New Brunswick Home Invasion Burglary Attorney

Reviewed by William A. Proetta, Esq. · Updated October 2026

Home invasion burglary, N.J.S.A. 2C:18-2.1, is a first-degree crime carrying 10 to 20 years in state prison, a maximum fine of $200,000, and the No Early Release Act’s requirement that 85 percent of the term be served before parole. Its companion offense, residential burglary under N.J.S.A. 2C:18-2.2, is second degree, 5 to 10 years, and also presumptively subject to NERA.

Both statutes were created by P.L.2024, c.83, which took effect on October 18, 2024. Charges from Edison, Woodbridge, Old Bridge or New Brunswick are screened by the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office at 25 Kirkpatrick Street and tried in the Superior Court at 56 Paterson Street, New Brunswick. We defend these cases from our Edison office. Over more than 15 years of trials, I have seen these files turn on three facts: who had permission to be inside, what the person meant to do, and what happened in the next few minutes.

How the 2024 Law Divides Burglary

Before October 2024, entering a home to commit an offense was ordinarily third-degree burglary. The new law moved homes into their own statutes and left the old burglary section, 2C:18-2, for structures other than residential dwellings, research facilities and utility property. Our Middlesex County burglary page covers it.

Residential burglary, 2C:18-2.2. The State must prove that the person:
– entered, or surreptitiously remained in, a residential dwelling or accommodation, or a separately secured part of one;
– had no license or privilege to be there; and
– acted with “purpose to commit an offense therein or thereon.”

The intended offense can be theft, an assault or property damage; nothing has to be taken. The statute adds that it “shall not be a defense that the actor did not know that any other person was present.”

Home invasion burglary, 2C:18-2.1. The same three elements, plus one aggravator during the course of the burglary:
– the person “purposely, knowingly, or recklessly” inflicts, attempts to inflict, or threatens to inflict bodily injury on anyone; or
– the person “is armed with or displays what appear to be explosives or a deadly weapon.”

“In the course of committing” reaches the attempt and the immediate flight. A push at the door on the way out can count as much as a confrontation in a bedroom.

Two definitions that matter. Bodily injury means “physical pain, illness or any impairment of physical condition” under N.J.S.A. 2C:11-1(a), a low threshold. A deadly weapon under 2C:11-1(c) includes any object that, “in the manner it is used or is intended to be used,” can cause death or serious bodily injury, or that is fashioned so the victim would reasonably believe it could. The armed prong also covers items that only “appear to be” weapons, and the statute assigns that prong no mental state.

Exposure Under Each Burglary Statute

The empty-house exception. A residential burglary defendant can avoid NERA by proving, more likely than not, a reasonable belief that no resident or other person was present. People acting in concert with the defendant are left out of that count, so a partner in the entry does not defeat the exception. The grade stays second degree; only the 85 percent parole bar falls away. Home invasion has no comparable exception.

Sentencing Consequences

• NERA. On a 10-year home invasion sentence, parole eligibility comes at 8.5 years, followed by five years of supervision. The No Early Release Act guide has the full calculation.
• Presumption of prison. Both offenses are first or second degree, so prison is presumed under 2C:44-1(d)(1).
• One degree lower. A judge clearly convinced that the mitigating factors substantially outweigh the aggravating factors may, in the interest of justice, sentence in the range one degree lower under N.J.S.A. 2C:44-1(d)(2): 5 to 10 years on a home invasion conviction, 3 to 5 on residential burglary. The prosecutor has 10 days to appeal. Do not assume the 85 percent rule disappears with the lower range.
• Graves Act. P.L.2024, c.83 added both statutes to the Graves Act. When a firearm is involved, the minimum is half the sentence or 42 months, whichever is greater, without parole, and gun possession counts often follow; our Middlesex weapons defense page covers those charges.
• Extended terms. The same law added home invasion to the extended term for a repeat firearm offender in 2C:44-3(d), and both offenses to the extended term in 2C:44-3(f).
• Expungement. Neither offense is on the permanent bar list in 2C:52-2(b), so a conviction can eventually be expunged after the waiting period.
• Juveniles. Both statutes were added to the list of offenses for which the State may seek to waive a juvenile case to adult court. See our Middlesex juvenile defense page.
• Immigration. Burglary of a dwelling may carry removal consequences, and how federal law treats these new statutes is unsettled, so a non-citizen needs immigration advice before any plea.

What Happens After an Arrest in Middlesex County

A Supreme Court order of November 19, 2024, implemented by Directive #13-24, created a presumption that a complaint-warrant, rather than a summons, will issue once probable cause is found for either offense. In practice that means custody: the person is processed by the arresting department and taken to the Middlesex County Adult Correction Center on Apple Orchard Lane in North Brunswick to wait for a first appearance.

For home invasion, the revised Pretrial Services guidance produces a “No Release Recommended” result. Residential burglary reaches that result only when a firearm (Graves) charge comes with it. Either way, both offenses are NERA crimes, so the prosecutor can file a detention motion. A recommendation is not an order. The State must still persuade a judge at a hearing, and that hearing is the first look at the police reports and body-camera footage. We use it to expose weak proof of the aggravator and to propose conditions, such as staying elsewhere and keeping away from the home. Our pretrial release and detention guide explains the standard. A detained defendant generally cannot be held more than 90 days before indictment, or more than 180 days after it without trial starting, not counting delays the law excludes.

When the home belongs to a partner or ex. Burglary is on the list of offenses that support a domestic violence restraining order. When the residence belongs to a current or former partner, a household member or a co-parent, a temporary restraining order is commonly entered by the Family Part at the Family Courthouse, 120 New Street, New Brunswick, while the criminal case starts across town. Police can seize firearms when the domestic complaint is made. The final restraining order hearing usually comes within weeks, long before trial, and testimony there can be used in the criminal prosecution, so we prepare both together. If a restraining order already barred the person from the home, the State will argue the entry was unlicensed for that reason, and a contempt charge for violating the order is usually added.

The case then goes to a grand jury in New Brunswick. Grand jurors may indict on the top count, choose a lesser one, or decline.

Diversion and Negotiated Outcomes

Pretrial Intervention is very hard to reach on these charges as filed. A first- or second-degree charge carries a presumption of prison, so the prosecutor must consent before the application is considered, and the rules require a guilty plea for those degrees. A domestic offense involving violence or a threat of violence adds a presumption against admission. The practical path runs through a reduction: to residential burglary with the empty-house finding, or to criminal trespass, which is a fourth-degree crime when the place entered is a dwelling and can open the door to PTI.

Defenses to Home Invasion and Residential Burglary

• The entry was permitted. A shared lease, a key that was never returned, a standing invitation, or a text asking the person to come over can establish license or privilege. Without a restraining order, an argument inside a home the person was allowed to enter is not burglary.
• No purpose to commit an offense. The State must prove the purpose to commit an offense inside. Someone who came to pick up belongings or a child, and later argued, did not enter with that purpose. Whether he later “surreptitiously remained” is a separate question the State must also prove.
• The aggravator is not proved. A raised voice is not a threat of bodily injury, and an object in the room is not “armed” unless it meets the deadly weapon definition. If the aggravator fails, the ceiling is second-degree residential burglary.
• Timing. Injury or a threat must occur during the burglary, its attempt, or the immediate flight. Events after the person had left and the episode ended are outside the statute.
• Accomplice scope. NERA applies to an accomplice convicted of a listed crime even if the accomplice was unarmed, so the fight is over whether the State can prove the accomplice shared the purpose behind the aggravated offense.
• Not a residential dwelling. The 2024 law added a definition of residential dwelling or accommodation. Whether a detached structure or a vacant unit fits it is a legal question worth testing.
• Identification. Stranger cases often rest on a description, a doorbell camera clip or phone location data, each open to challenge, as are searches and statements.

Contact Our Edison Office

Stay away from the residence and its occupants, and say nothing about the case to anyone except counsel. Our Edison office takes calls day and night at (732) 659-9600 for a free, confidential review, or you can send us a message.