1. a. Criminal homicide constitutes strict liability vehicular homicide when it is caused by driving a vehicle while intoxicated in violation of R.S.39:4-50 or operating a vessel under the influence of alcohol or drugs in violation of section 3 of P.L.1952, c.157 (C.12:7-46).
 
   b.   Strict liability vehicular homicide is a crime of the third degree, but the presumption of nonimprisonment set forth in subsection e. of N.J.S.2C:44-1 shall not apply.
 
   c.   The provisions of N.J.S.2C:2-3 governing the causal relationship between conduct and result shall not apply in a prosecution under this section. For purposes of this offense, the defendant's act of operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated in violation of R.S.39:4-50 or operating a vessel under the influence of alcohol or drugs in violation of section 3 of P.L.1952, c.157 (C.12:7-46) is the cause of death when:
 
   (1)   The operation of the motor vehicle or vessel is an antecedent but for which the death would not have occurred; and
 
   (2)   The death was not:
 
   (a)   too remote in its occurrence as to have a just bearing on the defendant's liability; or
 
   (b)   too dependent upon the conduct of another person which was unrelated to the defendant's operation of a motor vehicle or vessel as to have a just bearing on the defendant's liability.
 
   d.   It shall not be a defense to a prosecution under this section that the decedent contributed to his own death by reckless or negligent conduct or operation of a motor vehicle or vessel.
 
   e.   Nothing in this section shall be deemed to preclude, if the evidence so warrants, an indictment and conviction for any other offense.
 
   L.2017, c.165, s.1.