Grieving mother fights for justice in New Jersey Senate

A grieving mother uses her own frustration with the justice system to fight for others.

Kaylah Smith testified before a Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday afternoon in support of a bill that would amend New Jersey's bail reform to add reckless homicide and strict liability homicide to the short list of crimes requiring pretrial detention.

Smith lost her older son, Javier Velez, on July 23, 2023, after an alleged drunk driver came around a curve at an estimated 107 miles per hour and struck the parked car where Javi was sleeping.

The little boy, who turned eight earlier this month, died in hospital.

The 25-year-old driver had already been picked up and was at home, Smith said.

“The same three hours I spent suffering and trying to wake up a dead child. The same three hours it took for my baby's body to go rigid is the same three hours it took for (Johnston) to get fingerprinted and sent home,” she said.

It would be four months before Edward Johnston was criminally charged. He was released from prison a week later.

“Can you imagine how it felt to finally see the man who took your child away from you in prison after waiting four months to be released a week later?” she asked Thursday. “Imagine what a slap in the face this was to our family.”

Now she has made it her mission to ensure that this doesn't happen again in the future.

As she waits for her son's case to make its way through the court process, Smith is doing everything she can to change the way these cases are handled.

Under New Jersey's bail reform, a defendant is presumed not to be in custody. When the state makes a motion to incarcerate, it must overcome this presumption, using the defendant's criminal record and the safety of others as part of its argument.

But Johnston has no criminal record.

“The criminal record started that night,” Smith testified. “The night he took the life of an innocent child. The night he decided to drink in bars and casinos, then get into his vehicle and speed at 107 miles per hour in a 50 mph zone.”

The Atlantic County District Attorney's Office attempted to challenge the judge's decision to release Johnston but lost the appeal.

The public safety assessment, which is used to determine whether a defendant is in custody, recommended that Johnston be detained.

This was because it was assumed that such cases would involve imprisonment, as BreakingAC later confirmed.

But that's not the case – at least for now.

Senate Bill 2295, introduced by Sens. Vince Polistina, R-Atlantic, and Brian Stack, D-Hudson, would add vehicular manslaughter and strict liability homicide to the short list of charges that require a defendant to be held in custody.

FULL SENATE BILL 2295

Currently, there is only a presumption of incarceration in murder and all cases in which the defendant may face a life sentence.

“Pretrial detention cannot constitutionally be used to punish people, and that includes deterring people who have not been convicted of a crime,” said Jim Sullivan, ACLU deputy policy director, who testified against the proposal.

“To date, we have no data to suggest that people charged with involuntary manslaughter or strict liability homicide are regularly released from court,” he said. “More importantly, we have no data to suggest that people accused of these offenses will, if released, either commit new offenses or fail to appear in court when required to do so.”

But at least one state senator said she didn't need the numbers.

“As you spoke, it kept going through my mind: This is our data. Those are the metrics,” Sen. Kristin Corrado, R-Bergen, told Smith. “I don’t need numbers. I don't need statistics. What happened to your family shouldn’t happen to anyone else.”

“Her story is more powerful than any numbers, data or metrics could ever be,” Corrado said, adding that she wants to be included as a co-sponsor of the bill.

“You have my commitment that I will make sure it comes up for a vote at the next committee meeting and we will bring it to the floor of the Senate for a full vote,” said Stack, who chairs the Judiciary Committee.

LISTEN TO THE FULL TESTIMONY (starts at approximately 2:30 p.m.)

Sen. Mike Testa, R-Camden, said he looked up the numbers when the ACLU's Sullivan asked for data.

The number of fatal accidents in the first half of this year rose 12.3 percent compared to the same period last year, he said.

“We know they are rising and something needs to be done to deter that,” Testa told Smith. “I want to thank you, your family and your friends for being here today. Nothing we do in this golden-domed building will bring Javier back, but he deserves justice, just like your family.”

While Thursday was all about presenting the proposed change, Testa predicted unanimous approval if it actually goes to a vote.

“Frankly, I think we should vote on this today,” he said.

Until then, Smith said, she will keep fighting.

She has spoken to reporters, done podcasts, made videos and put together a petition to change the law that has 11,000 signatures, with more being added every day, she said.

“Dad, wake me up when we get home,” were her son’s last words, she told the committee. “But my son could never wake up and my son never made it home.”

Smith told BreakingAC after her testimony that she “was definitely nervous, but I've been preparing for this day since my son's life was taken and the driver was home that night.” I knew that night That I would do everything in my power to change the laws so that this didn’t happen to anyone else.”