Submitted by New Jersey DWI Lawyer, Jeffrey Hark
Issue: Was the defendant driver able to give consent to the officer who provided New Jersey consent form to for the state to draw blood at a hospital without first obtaining a search warrant.
The issue boils down to: The level of the defendant’s mental/physical/ medical condition that must be demonstrated as proof of voluntary intoxication to negate an offense that requires “purposeful” or “knowing” conduct is a “prostration of faculties such that defendant was rendered incapable of forming an intent.”
State v. Cameron, 104 N.J. 42, 53-54 (1986). Notably, Cameron addresses the idea of “knowing” as an element of an offense and not for consent, however, this Court agrees with the State that the analysis in Cameron is relevant as it demonstrates the level of intoxication that is required in order to hold that defendant was unable to perform knowing or purposeful conduct.