Hudson County Criminal Lawyer Blog
The New Jersey Supreme Court issued a unanimous decision in State v. Thomas J. DiNapoli that carries significant implications for how vehicular homicide cases are litigated across the state. At its core, the Court held that a defendant charged with vehicular homicide has the right to present expert testimony challenging the State’s theory of causation under prong one of N.J.S.A. 2C:2-3(c), even when that testimony does not directly rebut “but for” causation. The Court also held that no preliminary N.J.R.E. 104 hearing is required to determine the admissibility of such expert opinions. For criminal defense attorneys and prosecutors working in Hudson, Essex, Union, Passaic, and counties throughout New Jersey, the decision reshapes how causation defenses are built, disclosed, and presented at trial.
On the afternoon of June 4, 2019, Thomas DiNapoli was driving in Union Township when his vehicle crossed the double yellow lines and struck an oncoming car. The front-seat passenger was ninety-four years old and suffering from dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. She was transported to the hospital with rib and patella fractures and lung contusions. The following day, her family opted for palliative care given her overall condition, and she died later that afternoon. DiNapoli, who had taken his prescribed medication Clonazepam in excess of a normal therapeutic dosage before driving, was charged with second-degree vehicular homicide. The autopsy listed the cause of death as blunt impact injuries sustained in the collision.
To contest the State’s theory that his reckless driving caused the front-seat passenger’s death, DiNapoli proffered three experts who concluded that the injuries were not life-threatening and that she would have recovered from the accident had her family not elected palliative care. In their view, the actual cause of death was respiratory depression brought on by the narcotic medications administered as part of hospice treatment, not the trauma from the crash. The State moved to bar all three experts, and after a procedural history that included a mistrial, the Appellate Division sided with the State and remanded the matter for an N.J.R.E. 104 hearing to resolve what it saw as troubling inconsistencies among the defense experts’ reports. The Supreme Court granted leave to appeal and reversed.