WITNESS TAMPERING—TAMPERING WITH WITNESSES AND INFORMANTS—N.J.S.A. 2C:28-5
You’ve been charged with first degree armed robbery. You realize that the victim is the State’s only witness and that if he or she were to not appear in court you would likely not be convicted and thereby avoid a hefty twenty (20) years of jail time. So, you hire Vinnie “the chin” to pay the victim a visit, to “persuade” the victim (by any means necessary) not to appear at trial. Have you just committed another indictable offense?
a. Tampering. A person commits an offense if, believing that an official proceeding or investigation is pending or about to be instituted, he knowingly attempts to induce or otherwise cause a witness or informant to:
(1) Testify or inform falsely;
(2) Withhold any testimony, information, document or thing;
(3) Elude legal process summoning him to testify or supply evidence; or
(4) Absent himself from any proceeding or investigation to which he has been legally summoned.
The offense is a crime of the second degree if the actor employs force or threat of force. Otherwise it is a crime of the third degree. Privileged communications may not be used as evidence in any prosecution for violations of paragraphs (2), (3), (4).
b. Retaliation against witness or informant. A person commits a crime of the
fourth degree if he harms another by an unlawful act with purpose to retaliate for
or on account of the service of another as a witness or informant.
c. Witness or informant taking bribe. A person commits a crime of the third degree if he solicits, accepts or agrees to accept any benefit in consideration of his doing any of the things specified in subsection a.(1) through (4) of this section.
The answer is YES. You’ve just committed a second degree crime if Vinny “the chin” had to use force to persuade the victim not to appear as subpoenaed. If you are charged with witness tampering you should know that if convicted you have exposure to monetary fines of up to $150,000.00, plus the imposition of jail time for a minimum of five (5) years and a maximum of ten (10) years, plus a criminal record, N.J.S.A. 2C:43-3(a), especially if you caused force or threat of force to be employed.
This is nothing to mess around with. You should retain a skilled and experienced attorney at your earliest convenience to get the charges downgraded or obtain an acquittal.
