Wright v. New Jersey, 84-5060

• Decision Date: 14 January 1985
• Docket Number: No. 84-5060,84-5060
• Citation: 469 U.S. 1146,105 S.Ct. 890,83 L.Ed.2d 906
• Parties: Charles WRIGHT v. NEW JERSEY
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

469 U.S. 1146

105 S.Ct. 890

83 L.Ed.2d 906

Charles WRIGHT

v NEW JERSEY

No. 84-5060

Supreme Court of the United States

January 14, 1985

The appeal is dismissed for want of a substantial federal question.

Justice BRENNAN, with whom Justice MARSHALL joins, dissenting.

The appellant Charles Wright was convicted of possessing an "exacto" knife. Under New Jersey law, possession of this sort of object is entirely legal in most circumstances; possession becomes unlawful only "under circumstances not manifestly appropriate for such lawful uses as it may have." N.J.Stat.Ann. § 2C:39-5d (West 1982) (emphasis added).¹ As construed by the state courts, although this statute requires proof that the defendant "knowingly" possessed the object in question, there is no requirement that he have done so with any unlawful purpose.

The Supreme Court of New Jersey affirmed the constitutionality of § 2C:39-5d in this and a companion case, see State v. Wright, 96 N.J. 170, 475 A.2d 38 (1984); State v. Lee, 96 N.J. 156, 475 A.2d 31 (1984), with one justice arguing in dissent that the operative standard "not manifestly appropriate" is "so lacking in any precise meaning as to defy definition," State v. Lee, supra, at 168, 475 A.2d, at 37 (Clifford, J., dissenting). I believe this appeal presents the substantial question whether § 2C:39-5d is impermissibly vague in violation of the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Accordingly, I respectfully dissent from the Court's dismissal of the appeal for want of a substantial federal question.

I

Wright, the subject of several outstanding arrest warrants, was apprehended while conversing with a friend on a street corner in Teaneck, New Jersey. The arresting officers searched Wright at police headquarters, where they found the exacto knife in question concealed inside one of his socks. The instant prosecution for violation of § 2C:39-5d followed.

At trial, Wright contended that he had not intended to use the knife against person or property and that the statute is unconstitutionally vague. The trial court rejected these arguments. With respect to the question of Wright's intent, the court instructed the jury that it was "not necessary that the State prove that [the] defendant possessed the weapon with a purpose to use it unlawfully against the person or property of another." Juris. Statement 4. As for the definition of the "not manifestly appropriate" standard, which Wright contended was meaningless, the court instructed: "If you . . . find that the circumstances under which the weapon was possessed could not be easily understood or recognized as being appropriate to a lawful use of the instrument in question here then possession of the weapon . . . is prohibited." State v. Wright, supra, at 172, 475 A.2d, at 39 (emphasis added). Wright was convicted as charged and sentenced to 200 days in the Bergen County jail.

The Superior Court of New Jersey, Appellate Division, reversed Wright's conviction, reasoning that the legislature could not have intended to impose criminal sanctions on one whose conduct merely "was not 'easily understood or recognized' from the circumstances." 187 N.J.Super. 160, 164, 453 A.2d 1352, 1354 (1982). The Supreme Court of New Jersey reversed the Appellate Division, however, and concluded that the trial court's interpretation properly reflected the legislature's intent in enacting § 2C:39-5d. 96 N.J., at 173, 475 A.2d, at 40.² The court rejected Wright's vagueness challenge for the reasons set forth in its companion decision in State v. Lee, where it had concluded that the "not manifestly appropriate" standard carries "sufficient warning so that an ordinary person 'is apprised with a reasonable degree of certainty of that which is proscribed' " and so that law enforcement officials have sufficient notice of what conduct is prohibited to guard against arbitrary or discriminatory enforcement. 96 N.J., at 166, 475 A.2d, at 36 (citation omitted). This appeal pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1257(2) followed.

II

The standards for evaluating whether a statute is unconstitutionally vague are well settled:

"Vague laws offend several important values. First, because we assume that man is free to steer between lawful and unlawful conduct, we insist that laws give the person of ordinary intelligence a reasonable opportunity to know what is prohibited, so that he may act accordingly. Vague laws may trap the innocent by not providing fair warning. Second, if arbitrary and discriminatory enforcement is to be prevented, laws must provide explicit standards for those who apply them. A vague law impermissibly delegates basic policy matters to policemen, judges, and juries for resolution on an ad hoc and subjective basis, with the attendant dangers of arbitrary and discriminatory application". Grayned v. City of Rockford, 408 U.S. 104, 108-109, 92 S.Ct. 2294, 2298-2299, 33 L.Ed.2d 222 (1972) (footnotes omitted).

As construed by the New Jersey courts, § 2C:39-5d authorizes arrest and conviction whenever an individual possesses any object capable of inflicting serious injury in circumstances "not . . . easily understood or recognized as being appropriate" by the authorities and a jury, even though the individual may have had no intent whatsoever to possess or use the object for unlawful purposes. State v. Wright, 96 N.J., at 172, 475 A.2d, at 39. I believe there is a substantial question whether such an amorphous crime is unconstitutionally vague.

First. I agree with the dissent below that there is a serious question whether the "not manifestly appropriate" standard gives fair notice of the conduct that is prohibited or is instead "so lacking in any precise meaning as to defy definition." State v. Lee, supra, at 168, 475 A.2d, at 37 (CLIFFORD, J., DISSENTING).³ "[A] Statute which either forbids OR requires the doing of an act in terms so vague that men of common intelligence must necessarily guess at its meaning and differ as to its application, violates the first essential of due process of law." Connally v. General Construction Co., 269 U.S. 385, 391, 46 S.Ct. 126, 127, 70 L.Ed. 322 (1926). See also Smith v. Goguen, 415 U.S. 566, 574, 94 S.Ct. 1242, 1247, 39 L.Ed.2d 605 (1974); Lanzetta v. New Jersey, 306 U.S. 451, 453, 59 S.Ct. 618, 619, 83 L.Ed. 888 (1939). To impose criminal sanctions for the possession of objects simply because the authorities and a jury subsequently decide that the circumstances were not "easily understood or recognized as being appropriate," State v. Wright, supra, at 172, 475 A.2d, at 39, "leaves open . . . the widest conceivable inquiry, the scope of which no one can foresee and the result of which no one can foreshadow or adequately guard against," United States v. L. Cohen Grocery Co., 255 U.S. 81, 89, 41 S.Ct. 298, 300, 65 L.Ed. 516 (1921). The enforcement of such a standardless proscription would appear to be "the exact equivalent of an effort to carry out a statute which in terms merely penalized and punished all acts detrimental to the public interest when unjust and unreasonable in the estimation of the court and jury." Ibid.

Second. Even more disturbing questions arise with respect to "the more important aspect of the vagueness doctrine . . .—'the requirement that a legislature establish minimal guidelines to govern law enforcement.' " Kolender v. Lawson, 461 U.S. 352, 358, 103 S.Ct. 1855, 1858, 75 L.Ed.2d 903 (1983) (citation omitted) (striking down criminal sanctions against persons who fail to provide "credible and reliable" identification).⁴ Where a statute and the judicial decisions which interpret it provide inadequate standards to govern its application, the statute "confers on police a virtually unrestrained power to arrest and charge persons with a violation." Lewis v. City of New Orleans, 415 U.S. 130, 135, 94 S.Ct. 970, 973, 39 L.Ed.2d 214 (1974) (POWELL, J., concurring in result). The result obviously is to create a scheme that "furnishes a convenient tool for 'harsh and discriminatory enforcement by local prosecuting officials, against particular groups deemed to merit their displeasure.' " Papachristou v. City of Jacksonville, 405 U.S. 156, 170, 92 S.Ct. 839, 847, 31 L.Ed.2d 110 (1972) (citation omitted).

As interpreted by the New Jersey courts, § 2C:39-5d does not require the State to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant's possession could not have been pursuant to a legitimate purpose, but merely that the circumstances were "not . . . easily understood or recognized as being appropriate." State v. Wright, supra, at 172, 475 A.2d, at 39. Can there be any question that this sweeping standard places "unfettered discretion" in the hands of police, judges, and juries to carry out "arbitrary and erratic arrests and convictions"? Papachristou v. City of Jacksonville, supra, 405 U.S., at 162, 168, 92 S.Ct., at 843, 846. Surely this law is unlikely to touch upon the "pillars of the community," 405 U.S., at 163, 92 S.Ct., at 844, who are spotted with any of the multitude of potentially dangerous objects in circumstances that are not "easily understood" or "recognized" as "appropriate." See n. 3, supra. Rather, there appears to be a grave danger that enforcement of the law will focus on the groups that historically have been the targets of vague legislation such as this—the poor, the minorities, the politically unpopular, and others who happen to be viewed with suspicion by the community's majority.

The absence from § 2C:39-5d of any requirement that the defendant intend to use the object in an unlawful manner accentuates the dangers discussed above. We have "long recognized that the constitutionality of a vague statutory standard is closely related to whether that standard incorporates a requirement of mens rea." Colautti v. Franklin, 439 U.S. 379, 395, 99 S.Ct. 675, 685, 58 L.Ed.2d 596 (1979). See generally United States v. United States Gypsum Co., 438 U.S. 422, 434-446, 98 S.Ct. 2864, 2871-2878, 57 L.Ed.2d 854 (...