State v. Sloane

The opinion of the Court was delivered by

O’HERN, J.

The pivotal issue in this criminal appeal is whether the jury should have been permitted to consider whether the victim’s stab wound was a “bodily injury,” as defined under N.J.S.A. 2C:11-1a, in contrast to a “serious bodily injury,” as defined under N.J.S.A. 2C:11-1b. Before us, the State conceded that under N.J.S.A. 2C:1 — 8d(3), if the stab wound could have been found to be a bodily injury, then the Code would permit a jury charge on the third-degree aggravated assault offense of purposely or knowingly causing bodily injury with a deadly…