Carjacking Attorney in New Brunswick, Middlesex County
Reviewed by William A. Proetta, Esq. · Updated October 2026
Carjacking, N.J.S.A. 2C:15-2, is always a 1st-degree crime, and its statute sets a range longer than the ordinary 1st-degree term: 10 to 30 years in state prison, with at least 5 years served before parole. Because carjacking is also a No Early Release Act offense, the real floor is usually higher, since 85% of whatever sentence is imposed must be served before parole eligibility.
Any carjacking complaint in Middlesex County, from a parking lot in Edison, a side street in New Brunswick or a Route 1 shoulder in Woodbridge, is prosecuted by the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office at 25 Kirkpatrick Street and heard in the Superior Court at 56 Paterson Street. We represent people charged with carjacking from our Edison office. With more than 15 years of criminal trial work behind me, my first task in these cases is separating what the State can prove about force from what it can prove about the car.
The Elements of Carjacking
Carjacking requires an unlawful taking of a motor vehicle, or an attempt, plus one of four acts directed at the person who had the car:
- Force or injury. Inflicting bodily injury on, or using force upon, an occupant or person in possession or control of the vehicle.
- Threat or fear. Threatening that person with immediate bodily injury, or purposely or knowingly putting the person in fear of it.
- A 1st- or 2nd-degree crime. Committing, or threatening immediately to commit, such a crime.
- Driving off with someone inside. Operating the vehicle, or causing it to be operated, while the person who had possession or control, or another occupant, remains in it.
Who counts as the person in control
The protected person is not only the driver behind the wheel. In State v. Williams, 289 N.J. Super. 611 (App. Div. 1996), the Appellate Division held that a driver who had briefly stepped out of the car still qualified as an occupant or person in possession or control. A person pumping gas, loading groceries or standing at an open door can be covered.
What counts as a motor vehicle
The definition matters at the edges. Carjacking uses the Title 39 definition of a motor vehicle, which, as the model jury charge explains, does not include motorized bicycles. A taking of a bicycle, motorized bicycle or similar conveyance by force may be robbery, but it is not carjacking.
The fourth act needs no force
The fourth form is the one that surprises people. If a car is driven away with an occupant still inside, the statute is satisfied even without a blow or a spoken threat. A person who takes a running car without noticing a passenger in the back seat can face a carjacking count on that basis alone, and what the driver knew becomes the central question.
Carjacking Compared With the Lesser Vehicle Charges
Carjacking compared with the lesser vehicle charges, most serious first
N.J.S.A. 2C:15-2, 2C:15-1, 2C:20-10.1 and 2C:20-10. Bars span the ordinary range on a 0 to 30 year scale.
Carjacking’s own statute overrides the ordinary 1st-degree range of 10 to 20 years. Unlike robbery, carjacking is not on the 2C:52-2(b) expungement bar list.
The gap between the first row and the rest is the whole case. A vehicle taken with nobody near it is charged under the theft statutes covered on our auto theft page; force against a person over property other than a vehicle is robbery. Our overview of New Jersey degrees of crimes explains how each degree is sentenced.
Sentencing and Long-Term Consequences
The special range. The carjacking statute overrides the ordinary 1st-degree range of 10 to 20 years. A judge may impose 10 to 30 years, and must impose a parole bar of at least 5 years.
NERA. Carjacking is item (10) on the NERA list in 2C:43-7.2. Under the No Early Release Act, 85% of the sentence imposed must be served before parole, and the longer of the NERA period and the statutory 5-year bar controls. On a 10-year sentence, that is 8.5 years. Release is followed by 5 years of parole supervision.
Time served before parole on a carjacking sentence
N.J.S.A. 2C:15-2 and 2C:43-7.2 (NERA). 85 percent of the sentence imposed, on a 0 to 30 year scale; the longer of the NERA period and the statutory 5-year bar controls.
Release is followed by 5 years of parole supervision. For a persistent offender under 2C:20-10.3, the extended range is 20 years to life.
Fines and restitution. The maximum fine for a 1st-degree crime is $200,000. Restitution for damage to the car and losses to the owner is typically ordered.
The persistent-offender extended term. Under 2C:20-10.3, enacted by P.L.2023, c.101, a person convicted of carjacking who has two or more prior separate convictions for qualifying vehicle offenses, within 10 years of the last release or the most recent qualifying offense, must receive an extended term on the prosecutor’s application. For 1st degree, the extended range under 2C:43-7 is 20 years to life.
Sentencing presumptions. A 1st-degree conviction carries a presumption of imprisonment under N.J.S.A. 2C:44-1(d)(1). The one-degree-lower provision at 2C:44-1(d)(2), restored by P.L.2026, c.30, applies by its terms to 1st- and 2nd-degree convictions when the judge is clearly convinced the mitigating factors substantially outweigh the aggravating factors; how a court applies it alongside carjacking’s own statutory range is a question we brief on the facts of each case. Any such sentence is subject to a 10-day window for a State appeal.
Expungement. Unlike robbery, carjacking is not on the 2C:52-2(b) bar list, so a conviction can be expunged once the waiting period has run, which after a long prison term may be years away.
Immigration. Federal law can treat a violent offense with a sentence of at least a year as an aggravated felony. A non-citizen must have an immigration lawyer review any plea before it is entered.
Carjacking Prosecutions in Middlesex County
From the call to the jail. Carjacking investigations move quickly because the car itself is evidence and is often moving. A report from a lot in Edison or a residential street in Piscataway can lead to a pursuit on the Turnpike, the Parkway or Route 18, and an arrest within hours. Any chase adds a separate count; see our page on eluding in Middlesex County. A person arrested on a carjacking complaint is held at the Middlesex County Adult Correction Center on Apple Orchard Lane in North Brunswick until a first appearance, and the State can ask the court to keep the person detained until trial. At the detention hearing, the defense gets its first look at the State’s proof and can challenge how strong it actually is.
How the proof is built. Typical evidence includes street, residential and business cameras, the vehicle’s own location or app data, fingerprints and DNA from the interior, phone records placing the accused nearby, and an identification by the owner. Owner identifications made in the minutes after a frightening encounter, often at night, are a recurring weak point. So are statements obtained after arrest; a search of a phone or the vehicle may also be open to a motion to suppress.
Grand jury and early negotiation. The MCPO presents the case to a grand jury in New Brunswick, which decides whether the indictment says carjacking, robbery, theft of a motor vehicle or something less. The weeks before that presentation are the best time to show that the car was unattended, that nobody was threatened, or that the accused was only a passenger. After indictment, the case is arraigned at the Paterson Street courthouse and moves through pretrial conferences toward a plea cutoff.
Young defendants. When the person accused is a teenager, a charge against someone under 18 begins in the Family Part rather than the adult court; our Middlesex juvenile defense page explains how those cases proceed.
How a carjacking case moves through Middlesex County
From the arrest to a plea cutoff at 56 Paterson Street, New Brunswick
A charge against someone under 18 begins in the Family Part rather than the adult court.
PTI and Carjacking
Pretrial Intervention is presumptively unavailable for 1st-degree crimes. The prosecutor would have to consent before the application could even be considered, the applicant would need compelling reasons, and admission would require a guilty plea held in abeyance; with a carjacking charge that consent is rarely given. The practical route to a non-prison outcome is an amendment to a lesser vehicle charge, such as 3rd-degree theft of a motor vehicle or joyriding, after which a first offender can apply through the Middlesex Criminal Division, no later than the Initial Case Disposition Conference after arraignment if the case has been indicted. Note that a first offender convicted of 3rd-degree theft or unlawful taking of a motor vehicle does not get the usual presumption against prison under 2C:44-1(e).
Defenses to a Carjacking Charge in New Brunswick
- No one in possession or control. A car taken while its owner was inside a building, not just stepping away, is theft of a motor vehicle, not carjacking.
- No force, threat or occupant. Without one of the four acts, the 1st-degree count fails and the case becomes a vehicle theft case.
- Passenger, not participant. A rider who did not take part in the force or threat is at most charged under 2C:20-10(d), and only if he knew the car was taken without consent.
- Permission or a shared car. A vehicle the accused was allowed to use, or one shared with a partner or family member, raises a real question about whether any unlawful taking occurred.
- Not a motor vehicle. Under the Title 39 definition the statute uses, motorized bicycles and some other conveyances fall outside it.
- Misidentification. Cross-racial identifications, brief encounters, poor lighting and suggestive show-ups are all grounds to challenge the owner’s account.
Carjacking FAQs
Is carjacking always 1st degree in New Jersey?
Yes. There is no lower grade of carjacking. If the State cannot prove one of the four acts, the charge drops to robbery or a vehicle theft offense instead.
What is the minimum sentence for carjacking?
The statute requires at least 5 years without parole, and NERA requires 85% of the sentence imposed. Because the lowest ordinary term is 10 years, the NERA period of 8.5 years usually controls.
Is it carjacking if the owner had stepped out of the car?
It can be. The Appellate Division has held that a driver who briefly left the vehicle remained a person in possession or control.
Where will a carjacking charge from Edison or Piscataway be heard?
In the Middlesex County Superior Court at 56 Paterson Street in New Brunswick, after the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office presents it to a grand jury.
Will my son be held at the North Brunswick jail?
If he is an adult and the prosecutor moves for detention, he can be held pending trial if the judge grants the motion. A juvenile is handled in the Family Part under different rules.
Can a carjacking conviction be expunged?
Yes, eventually. Carjacking is not on the statutory bar list, unlike robbery, but the waiting period runs from the end of the sentence.
Speak With a Middlesex County Carjacking Lawyer
Do not talk to detectives about the car, the people involved or where you were. Call our Edison office at (732) 659-9600, 24 hours a day, or contact us online.