, as defendant requested. The Appellate Division reversed defendant’s convictions, holding that it was error not to have given an intoxication charge. We granted the State’s petition for certification, 99 N.J. 200 (1984), and defendant’s cross-petition, 101 N.J.…