CJI2d[NY] Penal Law § 120.03(1) (Motor Vehicle)

The (specify) count is Vehicular Assault in the Second Degree.²

Under our law, a person is guilty of Vehicular Assault in the Second Degree when he or she operates a motor vehicle³

Select appropriate alternative(s):

while he or she has .08 of one per centum or more by weight of alcohol in his or her blood as shown by chemical analysis of his or her blood, breath, urine or saliva;⁴

or while he or she is in an intoxicated condition;⁵

or while his or her ability to operate such a motor vehicle is impaired by the use of a drug;⁶

or while his or her ability to operate such motor vehicle is impaired by the combined influence of drugs or of alcohol and any drug or drugs.⁷

and as a result of such intoxication [or impairment by the use of a drug or by the combined influence of drugs or of alcohol and any drug or drugs], operates such motor vehicle in a manner that causes serious physical injury to another person.⁸

The following term(s) used in that definition has/have a special meaning:

SERIOUS PHYSICAL INJURY means impairment of a person's physical condition which creates a substantial risk of death, or which causes death, or serious and protracted disfigurement, or protracted impairment of health or protracted loss or impairment of the function of any bodily organ.⁹

[The term DRUG includes (specify) .¹⁰]

[NOTE: Here, either add the appropriate Vehicle and Traffic Law § 1192 charge, or if that Vehicle and Traffic Law provision has been separately charged to the jury, cross-reference the applicability of that charge to this crime.]

Under our law, if the People prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant was operating a motor vehicle while unlawfully intoxicated [or impaired by the use of alcohol or a drug,

or by the combined influence of drugs or of alcohol and any drug or drugs¹¹] and while doing so caused serious physical injury to another person, then you may, but are not required to, infer that, as a result of such intoxication [or impairment by the use of alcohol or a drug or by the combined influence of drugs or of alcohol and any drug or drugs], the defendant operated the motor vehicle in a manner that caused such serious physical injury.¹²

In order for you to find the defendant guilty of this crime, the People are required to prove, from all the evidence in the case, beyond a reasonable doubt, both of the following two elements:

1. That on or about (date) , in the county of (county) , the defendant, (defendant's name) , operated a motor vehicle:

Select appropriate alternative(s):

while the defendant had .08 of one per centum or more by weight of alcohol in his/her blood as shown by chemical analysis of his/her blood, breath, urine or saliva;

or while the defendant was in an intoxicated condition;

or while the defendant's ability to operate such vehicle was impaired by the use of a drug;

or while the defendant’s ability to operate such motor vehicle is impaired by the combined influence of drugs or of alcohol and any drug or drugs; and

2. That as a result of such intoxication [or impairment by the use of alcohol or a drug or by the combined influence of drugs or of alcohol and any drug or drugs], the defendant operated the motor vehicle in a manner that caused serious physical injury to another person.

If you find the People have proven beyond a reasonable doubt both of those elements, you must find the defendant guilty of this crime.

If you find the People have not proven beyond a reasonable doubt either one or both of those elements, you must find the defendant not guilty of this crime.