Javi with his little brother, Jerry.
A bill looking to keep those accused in certain deadly vehicle crashes jailed pretrial is one step closer to becoming law.
Bill S-2295, also known as Javi's Law, unanimously passed the Senate Judiciary Committee on Monday.
It honors Javier Velez, an 8-year-old boy who was killed when an allegedly drunken driver came around a curve in Absecon at an estimated 107 mph and struck the parked car with Javi sleeping inside.
It would be four months before Edward Johnston was criminally charged in the case. A week later, he was released from jail.
Javi's mother, Kaylah Smith, has now made it her mission to make sure the same thing does not happen to another family.
“Can you imagine how it felt to finally see the man who took your child away from you in jail after waiting four months just for him to be released a week later?” she asked in October, when she testified about the bill before a state Judiciary committee. “Imagine what a slap in the face that was to our family.”
Under bail reform, there is no monetary bail. Instead, the state can make a motion to detain pre-trial. The prosecution must overcome the presumption of release except under certain instances, such as first-degree murder and those cases that could carry life sentences.
The bill is sponsored by Sens. Vince Polistina, R-Atlantic, and Brian Stack, D-Hudson, looks to add reckless vehicular homicide and strict-liability vehicular homicide to that list.
If the defendant is still released, the bill would allow the court to suspend or revoke the defendant’s license while the case is pending.
“It’s essential to have provisions in place that protect our roads from those who have previously endangered or taken lives,” Stack said. “This bill will allow New Jerseyans to rest assured knowing that their communities are safe and that the criminal justice system is doing as much as possible to keep it that way.”
"We’re trying to correct the situation that happened in Atlantic County," Polistina told the committee before Monday's vote. "(We're) trying to bring the family who suffered this horrible tragedy some justice."
Not everyone supports the bill.
At the hearing in October, American Civil Liberties Union Deputy Policy Director Jim Sullivan testified against the proposal.
“Pretrial detention cannot constitutionally be designed to punish, and that includes deterring people who have not been convicted of a crime,” he said.
“We thus far have no data that suggests that people charged with reckless vehicular homicide or strict-liability vehicular homicide are routinely being released pretrial,” he said. “More over and, more critically, we do not have data suggesting that, if released, people being charged with those offenses either committing new crimes or failing to show up in court when required.”
But at least one state senator said she did not need the numbers.
“As you were speaking, it kept going through my head: This is our data. This is the metrics,” Sen. Kristin Corrado, R-Bergen, told Smith. “I don’t need numbers. I don’t need statistic. What happened to your family should not happen to anyone.”
Meanwhile, Smith continues to fight.
She has talked to reporters, done podcasts, made videos and put together a petition to change the law.
"My son, although he is gone, is making change that New Jersey needed," Smith told BreakingAC after Monday's vote. "No one will ever have to go through what our family is currently going through. No one will ever get to kill a kid and go home to bed that same night.
"No one will ever get to kill a kid and be released a week later in the state of New Jersey, and it's all because of Javier Velez," she added. "his name will forever live on."
