5-21-08 A-3771-04T4
1. Where the jury's repeated questions indicated confusion about the requisite mental state for vehicular homicide, it was not sufficient for the trial court to re-charge the jury on recklessness. Rather, the trial court should have compared recklessness with negligence, in light of the jury's questions. Denial of defendant's request to charge negligence in response to the jury's questions was reversible error.
2. It was reversible error for the trial court to preclude a defendant from cross-examining the State's expert on the coefficient of friction, a factor the expert testified was critical in formulating his opinion on the speed of defendant's vehicle at the time of the accident.
3. The trial court committed plain error when it failed to strike and give a curative instruction for the prosecutor's repeated remarks that overstepped the bounds of propriety and deprived defendant of a fair trial.
4. The trial court's denial of defendant's application to argue negligence in summation under the circumstances of this case contributed to cumulative error.
5. In a vehicular homicide case where there is evidence that defendant may have been impaired by the use of alcohol, but no evidence that he was driving while intoxicated (DWI) under the statutory standard of N.J.S.A. 39:4-50, the trial court should instruct the jury on the blood alcohol concentration (BAC) required for a per se DWI.
